Many people with eating disorders feel a deep-seated negativity about their bodies. That somehow, their bodies fail to meet a certain standard.
The result of this self-perception? Some people can spend years trying to radically mold their bodies by way of diets, fasts, extreme exercise programs, medications—anything that holds out hope for the so-called perfect body.
It doesn’t have to be that way.
Two ways to conceptualize bodies—body positivity and body neutrality—can help move people out of that warped mindset.
Before describing these two strategies, an important point: When body positivity and body neutrality are discussed on websites or in magazines, they’re often pitted against each other. Thus it’s “body positivity versus body neutrality,” as if they’re mutually exclusive, and you’re supposed to choose which is right for you.
In fact, I see those strategies as complementary. They both have much to offer someone who is struggling with body image issues. The key is to choose aspects from each that work best for you.
Body positivity
A social movement that began in the 1960s, body positivity advocates for bodies regardless of their size, shape, skin tone, gender, or physical abilities. This mindset pushes back on unrealistic standards and body image ideals.
It also emphasizes self-love, inner-worth, and radical self-acceptance. And it challenges unhelpful messages people receive about their bodies from other people, media, and society.
Body positivity is inclusive. All bodies are equal and worthy. Beauty is nothing more than an artificial, societal construct that has nothing to do with someone’s value or self-worth.
As a dietitian working in the ED world, I believe there’s one weakness with the body positive philosophy, and it’s this: Many people in treatment for EDs find it difficult if not impossible to go from loathing their bodies (which many do) to suddenly loving them. It’s a step too far for many, certainly in the short term.
For residents who think this way, we back away from that radical goal. We instead stress incremental change, whereby people can move in small steps away from self-loathing toward self-love. We assure them that if they never make it to the end of that rainbow, that’s okay. The idea is simply to move toward greater self-love and self-acceptance in small, sustainable steps. They deserve that much. Everyone does.
Body neutrality
This concept came into being about 10 years ago, in part as a reaction to the body-centric approach of body positivity.
With body neutrality, the body gets pushed off center stage. It’s not a matter of loving it or loathing it, but rather of accepting and respecting it for how it functions.
In downplaying the body, body neutrality acknowledges that the body is only one part of who we are, not the totality. Also, a person’s value has nothing to do with their body, nor does their happiness depend on what they look like.
In the body neutrality way of thinking, bodies are not good or bad. There’s no moral dimension involved. Value is taken out of the equation, so people and their bodies can just be.
Putting body positivity and body neutrality to work for you
The strengths of body positivity: I appreciate body positivity for its power to inspire, for its idealistic bent, and for the way this mindset stands up to society’s standards and beauty ideals and says…I reject all of that!
In this way, body positivity remains a powerful, galvanizing tool, especially for those in the ED community.
For many, it becomes a way to give back to those who are still struggling. It’s a way to reclaim power and control, and to become active in a social movement that is larger than themselves.
The give-back thinking goes something like this: “I went through these body image struggles. I reached a new level of acceptance about my body and body image in general. Now I want to share what I learned. This gives me greater purpose each day.”
The strengths of body neutrality: Body neutrality takes the attention off the body. It allows people to think of their body in terms of what it does, not what it is.
For example, with body neutrality, the emphasis switches from eating disorder thoughts such as “I don’t look good enough to go outside where people will see me and assess me” to more practical matters like “I’m going to the park so I can hike for 30 minutes because I can—my body is strong.”
Many people gravitate to body neutrality because it’s more factually based. Your body is able to do things—period. There’s nothing subjective about it.
With body neutrality, your body serves as an amazing conduit between you and the world, and to other people. You have arms for hugging and showing love for others. You have eyes for seeing beautiful art and amazing sunsets. You have ears for hearing inspiring music. Your body allows you to experience the world in all these countless ways, and none of them have anything to do with its shape, size, gender, or skin tone.
A combined approach to the body image challenge
At Koru Spring we use a “Body Image Continuum” chart as a teaching tool for our residents. This chart incorporates body positivity and body neutrality. It shows a series of stages that go from body negativity at one end of the spectrum to body positivity at the other end, with body neutrality in the middle.
As an exercise, we ask residents to place themselves on this spectrum based on how they feel about their bodies.
At the body negativity end of the spectrum are descriptors such as “hate” and “dissociation.” People place themselves here if negative thoughts and feelings about their bodies take up a significant amount of mental space each day.
At the body positivity end of the spectrum appear the descriptors “love” and “liberation.” A person would place themselves here when they love and celebrate their body, and feel a positive bond with it.
In the middle of the spectrum—this is body neutrality territory—are the words “acceptance,” “appreciation,” and “respect.” When a person feels this way about their body, they are no longer obsessed about changing it. Rather, they have accepted it, and feel gratitude for what it does for them.
Final thoughts
About this spectrum chart, and body image more generally: The ultimate goal is not to get all the way to the body positivity mindset of total self-love. That’s not realistic for most people regardless of whether they have an eating disorder or not.
Rather, the idea is to take note of where you are on the body-image spectrum. Then, through self-discovery and therapy if needed, to gradually move toward a more positive relationship with your body that allows you to live a normal, contented, productive life.
