BCBC - Monday Mumblings - S1E002 - A History of Body Positivity and Body Liberation - a podcast by The Scribing Simian, Inc

Background

Body Positivity may seem to be a modern movement as the hashtags and Instagram ready photos and images threaten to take over your feeds on a daily basis. The fight for the freedom to love our bodies is older than the internet - going back as long as we have had our bodies. As long as there have been human beings coexisting in groups of 2 or more people there have been ongoing struggles and battles to decide the "best" way or "right way" to be.

Historically the battles were not always about the same things. Our ideas of what the perfect body has changed over time. In earlier days it was about the body type that was most likely to survive being run down by a saber-toothed tiger - lean and fast or strong and bulky. In areas where food was scarce, it was a display of wealth or success to have a body that was plump. Long ago in China, it was a symbol of wealth and status to be able to maintain a woman whose feet were bound. In Japan, foot binding was also a practice, specifically for dancers and courtesans.

What this means is - the ideal body, the idea of beauty, of body perfection is simply that - a picture. It is not a firm thing, written in stone. It is an ever-changing image - fluid with the times. Today's ideal bodies are described in many terms, including:

• Gender Identity
• Race
• Age
• Ability
• Size
• Hair color

Ideal body types are perpetuated by the media, by our stories, by the books we read and by the nature of our lives. Around the world, there are vast ranges of what ideal bodies or beauty is defined as.

https://gizmodo.com/photoshop-reveals-how-different-countries-see-body-imag-1724498667

Body Positivity versus Body Liberation

There are two semi-parallel, semi opposing movements that can be designated under the body positive movement. Monkey and Miss Laura discuss these two movements in the first Monday Mumbling of August (this aired on August 6 - so check it out).

The first is the Body Positive Movement.

The second is the Body Liberation Movement. http://queerfatfemme.com/2016/08/29/body-liberation-activism-in-five/

A Brief History

I am honestly not sure that anyone could create an accurate timeline of the different cultures globally, and their movement towards body positivity, body liberation, or body acceptance. We absolutely welcome anyone's input on actions that we have missed here. There have been many instances in history where things were done to create and attain an ideal body - that was later determined to be damaging to people in a physical or health or wellbeing manner - or that simply changed for other reasons.

We are going to select just a few instances:

1. Feudal Japan Foot Binding - https://heianjapanweb.wordpress.com/2016/10/17/blog-post-title/

This practice started in and around 1000 AD and continued through around 1750 AD. Foot binding originated in the tenth or eleventh century by dancers and courtesans. This was a practice where a young girl's feet were tightly wrapped. This usually caused the bones to break, thus causing extreme pain.

There are many aspects to foot binding that relate or go back to social influence. Foot binding was first found to be generally accepted among the elite families. However, later this practice became more common and known throughout society. Mothers started the force this painful...

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