Can these kinds of procedures be compatible with body neutrality?
Hi friend!
Do you listen to my podcast: This Is (Not) About Your Body?
If so, then you know I had Jill Coleman of JillFit on last week to talk about body image as a fitness professional, and we ended up talking a lot about the experience of aging in the public eye. Toward the end of our (fabulous) conversion, Jill and I stumbled onto the topic of whether or not it’s “ok” to get procedures like Botox done.
It’s very common for people to ask my thoughts on this kind of thing, or to assume that body neutrality requires us to forgo anything “unnatural” when it comes to our appearance or aging.
Given that, I want to set the record straight.
I believe in absolute bodily autonomy, which means everyone gets to do exactly whatever the fuck they want to do to their body, and nobody else gets to judge, shame, or disrespect them for it.
That said, I also believe everyone is worthy of liberation, wholeness, authentic power, and joy. This means it’s my dearest wish that everyone could be in a position of genuinely choosing what they want for themselves and their bodies without being influenced by feelings of obligation, pressure, insecurity, shame, or fear.
So to put those two things together, you could literally plastic surgery your way into looking like a barbie doll, and I wouldn’t judge or shame you for it, because it wouldn’t be any of my business. But I would probably worry about how you feel about yourself, and desperately hope that the decision was rooted in something lovely, like joy, pleasure, power, freedom, or self-expression. (Think: Dolly Parton!)
Anyway, to further explore this topic with you, this week’s podcast is a solo episode, in which I share with you my experience with getting Botox! (It was a few months ago, and I didn’t want to talk about it until I’d had some time to experience and process it internally.)
To be honest, I think you’re going to find this episode very surprising, and I’m dying to hear what you think.
Listen here, and then hit reply with your thoughts!
Big hug,
Jessi