PYP's Top 50 Body Positive Activists — Nos 29-1
29. Caitlin Constantine @caitlinconstan
Ceator of the blog Fit and Feminist where she calls out oppressive ideas within the fitness industry, as well as other related topics, such as "fascist beauty standards."
28. Virgie Tovar @virgitovar
Tovar is the editor of the anthology Hot & Heavy: Fierce Fat GIrls on Life, Love and Fashion. She also created the #losehatenotweight campaign.
27. Lupita Nyong’o @lupitanyongo
If you haven’t listened to Lupita’s Essence speech on learning to embrace the beauty of her skin color, please do.
26. Tess Holliday @tessholliday
Model and founder of Instagram’s @effyourbeautystandards.
25. Linda Bacon, PhD @LindaBaconHAES
Professor and researcher on health and weight issues. Dr. Bacon advocates for shifting the focus from weight to well being. She's the co-author of Body Respect: What Conventional Health Books Get Wrong, Leave Out, and Just Plain Fail to Understand about Weight.
24. Jes Baker @militant_baker
Creator of the popular blog Militant Baker. Baker writes about body autonomy, self-love, and mental health. Baker created @EmpowerALLBodies. Her book, Things No One WIll Tell Fat Girls is “manifesto and call to arms for people of all sizes and ages. With her trademark wit, veteran blogger and advocate Jes Baker calls people everywhere to embrace a body-positive worldview, changing perceptions about weight, and making mental health a priority.” Bustle says the book is “quotable, applicable, and worth sharing.”
23. Valerie Sagun @biggalyoga
Yoga practice in the San Francisco Bay Area. Beautiful Instagram account!
22. Substantia Jones @adipositivity
Jones is founder and photographer for the photo-activism campaign, The Adipositivity Project, which displays fat bodies in a positive and affirming way.
21. Jessica Torres @thisisjessicatorres
Model and writer at Revelist and blogger at Tiny Red Shoes. Torres says, “We are working for acceptance of people who don't fall into society's cookie-cutter image of beauty. It is a battle with society and even a bigger one with ourselves. We are relearning what beauty is. We are learning to accept the diversity in bodies and beauty.”
20. Kelvin Dalvis @notoriouslydapper
Founder of Notoriously Dapper, a body positive men’s fashion blog. Kelvin’s also author of the new book Notoriously Dapper: How to Be a Modern Man with Manners, Style and Body Confidence.
19. Leah Vernon @lvernon2000
Model and fashion blogger at Beauty and the Muse. Per her blog, she "was inspired to start blogging in 2013 because there wasn't enough "diverse" representation of real beauty in the media. Her goals are to continue to spread style and self-love to the underrepresented groups.”
17. Sam Dylan Finch @samdylanfinch
Sam advocates for body positivity in the trans community. He blogs at Let’s Queer Things Up. Read Sam’s Ravishly piece: “I’m Transgender, and I Need Body Positivity Too.”
16. Taryn Brumfitt @bodyimagemovement
Taryn is founder of the Body Image Movement. Taryn started her body positive journey while considering plastic surgery after pregnancy. She’s author of Embrace: My Story from Body Loather to Body Lover.
15. Melissa Fabello @fyeahmfabello
Managing editor of Everyday Feminism, Fabello is “a body acceptance activist, sexuality scholar, and patriarchy smasher living in Philadelphia.” She’s working on her dissertation on the anorexia nervosa eating disorder and the phenomenon of skin hunger.
14. Jade Beall @beautifulbodyproject
Beall founded A Beautiful Body Project, “a non-profit organization with a mission to be the largest source of recorded women’s voices about their bodies and their lives in the world, through unretouched images, videos, podcasts, and written essays.” Check out The Bodies of Mothers, filled with Beall’s stunning images.
13. Pia Schiavo-Campo @mixedfatchick
Yogi and author Schiavo-Campo runs the blog Chronicles of a Fat Mixed Chick. Her agenda includes extinguishing conventional notions of beauty and empowering women to take up as much space as they please.
12. Jamie Brewer @itsmemsjamiebrewer
American Horror Story Actress, Brewer became the first model with Down Syndrome to grace the New York Fashion Week runway.
11. Your Fat Friend @yrfatfriend
Anonymous blogger Your Fat Friend has some of the best writing out there about obesity and social stigma. Witty, personal, and political, her blog is one to follow.
10. Amanda Bingson @abingson
Olympic hammer thrower, Bingson is a self-professed body positivity advocate featured on the cover of ESPN’s Body Issue.
9. Whitney Way Thore @whitneyway
Thore is star of the TLC show My Big Fat Fab Life. Check out her book, I Do It with the Lights ON: And 10 More Discoveries on the Road to a Blissfully Shame-Free Life.
8. Gabourey Sidibe @gabby3shabby
Since her film debut in 2009, Sidibe has been a prominent figure in body acceptance within the media. Her sex scene in the TV series Empire worked to normalize the sexuality of large bodies and dark skinned in a powerful way.
7. Joan Price @joanprice
Senior sexuality activist, Price runs the blog Naked at Our Age which talks about sex and aging. It’s also a book, offering advice about senior sex. Her favorite media quote was being called a “wrinkly sex kitten.”
6. Sonya Renee Taylor @sonyareneepoet
Sonya Renee is the founder of the magazine, The Body is Not an Apology, which Taylor describes as “an international movement and organization committed to radical self-love and body empowerment as foundational tool for social justice and global transformation.” Part of their mission is to combat the shame and “body terrorism” found in society, and it’s radically inclusive.
5. Aydian Dowling @alionsfear
FTM Trans activist, Dowling became known for his Youtube series documenting his transition. When his recreation of Adam Levine’s nude photo shoot went viral, his publicity skyrocketed. As a finalist for Men’s Health’s Ultimate Guy contest, Dowling became the first trans man to be featured on the cover of Men’s Health magazine.
4. Reshma Quereshi
Quereshi is an acid attack survivor who, in 2014, used her time on the New York fashion runway to advocate for a ban on the sale of corrosive substances used against women and children in India. She’s founder of the nonprofit Make Love, Not Scars whose mission is to help scar victims obtain employment. The organization’s Youtube channel features beauty tips from Reshma.
3. Jessamyn Stanley @mynameisjessamyn
Jessamyn has been featured in Cosmo, Buzzfeed, Self, Glamour, among other sites, changing the way we think of a yoga body. She rose to stardom by documenting the beginning of her yoga practice on Instagram. This spring she’ll be touring with her new book Every Body Yoga: Let Go of Fear, Get On the Mat, Love Your Body.
2. Harnaam Kaur @harnaamkaur
Harnaam has a full beard, a symptom of her polycystic ovaries. She’s worn it since she was sixteen and holds the world record for the youngest woman to have a full beard. She’s a body confidence advocate, model, and Instagram star. “They can try to make a freakshow out of me,” Kaur said, “but my voice and my message is much stronger than that. I have power in my voice.”
1) Lizzie Velasquez @littlelizziev
Lizzie has been called the ugliest woman in the world and has used others’ hatred to spread a message of self-love. Lizzie was born with a congenital disease that prevents her from accumulating body fat. Author of several books, her newest is Dare to Be Kind: How Extraordinary Compassion Can Transform Our World.
