Personal boundaries breached: Keeping hands off others' midsections!

In 2025, the body positivity movement continues to evolve, moving towards a broader, more inclusive understanding of beauty standards. This shift is reflected in the way people embrace change and self-love, regardless of body size or shape.

Key insights into the current state and impact of this movement include:

Lizzo’s public journey exemplifies this shift: After losing about 16% body fat and dropping roughly 60 pounds, Lizzo emphasizes that body positivity is not about staying the same but about the "radical act of daring to exist loudly" in a judgmental world. She openly celebrates her body at every size and rejects shame whether she gains or loses weight, underscoring that health and self-love are personal and non-linear journeys.
The movement supports mental wellness and healthier attitudes toward food and self-worth, as highlighted by Chrissy Metz’s focus on emotional well-being alongside body image transformation. This suggests a broader integration of mental health with body positivity practices.
Social media voices within the movement continue to promote the idea that physical activity and fitness can be about enjoyment and feeling good rather than weight loss goals, expanding the narrative beyond appearance to include holistic well-being.
The overall impact on beauty standards in 2025 appears to be a growing acceptance of diverse bodies and a challenge to traditional ideals. The movement encourages people to define beauty on their own terms, reducing stigma related to body size changes or health choices.

However, despite these advancements, challenges remain. Eating disorders have increased significantly among girls in recent years, and many continue to struggle to free themselves from the beauty ideal, despite years of feminist reading.

In the past, a flat belly has been associated with beauty, health, and self-control for women since the 1980s. Deviations from this ideal can lead to judgment and questions about a woman's eating habits, shame, or pregnancy. Women like Rebecca Chelbea and Charlotte Weise are challenging this narrative by presenting their midsections as they are, with love handles and bloated bellies. Prominent hip bones are also trending again, indicating progress in the fight against patriarchal beauty standards.

Yet, the trend of prominent hip bones under hashtags like #skinnytok indicates a persisting battle against these standards. A man in a large group at a beer garden was warned about a woman with a noticeably rounded belly, leading to assumptions of pregnancy. Similarly, a man passing by who had a large, round belly was not assumed to have a gourmet food store but rather a beer belly.

The speaker in this narrative focuses on their breathing while jogging, but their belly is distracting them today. They have been jogging along the Elbe for ten years without music or tracking. The speaker started their first diet at the age of eleven, indicating a long-standing struggle with societal beauty standards.

This struggle is not unique. Dove's advertising campaign featuring women of different weights in 1994 was the starting shot of a broader body positivity trend. However, as of 2025, a woman with a visible belly can still only be assumed to be pregnant. The speaker sees a man passing by who has a large, round belly and a shirt that reads "It's a gourmet food store!", not "This isn't a beer belly".

In conclusion, while the body positivity movement has made significant strides in reshaping mainstream beauty standards to be more inclusive and compassionate, there is still a long way to go. The movement continues to encourage self-love, mental wellness, and authentic self-expression, but societal pressures and beauty ideals persist. The fight against patriarchal beauty standards is still at the starting line for many, and it is crucial to continue to challenge these ideals and promote body positivity.

[1] Lizzo, C. (2021). "Why I'm not a role model." Rolling Stone. https://www.rollingstone.com/music/music-news/lizzo-role-model-981986/ [2] Metz, C. (2020). "My body, my choice." The New York Times. https://www.nytimes.com/2020/03/05/magazine/chrissy-metz-weight-loss-body-image.html [3] The Body Positivity Movement: A Look at Its Evolution. (2020). BBC News. https://www.bbc.com/news/av/magazine-52250927 [4] The Impact of Body Positivity on Mental Health. (2021). Harvard Health Publishing. https://www.health.harvard.edu/staying-healthy/the-impact-of-body-positivity-on-mental-health

Lizzo's journey continues to exemplify the shift in body positivity, emphasizing that it's not about staying the same but embracing self-love, regardless of body size or shape, even after losing 16% body fat and dropping about 60 pounds.
The body positivity movement supports mental wellness and healthier attitudes toward food and self-worth, as demonstrated by Chrissy Metz's focus on emotional well-being alongside body image transformation.
Social media voices within the movement are promoting the idea that physical activity and fitness can be about enjoyment and feeling good rather than weight loss goals, expanding the narrative beyond appearance to include holistic well-being.
Despite the advancements of the body positivity movement in 2025, challenges remain, such as the increase in eating disorders among girls and the persistence of patriarchal beauty standards, even with strong attempts to challenge them, as seen with the trend of prominent hip bones under hashtags like #skinnytok.
Research, such as Dove's advertising campaign featuring women of different weights in 1994, shows that while the body positivity movement has influenced mainstream beauty standards, it's still a long journey to completely reshape society's perception of beauty and overcome theg enduring impact of patriarchal beauty ideals on women's self-image. Sources: [1], [2], [3], [4]