Your body is not a trend | Tigz Rice | TEDxSt Albans

Key Concepts

• Impossible Beauty Standards: The pervasive and often unattainable ideals of physical appearance promoted by media and culture.
• Diet Culture: The societal emphasis on dieting and weight loss, often leading to negative body image and disordered eating.
• Body Shaming: The act of criticizing or demeaning someone's body.
• Representation: The inclusion and portrayal of diverse body types, ages, and ethnicities in media and popular culture.
• Empowerment through Art: Using creative expression, such as photography and performance, to foster self-acceptance and body positivity.
• Neolesque Movement: A movement that encourages freedom of self-expression and body positivity.
• Budo Posing: A form of posing that celebrates diverse body types, often challenging traditional beauty norms.

The Barbie Movie and the Impossibility of Being a Woman

The video begins by referencing Gloria's monologue from the Barbie movie, which powerfully articulates the inherent difficulty and often contradictory expectations placed upon women. The speaker found this monologue deeply validating, noting the shared moment of recognition and unity it created among the female audience members. This experience is framed as a "full circle moment" because Barbie, a doll that served as an early example of an "ideal" body for many girls, was itself inspired by an adult novelty toy. The speaker highlights Ruth Handler's original intent for Barbie to be aspirational for young girls, stating in a 1977 New York Times interview, "if a young girl was going to do roleplaying of what she was going to be like when she was 16 or 17, it was a little stupid to play with a doll with a flat chest. So I gave it beautiful breasts." However, the speaker points out the stark contrast between this aspiration and the doll's actual physical proportions. Citing Dr. Margot Maine's "Body Wars," the speaker reveals that a real-life Barbie would be 5'9" and weigh 110 lbs, placing her in the underweight BMI category and unable to menstruate, thus representing an "impossible beauty standard."

The Architects of Beauty Standards and the Cycle of Inadequacy

The speaker questions who is making decisions about what is considered beautiful and why society allows these standards to dictate self-worth. The desire to fit in is identified as a hardwired human instinct for survival, explaining why individuals conform to these ever-changing beauty standards, leading to a perpetual cycle of feeling "not enough."

Data on Body Image and Historical Beauty Trends

The UK Women and Equalities Committee's 2020 body image survey is cited, revealing that over 60% of women felt negatively about their bodies. The survey identified diet culture, postpartum pressure, over-edited sexualized images, and a lack of representation of older bodies as contributing factors.

The speaker then traces the evolution of beauty standards through their own lived experience:

• The 1990s: Characterized by "heroin chic," with models like Kate Moss dominating runways. The Spice Girls' weight was scrutinized on television, and thinness, whiteness, and blonde hair were the prevailing beauty ideals. Media figures like Paris Hilton, Jennifer Aniston, and Princess Diana were prominent.
• Lack of Diversity in Media: A significant gap existed between Black supermodel Naomi Campbell's solo cover on British Vogue in 2002 and Jordan Dunn in 2015. A plus-size model, Ashley Graham, did not appear on the cover until 2017.
• Pervasive Diet Culture: Serial diet advertisements were common between TV shows, and magazines featured "circles of shame" highlighting perceived flaws on female celebrities.
• Body Shaming in Schools: The speaker recounts personal experiences with the "pencil test" and "thigh gap test," both of which they failed, illustrating how body shaming permeated even educational environments. The first time the speaker consciously thought about their body was in relation to their Adidas poppers, comparing themselves to Britney Spears in "Baby One More Time."

The Kardashian Era and Shifting Ideals

The "Kardashian era" marked a shift, with "thick thighs and extreme curves" becoming desirable, leading to the speaker being told they were beautiful. However, this fleeting acceptance, based on genetic chance, could not erase years of bullying for looking different or the lessons learned from shows like "America's Next Top Model."

Shattering the Illusion: The Power of Post-Production

The illusion of the perfect body was shattered for the speaker upon realizing that glossy editorial images were the product of highly skilled creative teams and extensive post-production. The ability to transform "perfectly imperfect bodies into flawless otherworldly goddesses" seemed limitless. This realization shifted the speaker's aspiration from being a supermodel to being the photographer who could "make that magic available to everybody."

Art School, Self-Healing, and the Birth of a Calling

The speaker enrolled in art school, where they extensively studied the female form and began documenting their own body through photographs and illustrations. This process of creation became a means of healing their relationship with their body. In their second year of university, the speaker started offering empowering photo shoot experiences to friends, even with "basic and broken" equipment. The overwhelmingly positive feedback confirmed that being a photographer was not just a dream but a "calling."

Embracing the Neolesque Movement and Self-Expression

The speaker purchased their first DSLR camera (a Canon 450D, later acquiring a Hasselblad) and spent the next decade immersing themselves in spaces that celebrate womanhood. They traveled the world documenting the "thriving neolesque movement," described as a "safe, empowering space that encourages freedom of self-expression." As they fell in love with their own body, the speaker began posing for other photographers and performing burlesque.

Challenging Inferiority and the Art of Every Body

Despite the challenges of being perceived by others, especially when their body deviates from current beauty trends, the speaker is committed to challenging anything that aims to make them feel "uncomfortable or inferior in my skin." The core belief is that "every body is a beautiful body," and when individuals "choose to accept our physical form and curate ourselves with intention," they can and should be considered art.

A Promise to Be Visible and a Catalyst for Change

The speaker has made a promise to be visible in their body, lead by example, and use their camera as a "catalyst for other women who are fed up of feeling less than." The goal is to help these women "step into their spotlight, to take up space, and to become beacons of change within their own communities."

Inspiring Examples and the Viral Success of Budo Posing

The speaker highlights inspiring women like:

• Steph: Radiates joy, evident in her images.
• Marley Scarlet: Teaches the speaker to break fashion rules, embrace dopamine dressing, and live life in full color.
• Jezebel Thunder: Reigning queen of burlesque and Miss Exotic World, who uses her platform to uplift Black burlesque communities.

The speaker's own journey of showing up in their "late 30s midsize body in my gym gear making budo posing videos on the internet" unexpectedly went viral, attracting over 250,000 followers. Their direct messages are filled with women expressing gratitude for seeing a body like theirs considered beautiful, particularly within the context of budo photography, which is often associated with the need for a "perfect body."

Towards Eradicating Beauty Standards

The speaker believes that every time a woman celebrates her body, hypes up her friends, or compliments a stranger online, it brings society "one step closer to overpowering and potentially even eradicating the entire need for a beauty standard."

Aging Disgracefully and Creating Safe Spaces

As the speaker approaches their 40s, they are committed to documenting their body as they "age disgracefully" and to creating safe spaces for women to "rage against the beauty regime," to exist in photos, and to confidently reject anything that makes them question their worth.

A Call to Action: Small Gestures, Big Impact

The video concludes with a call to action, encouraging viewers who have been inspired to "lean in." While not demanding immediate drastic changes, the speaker suggests that even "the smallest of gestures will make a difference." This includes flirting with oneself in the mirror, becoming one's own biggest supporter, and celebrating the miracle of existence. The final message is a powerful affirmation: "you, gorgeous, are a living, breathing masterpiece. And nothing about you needs to change."