Because body positivity is so deeply focused on internal, individual change, conversations about power, privilege, and oppression often don’t come naturally to self-proclaimed body positive people. When people in more marginalized bodies—particularly fat people, disabled people, transgender and nonbinary people, and people of color—request conversations that grapple with the thornier realities of our lives, which are formed more by other people’s behaviors than our own internal self-image, those requests are often roundly rejected by many body positive activists.
