UPDATED MAR 2020. If there’s one thing that traveling has taught me, it’s that no matter where we come from in the world, we are much more alike than different. The body image issues that you have most likely experienced, whether it is struggling to meet societies ideal beauty standard or experiencing some self-consciousness for parts of your body being too big, too small, the wrong color, a little jiggly here or a little saggy there – you get the idea, are also being experienced by women on the other side of the world. Since we all have this in common, what can travel teach us about body positivity?
Travel And Body Positivity – What Travel Can Teach Us About Loving Ourselves
What can travel teach us about body positivity?
I think the biggest thing traveling can teach us about body positivity is that there isn’t one type or one look that is beautiful.
What women desperately desire to look like in one country might have women in another country desperately trying to avoid.
It reminds me of a time back in my poor Uni student days where I was in an Indonesian language class. The teacher had talked to us about how our beauty ideals were the opposite of Indonesian women.
In Australia, skinny bodies, tan skin, and small noses are seen as desirable while in Indonesia the women wanted the exact opposite.
When it came time for a cultural day where students from Indonesia were visiting and studying with us, we talked about this and it was so interesting to hear how they would love to have the things that a few of us in the class would have changed about ourselves.
Beauty is in the eye of the beholder
Traveling can teach you to appreciate what you have. While you might feel average in one place, you might be the absolute jaw-dropping ideal in another.
There are people on the other side of the world that would love to have the features you dislike about yourself.
Let that soak in for a second.
Maybe you’re not so ugly after all.
How body positive is different around the world
America
Another thing you will notice as you travel is how body positivity is encouraged differently around the world.
America, for example, is like the horny teenager of the world – everything is overly sexualized, even breastfeeding. There are great companies like Aerie who are encouraging body positivity by sharing un-retouched images in their advertising, photos of women being happy and energetic instead of always being sultry and moody and showcasing beauty in all shapes, sizes, and ages.
These are the companies we need to encourage and support.
In America, body positivity is encouraged by companies like Aerie who defy the social norms and remind people to love themselves.
Europe
Then you go across the pond to Europe. In most beaches around the Mediterranean, you can go to just about any beach and see women bathing topless. In change rooms, you don’t see people rushing to hide in a toilet cubicle to get changed.
Being out and about means you’ll be seeing a nude body or two.
Body positivity is almost encouraged culturally because it’s so normal to see all sorts of body types and shapes. You don’t just see the photoshopped bikini bodies in magazines.
When you see this on a regular basis, it’s easy to be reminded that everyone is different. And that you are beautiful too.
Egypt
Then you could go to a completely different place like Egypt. Here women typically adhere to a dress code of covering their bodies and wearing loose-fitting clothing.
Don’t be misled though. Just because the women are more covered up than other places doesn’t mean they aren’t immune to the same body image issues or the same unrealistic standards shown in the media.
Body positivity is encouraged through the teachings in their faith. There are also people like Miss Egypt Farah Sedky who has been open about sharing her body image issues to inspire others.
Each of these examples are so incredibly different in their views on sexualization and how they encourage body positivity. Each also has positive and negative points. But at the same time, they are so similar and we are all in this body positivity boat together.
If you get the chance to talk to women as you travel you realize that, at the core, the issues are the same everywhere. But how we all overcome them is different.
As you travel, you can take a little of each style with you, or perhaps you identify more with one, but either way, hopefully, the experiences you have can help you to encourage more body positivity for yourself in your own life.
When it comes to travel and body positivity, you learn there isn’t a one size fits all for beauty
Traveling can be a great way of teaching you that beauty isn’t a one size fits all.
Around the world, we can get sucked into the ‘grass is greener’ style of thinking.
If only I had more of this or less of that. This type of hair or that shaped body. Then I would be beautiful.
If you really soak in what your travel experiences can teach, you can break down these self-esteem barriers. When you are exposed to different ideas of beauty, you learn to appreciate what you might have taken for granted.
That is, just how beautiful you are.
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