In the "Land Down Under," also known as Australia, there lives a remarkable woman. Her name is Taryn Brumfitt and I sincerely think she could take over the world.
For the past few years, Taryn has been working on an important initiative called the Body Image Movement. In 2012, Taryn contemplated getting plastic surgery, but realized that would be altering her true self. With a young daughter, how would that decision affect her? How could Taryn teach her daughter to love her body, if Taryn couldn't even embrace hers? That's when Taryn decided that "what she really needed to change was not in fact her body, but her attitude toward it" and thus, the Body Image Movement was born.
Anyone who knows me, knows that I love all things body-image related. I both hate and love talking about it. I hate talking about body image because there is a negative connotation that comes with the discussion. I love talking about body image because it's important for people to realize how great they are. Everybody and every body is beautiful — and yet, the marketing world and most of society doesn't allow us to think that way. How dare we embrace ourselves? Oh right, because that doesn't sell.
We often forget that the images we see aren't real, that the models plastered on magazines and billboards aren't real. Even some of the fitness models you see on Instagram aren't real! There's hours of hair, makeup and digital manipulation that we can't even begin to comprehend.
This is why Taryn's movement is so important.
The Body Image Movement aims to empower women (and men!) to accept his or her bodies. No body is exactly the same, and that's pretty amazing if you ask me. Not only that, but Taryn also wants us to focus more on the important things in life, rather than excessively photoshopped images.
I'm not only writing this so that you know of this long overdue movement, but to also raise awareness to the danger it is in. Taryn successfully wrote a book around the movement, called "Embrace." She also worked on a documentary of the same name, which is currently going through censorship challenges.
The film's poster displays a nude Taryn and therein gets flagged by almost every social media platform under the sun. The movie itself contains nudity and various body types (surprise, surprise) and because of this, many cinemas around the world are hesitant to show it.
The fact that we can see scantily-clad, perhaps unreal, bodies every single day, but not see regular, every day women celebrate and love their bodies in one documentary is infuriating. This documentary has the potential to shape the way the next generation views themselves. It has the potential to make all of us think twice before bashing ourselves in front of the mirror and that's far more important than selling a lifestyle, magazine or a product. We are important. Our bodies are important and the way we feel about them is important.
If you'd like to see the Embrace trailer click here and more importantly, to demand a showing near you (or find one!) in September click here!
