Sarah King: Body positivity - a movement to get behind

Can we talk about body positivity for a moment? I can not tell you how much I personally am enjoying and healing from this movement.

For those of you who aren’t familiar, body positivity is the belief that you are enough in the body you are currently in. That everybody deserves to be loved. That there is nothing wrong with your body, regardless of size, shape or ability. And that all body types deserve representation in the media.

I lived through the 90s. A time when “heroin chic” ruled the runways. Kate Moss did me no favors. But you can’t blame the 1990s for our obsession with thinness. You can find ads for weight loss gadgets and medications dating back to the early 1900s. What those ads taught us all is we are not good enough.

Enter Lizzo, Ashley Graham, Bodyposipanda (on Instagram), and the like. These women are taking issue with this obsession head on. They are infiltrating music, magazines, social media and beyond with the idea that every body has beauty. Every body has value. Every body is enough. You don’t need to change your body to be acceptable.

As a mom and a survivor of an eating disorder, this message is incredibly important. After having a kid, if you're lucky, your body will go back to where it was prior to your baby bump. If you are like the majority of other women, it doesn’t. And it takes a toll mentally when it comes to identifying yourself. And for me, this identity crisis robbed me of precious focus on my infant son.

So remember: Bathing suits aren’t only for teenagers. Wear it as a full-grown woman with pride! Our bodies are a gift, and they should be celebrated! Regardless of what the media and society claim to be “ideal."

The greatest act of rebellion is to love yourself in a society that runs on your self doubt!