What is body neutrality, the new trend loved by beautiful celebs?
You may not know it yet, but body neutrality is the new body positivity. What is body neutrality, I hear you say? It’s apparently something that Jameela Jamil came up with, and Taylor Swift is ever so thankful to her for it.
Talking to the DJ Zane Lowe in a recent interview, Swift spoke about the times she was slut-shamed as an aspiring artist, and how her talent was overlooked because she is a woman. Then she praised Jamil: “We have amazing women out there like Jameela Jamil saying, ‘I’m not trying to spread body positivity. I’m trying to spread body neutrality where I can sit here and not think about what my body is looking like.’”
I know what you’re thinking: how are you supposed to keep up? We’ve had body negativity for centuries, then body positivity suddenly came along, and now this? Cast your worries aside – here’s all you need to know.
So whatever body neutrality is, it is notbody positivity. Body positivity is old news.
Body positivity was the move to encourage women to celebrate their bodies. People interpreted this message in mixed ways. Some thought it meant celebrating your body by not wearing many clothes, in an “if you’ve got it, flaunt it” kind of way. But many people pointed out this was not very inclusive to people who do not have conventionally beautiful bodies.
Others interpreted it to mean women should be encouraged to celebrate their bodies no matter what they look like. But then people got annoyed that this message was excluding conventionally good-looking people, who are, like, never included in anything. Then people started to think body positivity was just a marketing sham being used to sell women more stuff.
Body neutrality is, of course, much more nuanced than all of this. It is the idea that women’s bodies should just not be commented on at all. So don’t say: “I love how I look, no matter what