You searched for body positive - Page 20 of 91 - Everyday Feminism

An apple with nutrition information on it

What do you picture when you think of health, fitness, and nutrition? Many of us envision a thin person because we’re socialized to visualize these things through a skewed lens. Here’s what we need to do to actually make healthy choices possible – and why we really need to stop fat-shaming and start taking on the systems exploiting and oppressing us all.

What if we told you that “fat” is not a feeling? That’s what performer and body empowerment activist Caroline Rothstein says in this stirring video about how trauma, beauty standards, and oppression teach us not to love our bodies. Learn from her eating disorder recovery, and get her key to choosing to love her body – and respect other people’s bodies, too. (Content Warning: Rape, eating disorder)

Older person hugging a younger person who looks relieved to be supported

(Trigger warning: Suicide) This author’s suicide attempt wasn’t the worst thing to happen to him. What was worse was the loneliness he felt when he realized he didn’t have a safe space to talk about it. Talking about suicide seems scary, but if we only talk about prevention or losing people to suicide, we make survivors feel invisible. So here’s how we can all do right by attempt survivors.

Fit person running, with a gray wall in the background

What does it say about how we value bodies when “fitspo” – or “fitspiration” – is so popular? There have been many debates about whether fitspo is empowering or disempowering, but we don’t often think about how fitspiration is highly ableist in its assumptions about health and our ability to work out to extremes. It’s time to expose these assumptions.

What have you heard about women with short hair? These translations show what’s really going on when strangers and loved ones make negative comments. Follow this comic to the end and you’ll see why positivity beats the oppressive gender norms that mold society’s idea of female beauty. Get the respect you deserve, and shine on.

You might have heard that every prominent medical and mental health organization in the US denounces the use of “conversion” therapy to try changing someone’s sexual orientation to heterosexual. But do you know about the disturbing number of individual therapists who still think it’s an ethical practice? Here’s what’s really going on with reparative therapy.

Actress Freida Pinto on a red carpet, surrounded by paparazzi

When an actress steps onto the red carpet, the first question she’s asked is “Who are you wearing?” Why is she reduced to how she looks, and not the achievements that brought her there? Sooner or later, these narrow standards of beauty and value hurt us all. Here’s what you need to know about how, and what you can do to bring this machine to a screeching halt.

A dinner set-up: A white plate with a heart-shaped pillow on it, a fork and knife tied up with a red ribbon, against a wooden table

Dear partner, I understand that you don’t understand what it’s like to have an eating disorder, and I know that you’re not trying to trigger me. But if you really want this relationship to work, we’re going to need to talk about my eating disorder recovery. Because eating disorder recovery affects all aspects of a person’s life, and I need you to work with me on this.

Person sitting on a couch, leaning against their own arms, looking worried or contemplative

Sex should never hurt. This is true regardless of a person’s gender, irrespective of the kind of sex that someone is having (consensual and desired pain-play notwithstanding), and it’s true whether it’s a person’s first or 401st time. But why are so many people resigned to having painful sex? Well, partly because we don’t talk about it enough. So let’s start now.

All youth should feel protected, safe, and happy, but far too many young people who are sexual and/or a/gender minorities do not. So how can we change that? Let’s start by understanding it. Delve into three issues that have a major impact on the mental health of LGBTQIA+ youth, and get informed with some concrete evidence on what we need to change for our youth.

A person sitting on a psychotherapist couch

For some, therapy sessions are essential to emotional upkeep. But once this author started being open with family and friends about going to therapy, she realized that there are a few misconceptions out there about it. Here are some of the uninformed things people have said about therapy and the truths about what really happens behind the white noise machine.

We need to talk about a horrific and common form of street harassment: the cruel way people treat fat women who are doing nothing more than existing in public.

Can you imagine the shame of having a psychiatrist warn you not to have children because “they could turn out like you?” No one should have to go through that, but here’s the story of one woman who did. We need to know the shocking truth of her story, as well as the horrific cases of forced sterilization, to address the harm of mental health stigma.

Becoming vegan or vegetarian — even when doing so to be more in line with your beliefs — can be a difficult decision to make. Check out this article to help support your journey.

When you’re attracted to a fat person, don’t objectify or fetishize them. As this poet says, “Make love to the whole of them.”

For years I was like a lot of Americans who list “LOSE WEIGHT” as their top new year’s priority. But what if I told you that the current you was actually pretty awesome and you didn’t in fact need a you-replacement? Rather than pursuing a new YOU this year, try pursuing a new VIEW, where you already have the perfect body to have the best new year imaginable.

“Diet culture” refers to a society that is so inundated with dieting propaganda that it affects how we relate to ourselves and each other. And in case you haven’t noticed, we live in one. Watch vlogger Melissa A. Fabello use food psychology to explain how the restrict-and-binge cycle hurts everyone except the industries that are creating your body dissatisfaction.

Unfortunately, as with all minorities, being deaf comes with its own series of inappropriate comments and invasive questions. It’s about time we starting treating deaf and hard of hearing people less like objects of fascination and more like people. Check out this video for a few examples of things that hearing people should avoid saying to deaf or hard of hearing folks!

Fat women are subjugated to so much insult, harassment, discrimination, abuse, and dehumanization. Sometimes, it feels as if there is no escape from fat hatred and oppression — even when it’s carefully masked as a compliment. Check out this video to learn just how problematic fatphobic pseudo-compliments, like “You have a pretty face,” are to fat women.

Because of cultural stigma, political barriers, economic difficulty, and anti-abortion bullies who threaten of violence or exposure, choosing to end a pregnancy can be a difficult and traumatic. But for so many, it’s a necessary act of self-efficacy. Read this article to learn how to best support your friend who is considering an abortion.