August 19, 2024
Resistencia Creativa: Celebrating Body Positivity in the RGV
Words by Melissa Cortes Santiago
Edited by Abigail Vela
The beat of the music pulsates through the walls, making the room vibrate with energy. Pink LED lights illuminate the room, creating a playful atmosphere. But what really makes the room come to life is the joyful cheers and laughter of participants as they move confidently across the dance floor, showing off their newly learned dance skills.
This is what a typical afternoon looks like for Alondra Vasquez (she/her), a Zumba and twerk instructor based in the RGV. Her classes are full of vibrant energy and an ambiance of self-love. Vasquez was a key part of Planned Parenthood’s Creative Resistance event earlier this summer, which commemorated the second anniversary of the Supreme Court’s Dobbs decision, a ruling that removed the constitutional right to abortion for people across the country. The event featured different creative outlets such as poetry, yoga and dance, all of which carried a powerful message of body acceptance and reproductive justice.
“I think incorporating these creative outlets really helps us release all that tension that these laws are bringing into our bodies,” said Vasquez.
“I love collaborating with others and finding ways to incorporate my dance, mostly because I feel it's important for me to use my resources to help promote things that I believe in,” she said.
The event’s goal was to create a space where body positivity and reproductive justice could intersect. By promoting body acceptance, it aimed to empower individuals to take control of their reproductive health and rights.
“Both movements [feminism and body acceptance] aim to dismantle the patriarchal ideas that we have,” said Nubia Reyna (she/her), community engagement manager for Planned Parenthood South Texas. “ And both of those movements just want to not have someone else dictate how we should look or what we should do with our own bodies.”
Importance of Body Acceptance
The body positivity movement is about self-love and acceptance of our bodies regardless of size, shape, skin tone, or appearance. Having a positive and healthy body image plays a significant role in decreasing your chances of developing depression and eating disorders.
This is extremely important, especially in our society where mainstream media has aggressively pushed a quote-unquote “ideal” beauty standard that is, more often than not, incredibly Eurocentric. For those of us who did not grow up fitting this unrealistic standard, having a space where we can learn about appreciating our bodies and our unique beauty can be a healing experience.
“I grew up watching all these beautiful skinny white women that I wanted to be so badly, and I think that’s what triggers a lot of the times for me as a trans person, my gender dysphoria, having to look a certain way,” said Luna Cisneros (she/her), RGV organizer for Planned Parenthood South Texas. “I think the body positivity movement gave me my power back to live my best life as the woman that I am, not the woman that society thinks I should be.”
Cisneros performs drag and aims to create a safe space with her art for people to express themselves without judgment, which translates into the work she does with Planned Parenthood.
“I think that has always been to the core of a lot of the work that I do, mixing my art with something that will resonate with the community,” she said.
Similarly, artist Sam Rawls (she/her), who has worked with Planned Parenthood on several events, including their Valley Brunch, advocates for self-love and portrays bodies of different shapes and sizes through a lens of vulnerability in her work.
“It’s very difficult to love oneself when there are so many things like telling you you’re not supposed to look the way you’re looking. I think having more visualization of different bodies can help ease those negative feelings and emotions that we internalize,” she said.
By incorporating messages of self-love and reproductive justice alongside creative expression and advocacy, the event succeeded in creating a space for people to come together as a community to grieve a major loss of our rights and bodily autonomy but also to celebrate each other’s journey of acceptance and healing.
“Body appreciation and self-love means accepting your body for who it is. Accepting it on the days when you’re comfortable and when you’re uncomfortable. Accepting that your body is going to change during certain periods of your life and appreciating it, even though you might not be 100% happy with how you look,” said Vasquez.
Creating more events and spaces that incorporate themes of body acceptance and positivity is vital to our community. Embracing our bodies is integral to advocating for our rights.
While the fight for bodily autonomy and reproductive justice continues, nurturing our self-worth and celebrating our bodies can be a profound act of resistencia and empowerment.
If you’re interested in learning more about body positivity and being part of the resistencia creativa, start by engaging with your community, attending a reproductive rights event, or even signing up for a dance class!
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