I Am More Than My Body: The Body Neutral Journey

by Bethany C. Meyers

The body positive movement has always sought to promote radical self-love and self-acceptance for your unique bodily form. Stretch marks? Gorgeous. Fat rolls? Magnificent. Body scarring? Truly individual. It campaigns for a wholehearted rejection of body shame and diet culture, because we are all beautiful exactly as we are right now. This book and the ideas of body neutrality build upon the work of the body positivity movement, which finds roots in the fat acceptance movement (encompassing fat pride, fat power, and fat liberation) which began in the late 1960s. Before it was used to sell you a deodorant, body positivity was best understood as a social movement focused on the acceptance of all bodies, regardless of size, shape, gender, race, or abilities. It has always sought to challenge beauty standards and social, medical, and cultural stigmas, and to help every person find self-love. Its history is enmeshed with radical social justice, feminism, the civil rights movement, and Black liberation, and was created by people in marginalized bodies (especially fat, Black, queer, and disabled bodies) for others living with similar prejudices.