If you need to find a bright spot on the internet today, the queer community is celebrating their diversity and each other with the hashtag #BodyPosiLGBTQ.
Body positivity is the idea that all human bodies should be accepted and that all people should have a positive body image. It’s a great ideal to strive toward, both individually and as a society. But sometimes practicing what we preach isn’t so easy, especially if you have a body that has been traditionally treated as less-than or other.
A part of body positivity is pushing back on those societal norms, and showing that they falsely limit our expectations of beauty. People often do this individually with selfies, but sometimes a community comes together to lift each other up, as is happening this week on queer Twitter with the #BodyPosiLGBTQ hashtag.
It’s unclear where the hashtag started, but it’s been going strong for days, and it’s full of stunningly beautiful people of different sizes, shapes, colors, and with different disabilities.
is this how you do this? 🙇🏻♂️💖 #BodyPosiLGBTQ pic.twitter.com/sp80pyJ8Dp
— Luis 🍂 (@BaraTiddys) April 7, 2019
https://twitter.com/HALBINSON/status/1114946561623121920
https://twitter.com/rrecklysss/status/1115094415729668096
While many of the posts are funny or flirty, others take a more serious tone to approach the subject of body positivity. For some folks, body positivity is a real struggle, but that’s what makes it so important for them to do it anyway.
https://twitter.com/sterrestelsels/status/1114935905683423235
https://twitter.com/TreshonBrown4/status/1114936149779341313
https://twitter.com/thegeorgieb/status/1114935899140304901
If you’re thinking about posting some of your favorite pictures in the #BodyPosiLGBTQ hashtag but are feeling unsure, you can find plenty of reassurance in the replies to the photos already posted. The support of kind, queer strangers is so sweet and overwhelmingly wholesome, it may be more difficult to not join in. While the queer community is not immune to reinforcing negative beauty standards, the kindness on display for people of many diverse looks gives hope for a brighter, more positive community.
READ MORE:
- Can you be body positive if you hate your own body?
- Falling in love with a woman forced me to face my body image issues
- How weightlifting has been pivotal in my eating disorder recovery
