Body Positivity: Real Self-Love or Just a Toxic Trend?

So… What’s the Perfect Body This Year?

Hey guys, tell me - whose body is the “perfect” body this year?

What’s trending now? Skinny? Curvy? Strong? Soft? Oh wait… our bodies aren’t supposed to be trends, right? Are we sure about that? I wish.
But we all know the truth: they still are.

How It All Started

Women’s bodies have always been at the center of everything, in the art, fashion, performance, culture. And with every decade, the “ideal” body changed right along with society. When supermodels first took over the world, beauty became something you couldn’t reach without sacrificing your health. That’s when the whole “heroin chic” body appeared. Girls were starving themselves just to feel beautiful.

And that’s exactly when conversations around body acceptance started to bloom.
Because seriously, should we only love our bodies when we’re skinny?
No. Obviously not.

People began questioning these insane standards. The idea behind body positivity was never about looking cute, was about survival. It was about giving women who couldn’t meet impossible expectations a chance to breathe again: women with mental health struggles, mothers, older women, women with unique shapes and stories. It was a rebellion after decades of torture.

And honestly, it was beautiful. It felt fresh. It felt necessary. People wanted to learn more, to feel included, to finally stop hurting themselves.

Then Came Social Media… And Everything Changed

With the internet, body positivity exploded everywhere ,brands, influencers, campaigns, everyone was suddenly promoting “self-love.” For a moment, it felt like the world had finally become softer. More open. More diverse.

But slowly, something shifted.
The movement started getting used against us, in marketing, in health discussions, in pushing overconsumption. And even worse: it started creating new rules. New “right” and “wrong.”

Curvy? Wrong.
Skinny? Wrong.
Strong? Wrong.
Soft? Wrong.
Apparently, we’re always doing something wrong.

So somehow, we ended up back at the start, just with more confusion and nicer filters.

The Beautiful Side of Body Positivity

Body positivity opened doors that were shut for too long.
It pushed back against unrealistic standards, made room for different shapes and stories, and helped women feel seen instead of hidden. It reminded us that beauty isn’t one size or one decade. It gave permission to breathe, to exist, to show our real selves without apology.
And that will always be a powerful thing.

The Toxic Side No One Wants to Admit

But let’s be honest, the movement also took a strange turn.
Somewhere along the way, it stopped being empowering and started becoming another expectation. Suddenly, loving your body became a requirement. Insecurities became “failures.” Confidence had to be constant.
Brands used the language of empowerment to sell more products, while social media pushed the idea that if you're not confident all the time, you're doing something wrong.
And that’s where it lost its truth.

My Honest Take & What Balance Really Means

I’ll be honest, I don’t fit into the whole “love every part of yourself every second” idea. It feels unrealistic. Some days you feel great, some days you don’t. And I think that should be normal, not something we have to hide or feel guilty about.

What I’ve learned is this: it’s okay to accept yourself and still want to change something.
Wanting to improve or feel better in your own skin doesn’t make you less confident. It doesn’t make you weak. It just makes you human. There’s a difference between hating your body and wanting better for it.

Balance, for me, is the space between both:
accepting who you are right now, while also allowing yourself goals, growth, and evolution.
Not because society is screaming at you to “fix” something, but because you decided it’s time.

It’s also okay if your relationship with your body changes over time. We go through stress, hormones, work, life, breakups, new routines… your body isn’t static. So why should your feelings about it be?

At the end of the day, I don’t believe in pressuring myself into constant positivity. I believe in honesty. In taking care of myself. In being kind to my body even when it’s not how I want it to be yet. And in giving myself permission to grow without shame.

Your body isn’t a trend or a statement.
It’s simply yours and you can love it, change it, rest it, challenge it, and still respect it through all of that.

With love,

Angela