Who can forget that hypersexualized yellow advertisement that was outlawed in 2015 and asked: Are you beach body ready? The image of the “summer body” is still very much alive today.
You might think we’re at a fashion moment that’s verging on slippery land, harkening back to an unhealthy time for women in particular, with the reintroduction of low-rise jeans and other 00s fashion trends that dominated the age of size 0 models like Paris Hilton.
The fact that Pinterest has discovered that searches for “weight loss” are down 20% this summer, indicating a change in attitudes, is somewhat reassuring.
In an effort to combat body-shaming, the corporation banned advertisements for weight loss last year.
This action mirrors consumers’ interests, which are shifting more in the direction of body positivity and acceptance searches.
According to Pinterest, people are more inclined to look for information on how to be healthy and eat well than they are to aspire to lose weight.
Users have been looking for mental health inspiration surrounding body image in addition to physical health, as searches for confidence, self-love, and body acceptance have increased.
Additionally, searches for “curvy body reference” and “androgynous body type” have increased as more people are looking for pictures of body forms that have historically been disregarded.
These are encouraging findings, according to body confidence and anti-diet influencer Alex Light.
The body that each person possesses should be their perfect body, she asserts, as there should never be an ideal body in the first place.
The idea of the “perfect figure” causes women to be obsessed with achieving an unreasonable standard, which is completely unfair.
Particularly because the ideal form is constantly evolving and we may never really win.
Tips to feel body confident
Alex Light shares her tips for boosting how you feel about your body.
- Make the most of resources – seek out voices that you relate to in this space, follow people who look like you and people who don’t look like you.
- Get to grips with diet culture – identify why we’re in the place we’re in with our body image as this will hopefully help you understand the root of the problem.
- Identify and challenge any negative self-talk – the way we talk to ourselves can be very toxic and negative, but if you ask yourself whether you’d say the same thing to someone you love and the answer is ‘no’, it shouldn’t be acceptable for you either.
- Remember that we are all supposed to look different – we are all supposed to be different shapes and sizes and that is a beautiful thing.