We live in an age of polarization as identity continues to dominate modern-day politics. Nonetheless, such extremism is just not limited to politics, beauty trends too are divisive. Given the prolific rise of the Kardashian Klan and their $1billion beauty business, we have now, in recent times, witnessed the emergence of the ‘positive’ subcultures, a backlash against the sisters’ surgically-enhanced beauty. While the body positivity preached by these subcultures is a preferable alternative, it also seems somewhat unrealistic on condition that digital marketing experts estimate the common American is exposed to 4,000-10,000 advertisements each day. It is nearly not possible to flee the sanitised images we’re sold. And yet, nowadays the practice of self-love is a social expectation and the celebration of our bodily ‘flaws’ a rite of passage with the acceptance of imperfection the most recent beauty zeitgeist. In 2019, in case you can’t love your imperfections it’s almost as in case you’ve failed at a fundamental level. But given dominant beauty narratives at play has imperfection simply turn out to be the most recent unrealistic beauty ideal?

While the Kardashian Klan retain their large and constant fanbase (the five sisters have a combined Instagram following of over 500 million people), they’ve recently turn out to be the most recent victims of ‘call out’ culture with several public figures speaking out about their negative impact on young girls, critiquing their status as role models. While some champion the sisters for putting Kurves on the agenda, others express deep concern about their alleged use of botox, invasive body-altering procedures and extreme photo manipulation which have resulted within the normalisation of cosmetic surgery.

Emerging as defiant acts of riot are the positive subcultures which have been praised by many for his or her daring declarations of radical self-love in a climate of body shame and surgically-enhanced beauty. These once subversive communities have now turn out to be mainstream, co-opted by big brands and corporations. We aren’t any longer sold happiness and fulfilment through the pursuit of perfection but slightly through the acceptance of imperfection. From inflammatory skin conditions to excess body hair, the zeitgeist of today is self-love and imperfection is the shiny, recent aspiration touted by mainstream media. But how easy is it really to like one’s own body?

Coming to the fore in late 2014, The Body Positivity movement has been considered one of great successes of the digitally-oriented fourth wave feminism. With over 8,000,000 #BodyPositive instagram posts, the movement is fighting for, what looks like, a radical celebration of body shapes, colors and sizes and sees people sharing images of their less-than-perfect bodies.

“I can preach all of it day for everybody else, seeing and knowing that each one bodies are good bodies, but I can’t appear to share the identical grace for my very own body” – Kim

Stumbling across the movement in early 2015 myself, I used to be pleasantly surprised by my discovery. Having battled an eating disorder for years, feeling insecure in my very own body’s inability to present perfectly, I used to be excited to seek out a community successfully rebelling against the seemingly unrealistic bodies we’re sold in promoting.

While numerous academic papers show promoting positive body image makes us feel good and is useful for everyone, it doesn’t mean it is straightforward. Once I took to my Instagram community about their experiences with body positivity (I run a project called Fat Girl, The Body Acceptance Collective), my inbox was flooded with women, young and old, ashamed to confess that despite their best efforts they struggle to practice body positivity and self-love.

Self-acceptance is so difficult because so a lot of us have internalised the cultural prescription that to be deemed worthy one must fit inside a really narrow set of beauty ideals. “I’ve unwittingly undergone my whole life with the concept I should be thin, healthy, and fit to be beautiful and beneficial,” explains Mariah, who, having been an athlete in her childhood developed a difficult relationship to her body, looked to body positivity as a way of coping.  

Likewise, Kim who discovered the body positive movement last May after seeing a HAES (Health At Every Size) therapist, explains that while she knows it’s a healthy practice she struggles to adopt it herself. “I can preach all of it day for everybody else, seeing and knowing that each one bodies are good bodies,” she tells me, “but I can’t appear to share the identical grace for my very own body.” Kim explains that when life gets particularly stressful, feeling as if she needs a way of control, she turns to her body as a coping mechanism, searching for faults.

“From the moment I wake up-to-the-minute I go to sleep, I’m immersed in media selling me beauty ideals and ways to attain to them”

Like most of the girls who reached out, although I’m well into my very own eating disorder recovery process, critiquing my very own body has turn out to be something of a each day ritual which I cannot shake off. From the moment I wake up-to-the-minute I go to sleep, I’m immersed in media selling me beauty ideals and ways to attain to them. From cosmetic surgeries to detox retreats, I spend much of my each day energy resisting the allure of those seductive remedies with little energy left for positive considering. Often, I feel a deep guilt that I’ve lost the fight against the right body, failing to simply accept my imperfections and living one other day at war with my body.

The body positivity movement is just not simply about bodies, at its core, the movement is about acceptance of the self. As Kim explains, “Probably the most difficult thing is believing I’m worthy of body positivity, and believing I’m tremendous just how I’m.” Coming to terms with our imperfections and perceived ‘flaws’ is about unconditionally accepting who we’re as individuals. Living in a society that is essentially obsessive about the perfectibility of the self, continually selling us solutions to our problems, makes this increasingly hard.

And yet today, with body positivity and self-love as the most recent zeitgeists, in case you don’t rejoice your imperfections, it feels as if you’ve gotten failed at being a component of your generation. Sadly, body positivity is being co-opted as a sales tool, the most recent in an ever-changing series of promoting mechanisms. So, don’t beat yourself up in case you fail to ‘love the skin you’re in’ after posting an unfiltered photo of yourself. True self-acceptance takes a lifetime of trials and tribulations to attain. It’s a process wherein every attempt is a step in the precise direction, even when it doesn’t feel that way. Perhaps not as sexy a hashtag, but vital to recollect nonetheless.

“There’s a lot pressure around me to view my body in a negative light, it is tough to be positive about it” – Kendall

It is smart that in a world of high street botox, FaceTuning and juice cleanses, body shame and weight-reduction plan culture are the norm and the practice of positive body image is tough. Very hard, actually. “Body positivity may be less accessible to some people, particularly those living in bodies that don’t reflect societal ideals of slimness, whiteness, youthfulness etc,” explains Nadia Craddock, PhH candidate at The Appearance Research Centre.

Craddock also says the practice is complicated for individuals who have difficult relationships with their body image, resembling those combating eating disorders. “Like most ladies I do know, I had suffered from anorexia and bulimia in my early teens,” explains Maria, “body positivity was hard since the more weight I gained the more negative attention I received.” Actually, of the women who reached out to me, many had a history of eating disorders and poor body image. “I realised that the key to loving your body is loving it because it is in the current moment,” says Hannah,  “nevertheless, after a lifetime of trying to vary my body and never being satisfied, I still have negative thought patterns about my body that creep in.”

It is not any surprise, we live in a system which endorses the concept we must continually be changing our bodies. It is a sentiment expressed by famed psychoanalyst Susie Orbach, who I interviewed last 12 months. Orbach is the creator of the unique anti-diet guide Fat is Feminist which was published over forty years ago. Having worked on the unique ‘Real Beauty’ campaigns for Dove within the early 2000s, and after a lifetime of feminist activism, Orbach, now in her 70s seems somewhat disillusioned that real social change is feasible and not using a large structural shift. Once I asked concerning the body positive movement Orbach explained while it was, after all, desirable, it was not possible to attain in the present climate. The ferocity of late capitalism, Orbach explains, not only encourages the commodification of our bodies but in addition the perpetual sale of solutions to our perceived flaws. Akin to market logic, it makes high demand for cosmetic procedures low cost and accessible.

“The concept we should be working to vary our bodies is the norm,” explains Kendall who has struggled along with her body image for her whole life, “there’s a lot pressure around me to view my body in a negative light, it is tough to be positive about it.” Capitalism also makes us into our own marketing machines, self-objectifying, sharing images of our bodies with the world after which waiting for feedback – anxious and impatient. “Society shoves down our throat photos of individuals’s weight reduction journeys within the space of three months and celebrities selling products which have little to no effect,” says Hannah, “I’d like to say these don’t affect me but they do.” Social media has encouraged constant social comparison which makes acceptance of 1’s self very difficult.

Like most of the girls who reached out, although I’m well into my very own eating disorder recovery process, critiquing my very own body has turn out to be something of a each day ritual which I cannot shake off. From the moment I wake up-to-the-minute I go to sleep, I’m immersed in media selling me beauty ideals and ways to attain to them. From cosmetic surgeries to detox retreats, I spend much of my each day energy resisting the allure of those seductive remedies with little energy left for positive considering. Often, I feel a deep guilt that I’ve lost the fight against the right body, failing to simply accept my imperfections and living one other day at war with my body. 

The body positivity movement is just not simply about bodies, at its core, the movement is about acceptance of the self. As Kim explains, “Probably the most difficult thing is believing I’m worthy of body positivity, and believing I’m tremendous just how I’m.” Coming to terms with our imperfections and perceived ‘flaws’ is about unconditionally accepting who we’re as individuals. Living in a society that is essentially obsessive about the perfectibility of the self, continually selling us solutions to our problems, makes this increasingly hard.

And yet today, with body positivity and self-love as the most recent zeitgeists, in case you don’t rejoice your imperfections, it feels as if you’ve gotten failed at being a component of your generation. Sadly, body positivity is being co-opted as a sales tool, the most recent in an ever-changing series of promoting mechanisms. So, don’t beat yourself up in case you fail to ‘love the skin you’re in’ after posting an unfiltered photo of yourself. True self-acceptance takes a lifetime of trials and tribulations to attain. It’s a process wherein every attempt is a step in the precise direction, even when it doesn’t feel that way. Perhaps not as sexy a hashtag, but vital to recollect nonetheless.