What is body positivity actually about? We’ve heard the phrase time and time again, but it can still be confusing what with people continuing to fight over its meaning. One person who’s caused a recent stir on the internet is Taylor, aka TikTok user Nottator_tot2000. In a viral video, the TikToker shared his opinion on what the body positivity movement should be all about instead of what it currently represents. In his opinion, the movement is supposed to be meant for those things that people couldn’t control, like somebody getting burned in a fire, not “a whole bunch of overweight women.”
Taylor’s also expecting a massive backlash for sharing his thoughts. He shared that “the same girls that say ‘body positivity’” are going to see the video and make fun of his [ahem] “just because I said fat isn’t beautiful.” Like you could have guessed, people's opinions about this point of view were very divided.
Personal trainer, physiotherapist, and the founder of 'Mes Geresni' ('We're Better'), Paulius Lipskis, gave Bored Panda his take on the body positivity movement, loving ourselves as we are, as well as how to embrace change if we decide that this is what we truly want. You'll find our full interview with him below.
Taylor shared a viral video where he explained his take on body positivity and how it should be focused on the things that we can't change, not our weight
Health expert and personal trainer Paulius explained to Bored Panda that body positivity is a very complex subject that depends on the context and each and every individual. The movement (as well as overly obsessing about our health) can be both extremely helpful and potentially harmful, depending on who it is we're talking about.
"Somebody could potentially use the body positivity movement as an excuse for their unhealthy habits, however, if the movement encourages you to accept and embrace yourself, it's something that you should strive to follow. It's also a problem if you view healthy living as something that you're forced to do. If you're constantly angry, tired, and you're low on energy—it's an issue," trainer Paulius said.
He reiterated that an honest desire to change can only come from within. You can't force it. "Usually, our unhealthy habits are a result of constant stress and our behavior that's meant to protect us from it. If we would have an honest chat with ourselves, we'd clearly see that we're dissatisfied with ourselves only when we feel that we're using our bad habits to cover our emotions," the expert went into detail. "However, if we accept that we're not perfect, we're not pressured to change. That's when you start developing a natural desire and curiosity to find out what the best possible version of you is."
Eva Wiseman, writing for the Guardian, had an interesting take on body positivity. In her opinion, this movement only increased the pressure and the guilt that people who might be overweight feel. She believes that instead of loving ourselves as we are, we ought to find peace with our bodies.
"While the body positivity movement celebrates all bodies that spill over the waistband of what is currently acceptable, it fails to illuminate the reasons why so many people have such bitter and violent relationships with their bodies to begin with,” she said.
“By skipping those sticky conversations, ones that reach into the offal of politics and families, and the day-to-day existence of being a fat person in the world and instead leaping straight to the friendly hashtag, complete with women detailing their own blessed journeys towards inner beauty, it heaves all responsibility for feeling better about one’s body on to the shoulders of the person within it," Wiseman writes.
"'Everybody’s beautiful, and all bodies are perfect!' said 2019, to a small murmur from those pointing out that the workplace, Tinder, fashion and health professionals disagree. The effect, then, was a feeling of isolation, and a doubling of guilt. Guilt both for living in a body that doesn’t fit and for wanting to change it," Wiseman explained, suggesting that, instead, we move away from body positivity and toward body neutrality.
You can watch the full TikTok video right over here
"I’m hoping that until the messy little business of restructuring the world in order to find true equality is completed, the message of the next 10 years will be, not to love your body, but instead, find peace with it."
Nottator_tot2000’s video got more than 2.3 million views, 438k likes, 18.5k comments, and 10.4k reshares on TikTok. Which goes to show that his thoughts reached a lot of people. Some supported him, others criticized him like you could have expected whenever there’s a polarizing topic on the table such as this one.
One of the things that a lot of commenters were dissatisfied with was Taylor stating that “there's not one disease in the world that prevents you from losing weight or eating healthy.” TikTokers pointed out that there are some rare diseases that do make it difficult to lose weight. However, Taylor countered by saying that ‘difficult’ and ‘challenging’ isn’t the same as ‘impossible.’
In other words, the TikToker’s philosophy is all about effort and dedication. He doesn’t believe that losing weight is easy or that fixing your health is something that happens overnight. In fact, he’s experiencing that first hand. He’s trying to lose weight at the moment.
In Taylor’s opinion, stretch marks and fat rolls don’t automatically make you ‘beautiful’ and he explained that they’re far from the positive things that some people claim they are online.
“You shouldn't look at this and think, 'Oh my God, so beautiful,’” Taylor said in the video, criticizing his own body. “There's nothing positive about this. In fact, it's negative. It's hurting my body to be like this. Which is why I'm working out four to five times a week and trying to eat healthy. Cuz I'm not trying to die from a heart attack.”
It might not be up everyone’s alley, but the TikToker was completely honest about his perspective on what the body positivity movement should be about.
In short, he believes that someone’s weight is something that can be changed (however challenging it might be), so being overweight shouldn’t be put in the spotlight online.
Nottator_tot2000 is no stranger to tackling controversial topics head-on, as you can see from his other TikTok videos. Whether you agree or disagree with him, it’s a fact that he’s starting important discussions. And where would we be if we couldn’t discuss important issues? In his spare time, Taylor also streams himself playing video games on Twitch.
Some people were all in support of Taylor's message that the body positivity movement has lost its way
However, others disagreed and thought that he was projecting his own insecurities
