“We have no idea what real bodies look like anymore.”
That’s the claim made by self-made social media model and feminist/body-acceptance advocate Megan Jayne Crabbe, who boasts 227,000 followers on Instagram and counting.
In order to rectify said injustice, Crabbe posts pictures of herself scantily clad to give people an idea of how a “real body” looks. Her niche is juxtaposing flattering and unflattering pictures of herself to show that she (and you) should accept your physical flaws because they’re normal, and part of being human.
OK, point taken.
But Crabbe isn’t actually helping anybody by promoting her body. She’s part of the same problem, just on the opposite end of the spectrum. To be clear, Crabbe sees a legitimate problem. The typical American woman checks her appearance eight times a day. Last year, plastic surgeons performed 133,511 nose jobs. And it’s certainly related to the current unhealthy American emphasis on perfect appearance and the pressure to look conventionally beautiful.
But Crabbe is not helping to relieve that pressure; she’s buying into the system. The “body positive” movement simply demands that less conventionally “beautiful” women be just as free to display themselves in the same unseemly way as do the models they rail against. But they’re missing the actual problem, which is whether the constant display and emphasis on the body is a good thing for anyone. They should not ask why society says they cannot be displayed, but whether anyone should be.
Bombarding the internet with scantily clad pictures simply perpetuates this unhealthy obsession with the physical. Ultimately, this movement will not lead to people living happy, fruitful lives, because loving yourself should not have anything to do with your body.
Bodies, no matter how beautiful they are at one point, will always become old and worn. Crabbe should try promoting self-acceptance on a more substantive level. How about spending all that time and effort advocating for virtue?