That changed when he bumped into
Corissa Ellening, the “body-positive” vlogger who runs the FatGirlFlow YouTube
channel. It was the first time Pendergast had seen a person like her in a
bikini.
"I realized, 'Shit, I don't have
to wait to do these things,'" he said. "Shit, I don't have to wait to
lose weight (wear a swimsuit)."
Three or four years have passed since
then, and the body’s positivity movement has exploded in popularity. It has
been embraced by TV players, social media influencers and the marketing of big
clothing brands.
Instagram users proudly look like
“fat rolls” and clothing companies market unretouched billboards with “real
designs” with stretch marks and cellulite.
Too exclusive?
In its modern form, “body positivity”
can mean anything from accepting mistakes to your body’s satisfaction in
pursuing the visibility and acceptance of larger bodies.
Pendergast, now 32, says the
definition has expanded over time. And the more you have, the less it seems
appropriate.
"Brands and influencers have
chosen it. They have no idea where it started and where it came from," he
said. "And it's very painful to see that these YouTubeers ... don't really
understand that the positivity of the body is also political."
He is one of a growing group of
former proponents of body positivity who are turning away from movement.
For some, it’s because standards of
acceptable “body positivity” have been calculated that movement is no longer
satisfying or inclusive. For others, it feels like too much pressure.
British style and lifestyle blogger
Stephanie Yeboah, 29, prefers to use the term “fat acceptance” rather than
“body positivity”.
“I found that many of the women they
used to represent positivity were white women, often hourglass-shaped, shaped
like Ashley Graham,” Yeboah says.
Graham, a notable model that was the
first plus-size model to appear on the cover of Sports Illustrated swimsuit
magazine in 2016, has become a mainstay of the movement, regularly calling
"body bastards" on Instagram.
According to the agency, she also has
a U.S. size 14. It is thinner than the average American woman who wears a size
16 or 18.
While many brands more often advertise
plus-size models like Graham, the models still conform to narrow standards:
size 14 or smaller, hourglass shape, high cheekbones, pale skin, flat stomach.
Women with something over the age of 14 still don’t see themselves in the “most
positive” campaigns in the body.
For black and white Yeboah, this type
of brand shows an existing prejudice against fat people and colorful women. She
says the positivity of the body was not meant to apply only to those who fit
the narrow definition of beauty. It was meant to be a social movement.
