Modern society is full of destructive stereotypes and mindsets about body and appearance. Developed throughout the generations, traditional images of how people must look to be accepted by society are now well-established. Even though discrimination rules the world since ancient times, people started fighting it just recently. Movements that aim to claim the beauty of the human body are sometimes being oppressed and criticized. This process shows that there are still people who admire humiliating others without reasons and, by doing so, get the feeling of self-affirmation. Society needs the power to revolutionize the understanding of the human body. This salvatory power is radical body love; it can change the cruel world of discrimination and teach people to recognize each other.
Practicing radical body love can help eliminate deep-rooted standards of unacceptance and help people show kindness to others. Radical body love is beneficial because it will change the modern world for the better. Taylor, in her book, emphasizes that nowadays, social media avoids showing people with disabilities or body peculiarities that are considered wrong (31). Moreover, social media mainly focuses on comparing and judging people according to their natural peculiarities. By doing so, they establish a rough example of how people must live. From society’s perspective, any course deviation is unacceptable and should be pursued or even punished. However, social media are a mere medium shedding light on peoples’ desires. They are creating discriminating products because there is a demand. If people change their attitude towards this issue, social media will obey. Thus, the starting point is an individual. Taylor believes that finding peace with our differences and body is the first step towards positive changes (21). Radical body love implies genuine acceptance and understanding firstly of ourselves, then of others. This path will lead society to a future free of discrimination and humiliation.
Appearance discrimination exists because mentally weak people try to find someone who can be, for any reason, worse than them. Trying to get satisfaction out of nothing, they usually choose the victim who is different from others. Then those people unite and oppress the chosen pray. The main issue here is that human nature requires people to compare everything around them, which results in the inability to accept neither themselves nor others. To change the natural order of things and become better versions of themselves, people need to find the courage to love others because they are different. Taylor points out that radical body love can help people understand that everyone deserves love (109). Practicing radical body love contributes to the deep understanding of the concept of love to yourself and others. First of all, to understand and accept differences in people’s appearance, it is essential to respect yourself. Thus, the changes again start from the individual perspective. The ability to accept and love is a result of hard work on yourself.
Practicing body love can be beneficial not only to level self-esteem but also to provoke global changes by developing tolerance and understanding of the differences. Destructive discrimination can lead to the degradation of society, and it depends on people to prevent this process from coming. In the case of community, one person can make a difference, especially from a long-term perspective. Radical body love can help people and society to become better.
Work Cited
Taylor, Sonya. The Body Is Not an Apology: The Power of Radical Self-Love. Berrett-Koehler Publishers, 2018.