If you were asked to describe your body to a stranger, would you praise it your strength and ability or berate yourself for your size or shape?
That’s what one woman hoped to find out when she asked 100 people to describe their bodies using just one word.
Taryn Brumfitt, founder of The Body Image Movement, is on a mission to spread messages of body acceptance around the globe.
“The most important things in our lives are not the different ways our bodies look and grow and change…not even close. Why then do so many of us spend such a huge portion of our lives worrying about it?” she asked.
The film highlights how our attitudes to body image change throughout our lives.
At the beginning of the film a handful of children describe their bodies as “strong”, “energetic”, and “powerful”.
But as the film progresses, and women start describe themselves, the words used quickly shift from positive to negative. One woman describes herself as “fat”, “flabby”, and “yuck”, while another person simply shrugs and says: “I don’t know.”
What does this say about women’s body image?
Then, as the participants get older, the attitudes shift again but this time to gratitude. One woman uses a handful of words including “magnificent” and “succulent”, while an elderly man jokes: “It is the only one I’ve got and I intend to keep it for as long as I possibly can.”
Brumfitt, who is a mother-of-three from Adelaide, Australia, is open about her own body image journey. A few years ago she was considering breast augmentation when she had an epiphany, realising that she owed it to her daughter to be teach her about body positivity.
Brumfitt describes herself as having an “unwavering desire to teach, educate and shout around the world that loving your body can bring you happiness and by learning to do so, change lives forever”.
The short film was produced to mark the release of her body positive film ‘Embrace’.