Is this the end of body positivity?

ACCEPTING who you are is an important part of self-development.

This isn’t just what you look like, but encompasses everything from your personality to sexuality and all the other things that make you “you”.

This is especially relevant if the societal messages you receive don’t align with how you see yourself.

So when #BodyPositivity launched on social media, it struck a chord and began trending.

The issue is we don’t always feel positive about our bodies, which is OK. But the concept makes people feel they always need to be, which can also be damaging.

New terms such as #BodyLiberation and #BodyNeutrality are trending, giving people permission to accept they can’t always be their own cheerleader but they are more than what their physical form looks like.

That’s the idea behind the new #ComeAsYouAre campaign.

The initiative by Instagram, America’s National Eating Disorder Association and blogger Jude Valentin who created The Mermaid Kingdom in 2014, a site based on radical self-love, is about accepting who you are – as you are right now.

“I think the idea of perfection is something that is sold to us by a society that wants us to hate ourselves, and I’m tired of hating myself,” Valentin, 23, told Refinery29.

“I want the Kingdom to be a place where we can reject our perfectionist quests.”

It’s hoped the new hashtag #ComeAsYouAre encourages social media users to accept differences, discourage comparison and accept perceived “flaws” that can be “fixed” with filters or apps such as Facetune which have a narrow perception of beauty.

“Social media doesn’t cause eating disorders, but it can amplify the behaviours that are present in those with disordered eating,” Claire

Mysko, CEO of NEDA, told Refinery29.

This is why

Instagram is on board with the campaign that embraces authenticity over artifice.

“Our goal with #ComeAsYouAre isn’t necessarily to get rid of social comparison,” Dayna Geldwert, Instagram’s policy programs manager, told Refinery29.

“Instead, we want to give people tools to help them better manage how they interact with content that could make them feel negatively about themselves or their bodies.

“And (we want to) elevate (those) who are displaying diverse body types and experiences to help show that all points of view are valid and important.”