On Body Positivity: 5 Indian Influencers Who Aim To Normalise Plus Size

Often enough, more than us, it is the people who first recognise if we have gained or shed weight. How often have you come across people saying, “If you lose a little more, you’d look so much more beautiful and fit!” And what we end up doing, treating our bodies like it’s people’s property!

The body has always been the most important feminist thought and yet it is the most problematic. Body shaming is the term used for this thought in recent times. And often enough, it is this body shaming that becomes a source of humour and joke generally about plus-size people and particularly about plus-size women. After all, isn’t it true that it is the body that defines a woman’s physique and appearance?

A toned body is deemed beautiful and a chubby body is looked upon as ugly and disgraceful. That dichotomy is not caused by the existence of the extra small (XS) or the extra large (XL) in the size chart, but it is extra small perspectives that shape our mind towards this extra large issue that has defined the ideal size chart for women in our society. Body shaming is not a one-time judgement or a one-minute long judgement, but it continues for as long as it comes to defining a person as being fat or fit.

For instance, it is no surprise that until recently people troll Kate Winslet for being rather “fat” in the iconic blockbuster Titanic, tagging this as one of the reasons for Jack’s death as he couldn’t fit on the wooden door that sheltered Rose. That is what she commented on a podcast recently- “That’s bullying and actually borderline abusive. And now that wouldn’t happen. …This nonsense of commenting on bodies and how women look, it’s getting better, but we’ve still got such a ways to go.” Further, she expressed her views as to how we don’t associate certain words like toned or svelte with men. They are very well women-centric words.

Therefore, contrary to these notions about the body, there is a term that has gained as much appreciation by feminists and scholars as a condemnation towards body shaming: body positivity. Although body positivity spawned much earlier in the United States through the Fat Rights Movement, it was only in 2012 that this term began to ripe across the world as social media activism came into being. The idea that all bodies are beautiful and must be accepted, overlooking all forms of bodily judgements and idealistic notions about anybody caused by the size, skin tone, colour, gender and so on.

Indian Plus-Size Influencers

With the increased social media activism that contributed towards the flaring of this term, we bring to you 5 influencers/content creators who have taken social media by storm through their inspiring messages on body positivity.

Tanvi Geetha Ravishankar

Known famously through her Instagram handle @thechubbytwirler. We all have come across her reel on Besharam Rang song where she danced her passion to recreate the song. In addition, she was also recognised as the Cosmopolitan BodyLove Influencer last year.

Sakshi Sindwani

A stereotype smasher, Sakshi Sindwani has more than a half million followers on the gram. She also bagged a position in the Forbes list of top 100 digital stars.

Aashna Bhagwani

Redefining self-love is what you will learn through her uplifting reels. Aashna has been awarded as the Cosmos Body Positive Influencer in 2021. From sharing minute snippets from her daily life to her gym routine and her perspectives, she has definitely accepted herself beautifully.

Diksha Singhi

Her Instagram handle itself speaks her ideology @alwaysalittleextra. Her feed is infused with content that gives you the right motivation and fashion advice to follow your heart and at the same time feel beautiful about yourself.

Neha Parulkar

A TEDx speaker and another firm believer in body positivity, Neha has definitely changed the perspective of plus size. If it’s learning how to style like a pro, she can definitely be your pro master.

Suggested Reading: Double XL Teaser Out: Sonakshi Sinha, Huma Qureshi Tackles Body Shaming