When you requested most individuals in the event that they assume that the physique positivity motion is a reasonably new motion, likelihood is the vast majority of them would say sure. Given that previously few years the phrases “physique positivity” have made their manner into the favored media, it’s not stunning that it appears “new”. Nonetheless, these prime physique constructive influencers have been championing the motion for years.
What’s Physique Positivity?
Physique positivity has its roots within the fats acceptance motion of the Nineteen Sixties when individuals got here collectively in Central Park to protest discrimination in opposition to fats individuals and to advocate for the acceptance of fatness as a mainstream factor. Folks ate collectively, burned papers and different types of media that hailed thinness collectively, and spoke out in opposition to anti-fatness collectively.
The fats acceptance motion didn’t cease right here. In 1969 the Nationwide Affiliation to Help Fats Individuals (NAAFA) was created in an effort to unfold consciousness concerning fats discrimination as a civil rights difficulty. This group nonetheless exists immediately and has advanced to deal with points resembling weight bias in healthcare, employment, and schooling, all of which have a major impact on fats peoples’ social and financial mobility on this nation.
Whereas the motion has been round for many years now, it is very important acknowledge that the motion was not at all times as inclusive as it’s immediately. As a matter of truth, even if Black, queer and disabled our bodies performed a large position within the development of the motion, they haven’t essentially been given the popularity they deserve. Earlier than there have been influencers and companies on TikTok and Instagram selling physique positivity on-line, there have been fats black femmes and fats girls of shade talking out in opposition to fatphobia and discriminatory beliefs about fatness on-line.
Briefly, there are a variety of creators today that appear to neglect concerning the origins of this motion and in doing so miss the entire level of a motion that was created to encourage the unconventional acceptance of fats, queer, black, and disabled our bodies. Nonetheless, there are numerous prime physique constructive influencers on the market which can be placing within the work to honor the fats acceptance motion and the individuals it was made to assist within the identify of radical social justice, most of that are Black girls who’ve been in a position to curate platforms that promote intersectionality.
Under is a listing compiled of 10 prime physique constructive influencers that couldn’t care much less about magnificence requirements.
1. Stephanie Yeboah
Stephanie Yeboah is an writer, award-winning blogger, physique acceptance advocate, author, and public speaker who makes use of her weblog and her Instagram amongst different types of media to have conversations about physique politics, psychological well being, and self-acceptance. She not too long ago wrote a e-book titled Fattily Ever After about how she navigated rising up coping with racism and fatphobia. On this e-book, she speaks candidly about misogynoir and the fetishization of black plus-sized girls in addition to her experiences with courting on-line and feeling lonely in her expertise as a much bigger black girl
Yeboah’s articles on her weblog vary from lighthearted titles like “Plus Measurement Sweaters to Bounce On this Winter” to extra critical subjects like “The Portrayal of the Fats, Black Girl” and “’FAT’ is NOT a foul phrase.”
Yeboah’s work doesn’t cease there. She has additionally labored with manufacturers like Dove, Meet Flamingo, and Cult Magnificence and was featured in a trailer for Bumble UK and Eire’s #MyLoveIsBlackLove marketing campaign, a marketing campaign in honor of Black Historical past Month created for the aim of celebrating what black love means to individuals in Britain.
At 231K followers on Instagram, Yeboah is continually blessing individuals’s feeds with outfit concepts, product suggestions, black-owned enterprise suggestions, recipes, and trustworthy conversations about her physique and her emotions in the direction of her physique.
2. Elvia Muñoz
Elvia Muñoz is a Mexican content material creator primarily based in Los Angeles who is thought for offering midsize model inspiration, encouraging individuals to put on no matter they need, and supporting companies owned by black individuals and different individuals of shade.
@iamelviamunoz Supporting my fellow Latinx #hijadetumadre @hijadetumadrela #sonoratown #downtownla #latinostiktok #mexicantiktok #chicanosoftiktok #chicanobusiness #losangeles
As one of many prime physique constructive influencers, she has labored with Latinx-owned manufacturers like Hija De Tu Madre and has collaborated with firms like Advantage Magnificence and EBY by Sofia Vergara and Renata Black. Her every day posts encompass Day within the life movies, make-up tutorials, clothes hauls, Get Prepared With Me movies, and “confidence discuss” movies during which she outlines how she has gained confidence over time as somebody who has not at all times had the most effective relationship together with her physique.
@iamelviamunoz Grey for fall #drippy #cargopants #midsizegal #midsizefashion #fallfashion #drippyfit #nikefit #vegastok
Muñoz has collected over 6K followers on TikTok and has over 1.5K followers on Instagram. Even supposing she has a variety of room to develop, Muñoz is a implausible supply of illustration for Latinx individuals, particularly mid-sized people who find themselves struggling to seek out somebody they’ll relate to on-line.
@iamelviamunoz You’re lovely #confidence #selflove #loveyourself #insecurities #overcomingfears #selfimprovement
How necessary is relatability on-line? Learn extra concerning the worth of relatability in influencers and types on the forefront of on-line advertising right here.
3. Kadeeja Sel Khan
Kadeeja Sel Khan is an Afghan magnificence blogger and make-up artist turned pimples mannequin and pores and skin activist primarily based within the UK. Her story was popularized when she took to social media after a unfavourable expertise with L’Oreal after the model reached out to her to take part within the launch of a brand new vegan hair dye however then went again on their phrase claiming that they may not embrace her within the marketing campaign due to her pores and skin points.
Since then, Sel Khan has created a protected house for individuals of all pores and skin colours and textures on-line as she continues to share makeup-free, unedited images of her pores and skin with the objective of normalizing pimples. Moreover, as a part of her physique acceptance work, she is extraordinarily forthcoming in relation to her private points with PCOS and the way these points in the end have an effect on her self-worth.
Sel Khan has acquired many honors for her work, a type of being a ‘Maintaining It Actual Influencer 2020’ Award from Fabulous Journal and her story has been featured on Attract, Elle, Cosmopolitan UK, The Solar, American Vogue, Teen Vogue, and British Vogue.
Sel Khan has turn out to be an inspiration to her 410k Instagram followers attributable to her honesty and the documentation of her skincare journey. She is unquestionably somebody price following, not solely due to how she encourages individuals to not fall into the entice that perfection equals magnificence but additionally as a result of she is a pillar of the physique positivity motion.
4. Michelle Elman
Michelle Elman is a life coach, writer, TEDx Speaker, and physique acceptance advocate, and is most acknowledged for her marketing campaign known as Scarred Not Scared, a marketing campaign created to assist individuals with scars who might need felt lonely the way in which Elman did after a number of surgical procedures all through her life.
Because the launch of her marketing campaign, Elman has gained over 300K followers throughout all of her social media platforms and has labored with manufacturers like Dove, BooHoo, Johnson & Johnson, amongst different well-known manufacturers. She has additionally gone on to seem on TV and radio all around the globe, resembling BBC Radio London, and has given speeches at a number of occasions for manufacturers like Sony Music and Hearst.
Along with writing for Girls’s Well being, Cosmopolitan, and SELF, amongst different respected publishers, she has additionally written a few of her personal books, resembling her e-book known as Am I Ugly?, and her latest e-book that was only recently revealed in 2021 titled The Pleasure of Being Egocentric.
All in all, it’s clear that Elman is a power to be reckoned with provided that what began off as a small marketing campaign in assist of physique acceptance and self-love has advanced into an empire devoted to empowering individuals of all sizes and styles.
5. Kellie Brown
Kellie Brown is a content material creator, speaker, author, YouTuber, self-love advocate, creator of the hashtag #FatAtFashionWeek and Fats Icon Podcast, and founding father of AndIGetDressed.com. Brown created the #FatAtFashionWeek hashtag in response to the style business’s erasure of fats our bodies and the dearth of physique range in New York Style Week. Through her YouTube channel, her Instagram, and her weblog AndIGetDressed.com she spreads the message of self-love by speaking about her relationship together with her hair, physique, and pores and skin, in addition to how she expresses herself by means of her private model.
Along with content material creation, she has collaborated with Amazon and their The Drop initiative to create a set impressed by her mom and the 70s model she grew up admiring. Her objective with the gathering was to create clothes she was afraid to put on previous to attending to the place she is now in her self-acceptance journey. The gathering options colourful prints, puffy attire, and matching units, all of which go as much as measurement 3X.
Like the opposite prime physique constructive influencers on this listing, her viewers loves her. She has managed to achieve 149K individuals on Instagram, 5K followers on Pinterest, and 64.7K subscribers on YouTube, the vast majority of which comply with her for her present guides, plus measurement outfit concepts, skincare and make-up suggestions, life recommendation, and physique acceptance advocacy work. As a substitute of merely stating that she needs there to be impactful change within the trend business and on the earth as an entire in relation to inclusivity, she takes it one step additional by actively breaking down limitations that uphold racism and fatphobia.
6. Dana Patterson
Dana Patterson is a psychological well being advocate and physique acceptance influencer who has been a mannequin for many years. She has racked up 440K followers on Instagram and about 215.9K followers on TikTok. Nonetheless, she has not at all times been so well-known.
Her profession started when she signed with Ford Fashions however it was not till she signed with Wilhelmina in Los Angeles that her struggles together with her physique grew to become a much bigger difficulty. Throughout this time in LA, she turned to social media to speak about her consuming dysfunction restoration. On her Instagram, she explains that though she solely had about 1000 followers, she did it as a result of she felt the necessity for the neighborhood assist that might permit her to speak to different individuals with related experiences to hers.
She doesn’t take into account herself a daily influencer provided that she likes to have uncomfortable conversations about social points, physique positivity, human rights, skincare, and trend. Her content material ranges from how manufacturers are failing the plus-sized neighborhood to what her favourite Sephora foundations for shiny pores and skin are.
Patterson has acknowledged that she has stepped again from being on the very entrance of the physique positivity motion in an effort to respect its origins and to permit marginalized individuals of shade, disabled individuals, and black individuals to take up more room in a motion that was created by and for them. Moreover, she has introduced that she prefers radical physique acceptance and neutrality over physique positivity as she doesn’t assist poisonous positivity.
7. Javiera del Pozo
Javiera del Pozo joined TikTok in 2020 within the midst of a pandemic and went viral in August after posting a video dancing together with her mom. Since then she has gained over 340K followers on Instagram, 184K YouTube subscribers, and at present has 544.8K followers on Tiktok. Her content material is devoted to her Chilean roots and a dedication to being clear together with her followers by doing try-on hauls, selling measurement inclusive manufacturers, being trustworthy about weight achieve/loss, and continuously posting unedited footage of herself.
Javiera has labored with every kind of manufacturers, resembling Reebok, Too Confronted Cosmetics, Style Nova, Savage x Fenty by Rihanna, Boohoo, and American Eagle, amongst different firms. She has additionally accomplished a collaboration with Nasty Gal known as NastyGal by Javi that confirmed off the model’s spring assortment which dropped on April 26, 2021. Along with these model offers, del Pozo is signed with BTWN MGMT, which is a modeling company representing a variety of physique sizes and styles.
Javiera will also be discovered featured on Nylon’s Welcome to Favourite Observe sequence as one among NYLON’s favourite creators and is pictured on American Eagle’s weblog carrying her favourite American Eagle denims.
Because of her supportive phrases on varied social platforms she has taught hundreds of individuals the right way to love and settle for their our bodies by selling the concept that “confidence shouldn’t be measurement unique,” and telling her followers that it doesn’t matter what they seem like or what measurement they’re, they deserve love and respect.
8. Naomie Chaput
Naomie Chaput is a mannequin primarily based in Montreal who goes by “Nao.” She is an advocate for the plus-size neighborhood and is thought for calling Future, a widely known rapper, out for saying no “fatties” had been allowed at a nightclub in Miami known as Story that Chaput and her pal had been planning on going to.
Chaput went viral after posting a video on Instagram tales explaining how a promoter advised her pal that Future had particularly requested that large ladies not be allowed into the membership whereas he was there. After reaching out to his administration and receiving no response, she dmed the rapper herself however sadly was not met with an apology.
Apart from her work defending plus-sized girls, Nao can also be working with manufacturers like Fairly Little Factor, Parade, Style Nova, and not too long ago dropped her personal edit in collaboration with RebDolls. She participated within the Vogue Problem and was featured on the Vogue web site after submitting a faux-cover of herself to the journal, and her work, particularly a Rihanna 032c Journal-inspired photoshoot she did, has been featured on the 032c Journal web site. Along with these accomplishments, she was featured on Teen Vogue in an article titled “12 Finest #DontRush TikTok Problem Movies” in April of 2020 after collaborating within the #DontRush TikTok Problem.
Viral hashtags and TikTok tendencies are so efficient for bringing consideration to points and types. Study extra about using viral TikToks in this weblog.
By her Instagram account, Nao offers her 334K followers with every kind of attention-grabbing and provoking content material, resembling temper boards, her personal artwork, make-up tutorials, her private life, cooking movies, and posts about her appreciation for her physique.
9. Megan Jayne Crabbe
Megan Jayne Crabbe is a physique acceptance advocate, anorexia survivor, content material creator, and author who has devoted her Instagram to combating fatphobia and utilizing her voice to talk on how magnificence requirements are racist, ableist, ageist, cisnormative, and capitalist.
Her candor and dedication to contributing to the fats acceptance motion have garnered her 1.3 million followers on Instagram over time. There’s a motive she made it on our listing of prime physique constructive influencers
She has been featured in Folks, Teen Vogue, Bustle, Redbook, Refinery29, and Buzzfeed amongst different media retailers, and all through the course of her profession has come out with the next two books: Physique Constructive Energy: Methods to Cease Weight-reduction plan, Make Peace with Your Physique and Reside and Physique Constructive Energy: As a result of Life Is Already Taking place and You Don’t Want Flat Abs to Reside It.
10. Kelvin Davis
Kelvin Davis is a physique acceptance advocate, mannequin, and dancer born in South Carolina. His need to begin his physique constructive trend weblog known as “Notoriously Dapper” grew out of a foul expertise he had someday whereas he was out purchasing when a gross sales affiliate shamed him for being “too large.”
Davis’ weblog content material consists of outfit concepts for males to point out that garments and trend are for everybody in addition to weblog posts about self-love.
Davis has additionally modeled for manufacturers like Hole and has labored with Bonobos to advertise the model’s newly launched prolonged sizes as much as measurement 54 and 4XL.
Since he began, Davis gained 15K weblog subscribers and has collected over 92K followers on Instagram all due to his method to speaking concerning the issues he loves like trend while having necessary discussions about his physique and making a platform for males to return collectively and focus on their insecurities with out having to really feel ashamed.
Preserve Being Physique Constructive
That is all to say that the physique acceptance motion didn’t begin simply yesterday, as a matter of truth, it began lengthy earlier than the entire individuals on this listing had been born. Nonetheless, with the rise of social media, there has additionally been an increase in influencers, particularly creators with a vested curiosity in propelling the physique acceptance motion ahead.
Whereas some influencers have used the physique acceptance motion as a advertising technique with out truly doing something to assist the motion in an impactful manner, there are numerous, resembling the entire ones I’ve listed above, who’ve taken the time to coach themselves concerning the origins of the motion and who’ve devoted their platforms to advancing the motion reasonably than centering the motion round themselves for financial achieve.
The aim of this publish is to shine a light-weight on these prime physique constructive influencers who’re implausible creators and to share their work in hopes that their platforms may encourage others.
