Fat, thin, tall or short – a person’s appearance shouldn’t really matter. However, millions of women every day let themselves be put under pressure by beauty ideals – thanks to Instagram and Co. A photographic project aims to guarantee more self-love by showing human bodies in all their diversity. STYLEBOOK spoke with the initiator Caro Gugu.
Love your body no matter what it looks like. This is what the body positivity movement is about. In the age of social media, it sounds great. After all, many women are still upset and influenced by Instagram or TikTok, as the results of the STYLEBOOK Beauty Impact Report 2022 have already shown. No surprise for Caro Gugu (31). Together with the psychologist Caro Hopp (30), who realized the photographic project in 2019 “Your body is enough” launched, is committed to making all types of bodies of women and men more visible and naked. Whether they have an eating disorder, are overweight, have a disability or suffer from acne.
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Your body is enough: personal stories should guarantee more self-love
Both Caros have experienced for themselves what it means to doubt one’s own body and be impressed by others. Hopp himself suffered from an eating disorder and used nude photos as a way to find himself. Gugu, on the other hand, was anorexic as a teenager and weighed only 49 kilograms at the time. Later she was 160 kilograms on the scale.
In 2019, when Hopps was first called on Instagram, Caro G. decided to muster all her courage and pose naked in front of the camera. “At the time, I had just gotten out of a very long relationship and was about to break up and find myself – and I was incredibly dissatisfied with my body,” she recalls. This was also due to her ex-partner saying things like, “Your thighs are too fat to be on top during sex.”
Gugu really wanted to lose weight when he was single to be attractive to men again: “But after a little thought, I realized it’s pretty irrational to let someone put you down like that. Through sexual encounters and experiences, I quickly realized that I’m desirable the way I am. The photo shoot with Caro helped too – and I really wanted to share this experience with as many people as possible. That’s why I joined as an initiator. ”
Body positivity also stages the body in a certain way
After all, thanks to the body positivity movement, Instagram is no longer exclusively about beautiful bodies. However, the influencers of this movement also stage their bodies in a very specific way, in such a way that they are perceived as aesthetic. This is problematic for Gugu, because it only shows part of reality, which many see as the ultimate truth: “Because of what we see on Instagram and because we confront each other every day, at some point we just get the feeling: That’s how it is. it must be”.
It is normal for women to have pimples on their face and everyone has a different physical shape. In his opinion, this diversity is not really represented by the media: “Most of the time women with different body shapes are shown, but they also correspond to a possible ideal image: the heavier ones have a narrow waist and the proportions are simply well distributed and they have pure, smooth skin, but you rarely see women with irregularly sized or sagging breasts or amputations.
That’s why “Your Body Is Enough” is meant to show off all types of bodies
His photographic project, which has now portrayed more than 100 people, is not just about discriminating against overweight people in everyday life. “For us, body positivity simply means including everyone. There is more to “overweight woman”. Our goal is that all sexes can be more open and vulnerable, “says Gugu.
So far, it’s still something women tend to admit, think: “Women tend to empower themselves when it comes to such questions, it’s the same in the queer community, there’s a lot of support. Straight men are more likely to stay. in silence. Wouldn’t it be much nicer if we were all more open to other people? ” So far, the feedback on your initiative has been consistently positive. There is a lot of exchange at the vernissages, where the photos are presented, which are now made in collaboration with several photographers. So far there has been no hate speech on social media.
Taylor Swift’s latest video sparked the discussion again
The fact that topics related to self-perception and body images will continue to cause a stir in 2022 was most recently shown in the discussion on the music video of Taylor Swift’s single “Anti-Hero”. In one scene, the singer climbs a ladder and the word “Fat” appears. The pop singer received harsh criticism. Swift can never understand how a multi-weight person feels because she fits the common ideal of beauty. Dear Gugu takes a critical view of such one-sided considerations.
Through his personal story, he can understand both sides: “You are simply never satisfied with your body. You just don’t notice what your body looks like. It’s always about confrontation. We are all in the same boat, we feel insecure. I think you can’t deny this feeling to anyone. ” This is also an important topic in your body positivity project.
It is not about the outer shell, but about what the person has experienced
One of the most emotional moments for her was the story of a model. She was adopted and didn’t find out who her birth mother was until she was 20. But she has never met her personally. “Her mother was a drug addict and worked as a prostitute. As a child, she went without food for several days and later she was placed in an adoptive family. But they didn’t even take care of her, “Gugu says.
Due to her mother’s drug addiction during pregnancy, one of the model’s breasts did not grow properly during puberty. “Hearing all of this and how she deals with this blow of fate has moved me and affected me emotionally!” She says Gugu. Asked if insecurity about one’s body image tends to affect women, the initiator is ambivalent: “I can only express my point, but I don’t think there are many differences in general – it’s just the way you deal with someone else. “A lot of things still happen secretly with men, they deal with doubts less often than women.” Also, most beauty products that target such alleged flaws are aimed almost exclusively at women. more visible problem, “he says. Here, too, the activist wants to promote rethinking.
Further vernissages and workshops are planned across Germany in 2023
As a distorted body image, body shaming, beauty and optimization craze arise at a young age, Hopp and Gugu’s stated goal is above all to expand educational work on body acceptance and diversity for children. and young people nationwide. In order to realize this dream, it will last until 29.11. one Crowdfunding campaign.
But what about Caro Gugu herself: does she use Instagram and is influenced by it? “Well, now I am very satisfied with my algorithm! My feed is mostly made up of cat videos. But it’s exciting how different it is for everyone, ”she says with a laugh.
