By Kristen Fuller — 2021
Learn about the difference between body positivity and body neutrality.
Read on www.verywellmind.com
CLEAR ALL
Our writer reached out to seven wellness experts to better understand what body neutrality is and why it’s good for your mental health. Read their thoughts here.
It’s no secret that certain segments of the gay community hold high, near-oppressive standards of what counts as sexually attractive. Countless gay men have struggled to see themselves within it as a result.
We’re exploring what it means to be queer and have a body, with essays about the ways our bodies are legislated and discriminated against, the strategies we’ve used to find belonging in them, and how we’re breaking down the stereotypes, preconceptions, and fetishization that many of us endure.
What began as a proud assertion of identity has itself become a trope; the stereotype of a gay man now is one who goes to the gym and takes care of himself.
“Millions of adults across the UK are struggling with concerns about their body image, but of all the groups surveyed, the LGBT+ community is most likely to be affected.”
Body image is particularly important to discuss in the context of the LGBTQIA+ community, due to the prevalence of eating disorders and similar issues that disproportionately impact those who identify as LGBTQIA+.
For many of us, men with broad shoulders, narrow hips, taut muscles, and white skin — sun-kissed or pale under hot lights — became an ideal we couldn’t escape. We coveted images of these bodies like treasure, and they educated us in the rules of attraction.
Despite their many visible differences, they’re bound together by more than breast cancer: They are linked through an ambitious portrait series meant to explore body image, illness and self-esteem called The Grace Project.
For women like me who lose our nipples to breast cancer, learning to love our changed bodies can be a journey.
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I live in a culture that’s only too eager to court my vanity.