7 Famous Queer People of Color Redefining Body Positivity

If someone had told me years ago that I’d ever use the words "body" and "positive" in the same sentence, I wouldn’t have believed it. I mean, this body has been through many years of abuse and degradation so I’d became a prisoner to my defenses. I saw safety in maintaining a cloak of invisibility and had mastered the ability to shrink myself whenever possible—what was confidence?

Somewhere on the right path of navigating my trauma and reshaping my relationship with my body, I went all the way left. I’d replaced invisibility with deficiency and began obsessing over ways to make squares fit into circles. I spent so much time striving to lose this Caribbean tummy pouch for a specific bathing suit, planning to go on a date when I fit the "skinny" jean reveal, and really just wishing it was easier or cheaper to get a "nice" body. For a long time, this was my idea of self-care, because taking steps to become "better" is taking care of myself, no?