What Is Body Positivity?

I was asked about what my opinion on body positivity is by my friend Hutch. I believe that Hutch believes that I am going to say something edgy and cruel such as “We should murder all fat people, and make their children work in the lead mines”.

When it comes to self improvement, I take the stoic approach. I believe that the only thing that really matters in terms of challenges and competition is whether or not you are beating your records, and forcing yourself to improve. When I race, while I do enjoy passing people, I do not really care where I place. What I care about is beating my previous time. When i lift at the gym, I do not care about the weight that I am lifting; I only care that the weight I am lifting feels heavy, and that I am making improvements over time.

With this in mind, I do believe that every single person should strive to improve themselves. Whether or not they have body fat is irrelevant. I personally suffer from Irritable Bowel Syndrome, and naturally have a low body fat percentage, so it is just difficult overall for me to put on weight. This is not true for others. Different body types exist, and the assessment of whether or not someone is trying based on their body fat percentage is a foolish assessment. You should care about whether or not they’re pushing themselves everyday to be a better person than they were the day prior.

I believe in encouraging people to improve themselves, either physically, mentally, emotionally, or any other way possible. As such, I do not believe that bullying someone over their size or shape is something I should engage in.