Body Neutrality, Acceptance and Confidence: What's the Difference?
Terms such as 'body acceptance', 'body confidence' and 'body positive' are thrown around a lot lately, both online and in the media, but not everyone means the same thing when using these terms.
For many people, the desire to change their body is their incentive for exercising, losing weight and resorting to diets to do so. This isn't a case of shallow vanity; this is a perfectly natural and understandable response to living in a culture obsessed with appearance (i.e. Diet Culture).
Many of us are wondering how on earth we're meant to like or even accept our bodies when we're being told from all angles that something isn't right about them and needs to be changed. Whether it's thigh gaps, body hair, 'mum tums', visible abs, buns of steel, or any other part of our body, society decides to pick apart.
In my coaching programme and in my Body Image Workbook, I walk people through three distinct stages:
Body Neutrality - Shifting your focus away from your physical appearance and onto the other parts of what makes you, you.
Body Acceptance - Learning how to show your body respect and compassion and reach a place of peaceful acceptance with it.
Body Confidence - Reaching the stage where your body images doesn’t hold you back from enjoying the life you want.
What is ‘Body Neutrality?’
For many people, body confidence or even body acceptance, can feel unrealistic after years of hating their bodies.
For anyone who struggles with eating disorders, chronic illness, or disability, it can be a huge challenge to accept our bodies as they are, especially when they are a source of pain and frustration. We may even feel betrayed by them.
Body Neutrality is a good place to start for anyone who wishes to improve their body image, as the principal behind it is to shift your focus away from your physical appearance and onto the other parts of yourself. By doing this, we remove the pressure to ‘love our bodies’ and instead work towards finding love for ourselves.
What Is ‘Body Acceptance’?
Body acceptance is having an objective view of your body and being OK with it. It’s about making peace with it for what it is, in that moment, and accepting that our bodies will naturally change throughout our lives. It's recognizing that our appearance has literally no bearing on ourselves, as people, because we're exactly that, people, we're not emotionless bodies walking around for ornamental purposes. Every single one of us is valuable and our weight and appearance doesn't alter that.
We can take body acceptance one step further and embrace the parts of our bodies that we do like and emphasise these. We can also show appreciation for our bodies and all they do for us, via self-care.
What is ‘Body Confidence’?
When we feel confident about our bodies, we don’t let our appearance (or, more accurately, the thoughts we have about our appearance) hold us back from enjoying the life we want.
This might look like wearing swimwear on a beach, wearing clothes because you like them and not because they hide your body, having sex with the lights on, or dancing with friends at a party.
