If you haven’t seen Channel 4’s latest show, Naked Beach, then have you been living under a rock? The premise is based on an experiment that being around a diverse group of naked people can help improve your body image. Each week, three people with cripplingly low body image joined eight naked hosts in a villa to embark on a journey of self-love and acceptance.
We aren’t good enough?
I can’t express enough how much I adore this show. The message of body positivity is so unbelievably important. Our society is so wonderfully diverse with beautiful bodies of all shapes and sizes. However, this diversity is never represented well enough and the messages we receive consistently reinforce the idea that we aren’t good enough.
Social messages bombard us with the idea that we aren’t enough. These messages condition us to pick out our perceived flaws or focus on parts we don’t like. With celebs and influencers trying to sell shitty (literally) ~flat tummy tea~ or ~cute little gummy sweets~ to help us lose weight by stopping us from eating or shitting ourselves. They just perpetuate the messages that we need to be skinnier to be happier.
One size doesn’t fit all
Aside from social messaging, our media is swamped with images of the same body – white, cis-gender, slim and able-bodied ones. Whether we are scrolling through social media or watching the latest blockbusters, the image is always the same. Bodies like this are all we ever see because these are what’s considered ‘beautiful’. So it’s hardly surprising that over one third of people aren’t happy with their bodies.
Seeing bodies that look like ours, but also those which are different, is so eye-opening for many people with today’s narrow frame of reference for beauty. The diversity in bodies on Naked Beach is so refreshing and brilliant, especially for mainstream media. By turning on our telly to see bodies which are completely normal and diverse can help our society to become more accepting, but also more confident.
Start a journey of self love
Viewing a body which looks like us is essential to improving our body image. Being able to surround myself with images of a diverse range of beautiful bodies was life changing. It helped me to embark on a journey (which is still happening) towards loving everything about my body.
Tuning in to watch the journeys of self-love that begin on Naked Beach is such unbelievably significant viewing. It is almost heart breaking to watch how critical these people are of their bodies. But that’s what makes it so important! How often have you stood in front of your mirror and poked at your fat parts? Or even avoided a mirror altogether? We all do it but we consider it normal, until you see somehow else’s very raw struggles with their body. Naked Beach makes us aware of how horribly we treat our own bodies. It makes us realise that we could do with starting to improve our body image and treat ourselves more kindly.
I honestly recommend that everyone gives Naked Beach a watch! It might really help to make you feel a little bit more confident. Or spark the need for you to become more accepting of yourself. I know that seeing the wonderfully diverse bodies of the hosts completely in the buff have reminded me that we are all beautiful. No matter our shapes or sizes.
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