Are You Following The Right Body Positive Accounts?

I’ve been asked a lot how you know you are following the right type of body positive account and who are the good bopo accounts and who are the bad ones? I obviously have my opinions, but they are simply that, opinions. I don’t really believe in good or bad, just ones I would follow/trust and others I wouldn’t. I am not here to slam other accounts or tell you not to follow them. So instead here are some questions that you can ask and thoughts you can consider: 1) Do they make you feel better about your body? Just because they are a body positive account, doesn’t mean they make you feel good. I have unfollowed some people simply because their body type is the exact body type I used to follow for fitspo. That is not their fault. That is just for my own mental health. 2) Do they educate themselves? The fastest way to figure this out is comment on their page asking for a book recommendation. If they can’t recommend a single body positive book, then that is shocking. If they only recommend books published in the last 10 years, that is shocking. A body positive activist should have read more than one book on body positivity. 3) Do they practice what they preach? You wouldn’t learn how to make money from someone who hasn’t. Body positivity is not about loving your body everyday, in every moment but I would want to learn from someone with a base level of body confidence. How you figure that out is for you to decide, but for me, it means not using your platform for external validation. Things like if they always post with filters or are constantly editing their photos. Do they cover their face in their stories? These are not clear cut rules either, they just speak to a pattern of behaviour. I believe you should only share your scars, not your wounds and that you should heal yourself first before teaching others. These are my beliefs and requirements. They don’t have to be yours. This is not an exhaustive list, it’s missing quite a few obvious ones like if they are selling you detox teas but it’s a starting point. #ScarredNotScared • Jumpsuit: @asos

A post shared by Michelle Elman (@scarrednotscared) on Jan 2, 2018 at 7:30am PST

I’ve been asked a lot how you know you are following the right type of body positive account and who are the good bopo accounts and who are the bad ones? I obviously have my opinions, but they are simply that, opinions. I don’t really believe in good or bad, just ones I would follow/trust and others I wouldn’t. I am not here to slam other accounts or tell you not to follow them. So instead here are some questions that you can ask and thoughts you can consider:

1) Do they make you feel better about your body? Just because they are a body positive account, doesn’t mean they make you feel good. I have unfollowed some people simply because their body type is the exact body type I used to follow for fitspo. That is not their fault. That is just for my own mental health.

2) Do they educate themselves? The fastest way to figure this out is comment on their page asking for a book recommendation. If they can’t recommend a single body positive book, then that is shocking. If they only recommend books published in the last 10 years, that is shocking. A body positive activist should have read more than one book on body positivity.

3) Do they practice what they preach? You wouldn’t learn how to make money from someone who hasn’t. Body positivity is not about loving your body everyday, in every moment but I would want to learn from someone with a base level of body confidence. How you figure that out is for you to decide, but for me, it means not using your platform for external validation. Things like if they always post with filters or are constantly editing their photos. Do they cover their face in their stories? These are not clear cut rules either, they just speak to a pattern of behaviour. I believe you should only share your scars, not your wounds and that you should heal yourself first before teaching others.

These are my beliefs and requirements. They don’t have to be yours. This is not an exhaustive list, it’s missing quite a few obvious ones like if they are selling you detox teas but it’s a starting point. #ScarredNotScared