Mayim Bialik is one person who doesn’t find the body positivity movement empowering. The movement aims to normalize bodies by embracing and showing off things like stretch marks and scars, but Mayim says it’s not for her.
“Honestly, that’s totally great for those women. I don’t have those feelings about the ‘imperfections’ of my body at all. It’s something I spoke to Hunter about. I said, ‘I understand there are some women who love to show off their cellulite and stretch marks; I don’t feel empowered by that.’ I think that’s going to vary, and I think both things need to be OK.
“I don’t feel shamed. I grew up with a very different standard of beauty and attractiveness, as did many women my age. It takes a lot of adjusting for some of us to get used to this notion that all of a sudden things women were teased for and hated for I’m now supposed to flaunt. It’s just not how my brain’s going to work, but I think both things can be OK.”
The 41-year-old author of Girling Up: How to Be Strong, Smart and Spectacular says that she didn’t face a lot of body criticism growing up.