Jameela Jamil on body positivity: 'It's been taken over by slender, Caucasian women'

‘It’s become a marketing slogan, and that’s not what it was originally for’

The original ethos of the body positivity movement was to champion the acceptance and appreciation of all bodies, no matter their shape or size.

However, recently the term “body positivity” has been overrun by marketing campaigns keen to jump onto the social bandwagon, something that Jameela Jamil has spoken about in a recent interview with Marie Claire.

Jamil is a staunch advocate of self-love, having launched the ‘I Weigh’ movement to encourage people to place greater value on their personalities and achievements than their appearances.

The actor and activist, who’s currently starring as Tahani Al-Jamil in The Good Place, has spoken about the issues that she has with the way in which the body positivity movement has evolved over the past few years.

“It’s become a marketing slogan, and that’s not what it was originally for,” she says.

“It was supposed to be inclusive, and again now, it’s been taken over by very slender, often Caucasian women.

“And that’s fine, but they weren’t the reason that body positivity was started and needed.”

In Jamil’s opinion, the use of the term “body positivity” in marketing campaigns has placed a greater emphasis on women’s bodies, as opposed to drawing attention away from their frequent objectification.

“So it’s turned into just a way for brands to have an excuse to talk about women’s bodies some more,” she says.

In 1996, an organisation called The Body Positive was founded by Connie Sobczak and Elizabeth Scott following the death of Sobczak’s sister Stephanie, who’d suffered from an eating disorder.

The company’s predominant aim is to put an end to the damaging impact that negative body image can have on the mental health of young people and adults.

Lately a number of retailers have been praised for adopting body positive attitudes, including several lingerie, swimwear and clothing brands.

However, the “body neutrality” movement has been gaining traction over the past few months as an alternative to the “body positivity” movement.

While body positivity is about loving all types of bodies, body neutrality is about focusing less on what one’s body looks like, and more on what it’s capable of.

Nonetheless, some people believe that this concept excludes those who have physical disabilities.

“When you focus on what your body can do for you, you exclude disabled people,” one person tweeted.