This past week, Buzzfeed introduced Body Positivity Week and posted content to their YouTube channels, website and social media channels celebrating all bodies and promoting self-love and acceptance. But what is body positivity and how is it helpful?

What is "Body Positivity"?

The Body Positivity movement was started in 1996 by feminists Connie Sobczak and Elizabeth Scott.

The movement itself aims to "teach people how to overcome conflicts with their bodies so they can lead happier, more productive lives".

The main goal is essentially to encourage young people to love their bodies and, in turn, lead a more positive, self-loving lifestyle.

So, why is it important?

With mainstream media focusing in on one body-type for both women and men, it's hard not to feel uncomfortable or unattractive in the body you, a regular person, possess.

We don't all have access to personal trainers that can help us every single day, we don't all have the money to buy organic food at the grocery store, we can't all be like those people on the covers of magazines, though we can try.

We're bombarded with images every singled day starting from birth of celebrities on the covers of People or Us Weekly, we're told that this is what it means to be attractive, that this is what people should strive to look like.

Meanwhile, 9 times out of 10, those images are heavily photoshopped, leaving everyone with a warped perception of body image.

So, of course, it's important to remind people that you can be attractive and love yourself in the body you have right now. You don't have to be a size 0 and you don't have to have rock hard abs.

This is a movement for all people of any gender, age, race and religion — this is a movement for all of us to celebrate being who we are and being happy with ourselves.

So, how can I become "Body Positive"?

According to the movement's website, there are five core skills that you can practice on a daily basis to live peacefully and healthfully in your body.

"Rather than dictating a prescriptive set of rules to follow, we empower people with practical tools, inspiration, and support to find their own way to lasting good health and greater happiness" — TheBodyPositive.org

It's here that I would like to include that becoming body positive and learning to love yourself isn't an easy process and that it could take you a very long time to finally reach a point where you're truly accepting of your body. So, please, don't be hard on yourself if you aren't quite there yet. Take your time because this is about empowering people, not making them feel like crap.

Are there any downsides to Body Positivity?

Of course, as with everything in life, there are negatives, so I'm not going to sit here and pretend like everything about this movement is perfect.

Many times, when being Body Positive, we are picky about the bodies we celebrate.

Body Positivity in social media almost always forgets to celebrate trans bodies. It forgets to celebrate trans men and women who aren't passing as cisgendered (a person whose self-identity conforms with the gender that corresponds to their biological sex; not transgender). It forgets to tell them that they deserve to feel comfortable and attractive and that they sure as hell deserve to love themselves.

Body Positivity can forget to celebrate bodies with thick, coarse hair all over the place, bodies without curves, bodies that are disabled in a way, bodies that have scars and stretch marks, men's bodies, bodies of color.

So while I love this movement and what it stands for, I recognize that it still has flaws, and I hope to change that by spreading awareness, by talking about it on social media, by starting conversations with people.

This is a movement dedicated to empowering people to feel the best they can in the body they have, in the skin they have, in the world they're in, and that's something I will always support and stand by.

If you want to read some of the articles or watch some of the videos shared by Buzzfeed from their Body Positivity week, click here.