Lizzo is one of the faces of Dove’s Self-Esteem Project, and during a recent interview with The Cut, she opened up about body positivity movement and the fight to end fat-shaming.
“There’s even a lot of very triggering and fat-phobic behaviors that have come from the body-positive movement,” she said. “There are things like body checking, and comparing sizes, or shaming sides… Like, ‘Oh, it’s midsize girls’ turn; big girls, you’ve had your moment.’ Huh?”
Lizzo wants people to understand why the movement is so important to her.
“It’s not about a moment. It’s about this system that oppresses big bodies,” she explained. “People [need to] understand the gravity of this movement and honor the reason why it was created.”
She says she and others like her should be appreciated for the trailblazers they are.
“Don’t be like, ‘Cute. I’m gonna love myself today, and that’s body positivity.’ It’s more like, ‘No, I’m gonna love myself and thank goodness for the fat women who paved the way and were vocal about it.'”
Lizzo then opened up about the negative reactions to her body on social media.
“I hope that I can post the kinds of materials that I post, showing my body and showing my rolls or whatever. And people are just like, ‘Okay. Beautiful picture. Next.’ Instead of, like, ‘Oh my gosh, a full-figured body. How strikingly political!’ It don’t gotta be all of that! That is where I’m going with body-normative-speak.”
She later added, “I don’t know exactly the details of what body neutrality is,” she said at another point in the interview. “But when I say I just want to be body normative, I’m not trying to create a whole new movement.”
Lizzo says her body is normal, and people need to catch up.
“I just mean what you’re looking at is normal. Let’s stop talking about it. ‘This is my body, nothing to see here. Keep it moving.'”
