The body image revolution: Meet ‘Embrace’

The body image revolution: Meet Embrace

The body acceptance rage has hit hard around the US. It started with the slew of before and after pictures of new moms showing off their recently re-acquired bikini bodies; the most infamous picture being Maria Kang’s in which she questioned, “What’s your excuse?” Since this debate regarding body images, the concept of what a perfect body is has also been argued. Everyone has their own idea about what the optimum body looks like, but many are going on an untraditional route, stating that perfect to them is a natural, un-airbrushed, un-altered physique.

Tary Brumfitt, an Australian photographer and mother, recently released a different kind of before and after picture. In her pictures she poses in a bikini during a body builder competition and later nude in a 20 pound heavier body. The pictures are captioned before and after, respectively. She states that after her third child she went on a health nut rampage, intending to look exactly like she did before she had the baby. (The “before” picture is what her body looked like after her strenuous workout schedule). Sadly, she said that she still didn’t feel good enough and was even considering breast augmentation or other cosmetic surgeries. It was when she was watching her daughter play that she realized how wrong her though process was. She realized that she couldn’t teach her daughter about loving her body if she had a fake one; it was then that she decided to stop bodybuilding and start being herself. Since then she has softened a bit and gained some weight, but she is who she wants to be.

Tary Brumfitt is now making a moving about her, and other womens’, experiences with “the perfect body.” She is currently seeking donations and funding for the project that she is calling, “Embrace.” It will be a documentary that explores the obsession with body image and perfection. Funding will go towards the production of the movie as well as travel costs for Tary to meet with other women around the world who are going through their own body revolutions.