A couple years ago, as a response to the narrow representations of female form in the mainstream media, the general culture responded with the idea of body positivity. The idea soon spread and the brands recognised the market potential of it — suddenly, we were seeing different sizes and shapes in editorials, magazines and billboards.
In the past year or two, you may have noticed a pushback against it and a resurgence of the thin ideal. “Thininspo” and other trends are no longer a part of the subterranean domains of the internet, but are rather easily accessible to anyone who goes online.
Many argued that the previous body positivity trend was nothing but a coping mechanism to force yourself to like what you do not like about yourself. Others argued that it was nothing but promotion of a complete lack of care for one’s body as well as a disregard for beauty.
Just like we can understand the positions of body positivity and why it may have emerged, we can also understand the recent reaction to it. The general culture will always be defined by these reactions and if we are to be free, we must find our own centre.
Today, Volupta will try to help you find that centre by giving you new ways to think about body positivity and by giving you some practical ways you can bring those ideas into your lived, embodied experience.
Body positivity is in fact, very important, if not crucial part of a woman’s journey. If a woman struggles with her female form and is at war with it, anything else will be very difficult. This is also why superficial body positivity does not work and why many see it as a “cope” — if on a deep level, you loathe and hate yourself, there is no amount of surface-level affirmations or representations that will make you feel otherwise. You cannot “program” yourself into anything. The abstract ideas must be digested by and eventually integrated in the body for them to be “real” for you.
Female form is very varied. When it comes to sizes, shapes, fat distribution, we may observe far more variation in the female form than we do in the male. This is not to suggest that male form has no variety as well, but the overwhelmingly varied female form is also why “standards” imposed upon it are always fought against. Standard is linear, concrete, clear, predictable — standard is when we modify all tomatoes to be the same “perfect” shape, while in nature, they come in an infinitely varied amount of shapes. Her fluid, vast, dynamic and moving form resists “standards” imposed upon it and will always seek to escape them.
This reflects the knowledge we may find in certain spiritual traditions that frame the feminine aspect of reality as the domain of multiplicity. Not separate from the white light that is the heart of every colour — She is like the colours of rainbow that appear as that white light passes through a glass prism. Each colour has infinite amount of shades, contrasts, variations and combinations.
Her varied form reflects the truth of Nature who Herself adores variety and diversity. Her ecosystems are rich with different forms of life. Some are predatory and some are prey, but all of them are contributing to the unique beauty of the particular ecosystem. If you are religious or spiritual and view Creation as the Bride of God, this variety and diversity is God’s own will.
Approach your female form with this understanding — whether you are petite or statuesque, svelte or fleshy, fair or dark or anything in between. You can call it Goddess, Maya, Sophia, Nature, Shakti, Great Mother, or any other way you prefer, but see it that whatever form you have, this is how She wanted to be. This is the particular form She wanted to take — it is unique and unrepeated. Hating your form is hating Her, The social or cultural standards do not matter to Her. She is immune to their whisper because She has Her own Reality and Her own Truth to maintain and upkeep. In Her Reality, the supple body of a young maiden and the heavy-breasted body of an old matron who breastfed seven children are both a source of revelation. Her Beauty reaches far deeper than mere attraction and repulsion — the true Face of Her Beauty is the magnificent, all-encompassing Power that cannot be denied.