Selena Gomez and Her Stomach Are Not the Beacons of Body Positivity You're Turning Them

09.08.2022, 11:41 allure.com

I never thought I'd be bothered by someone letting their gut hang out, but here I am. As usual, I can blame it all on "body positivity." It's a badge I used to wear with unflinching pride, but now, not so much. What was once a movement for the acceptance of fat people has morphed into a marketing tool, a headline buzzword, and a hashtag often flooded with photos and videos of conventionally beautiful people with conventionally beautiful bodies telling us, "It's OK! Love yourself!" You've heard this all before. I've said it all before. But when I saw the reaction to a video of Selena Gomez lying on a boat with an unashamed tummy fold and declaring "I'm not sucking shit in" because "real stomachs are coming the fuck back," I felt like I had to reiterate. So here I go.