Your Body Is Beautiful

What word would you use to describe your body? When mother of three Taryn Brumfitt asked 100 women just that, she got answers like “imperfect,” “disgusting” and “frumpy.” But now, Brumfitt is on a mission to change those kinds of responses with Embrace, her powerful new documentary project. The Australian mom wants to explore why body shaming is so prevalent and what we can do as women and as a society overall to change that — starting with refusing to buy into the “ideal” standards of beauty.

It’s a topic that’s close to Brumfitt’s heart, as she, like most women, has struggled with her own body issues. In a video for her KickStarter campaign, she talks about how she considered getting a boob job and tummy tuck just last year. But eventually, she realized what kind of message that would send her daughter, Mikaela, and decided against it. “How am I ever going to encourage her to accept and love the parts of her body that she doesn’t like without being a walking contradiction?” she wrote on her site, BodyImageMovement.

Since then, Brumfitt has been urging other women to embrace their bodies. We covered Brumfitt last year, when a side-by-side comparison she posted on Facebook of herself before and after birth went viral — not because she had shed all the baby weight, but because she hadn’t. “Because heaven forbid a woman can love her body, after," Brumfitt said of the photo at the time.

Now, she’s turned to Kickstarter to help fund her documentary’s production, all in the hopes of shifting the attitude women have towards their bodies. The project has already gained over $87,000 and has 47 days to raise the rest of her $200,000 goal. Let’s hope she reaches it. I think everyone, both men and women, can benefit from a project like this one!

Image via Kickstarter