Body positivity activist Taryn Brumfitt rose to fame earlier this year when she was named Australian of the Year.
Since receiving the illustrious title, Brumfitt, 44, has faced accusations that his movement has played a role in rising obesity rates.
The media personality, who founded the Body Image Movement in 2012, tells in this week’s edition of star magazine that she is focused on health, not weight.
“We have to remember that body image is about much more than weight or size,” she tells the publication.
It’s our thoughts and feelings about all of us: our gender, our age, our height, all of that. Research shows that appreciation of the body leads us to a more stable weight over time,” he continued.
Body positivity activist Taryn Brumfitt (pictured) rose to fame earlier this year when she was named Australian of the Year. Brumfitt, who founded the Body Image Movement in 2012, tells this week’s issue of Stellar Magazine that she focuses on health, not weight.
“So the conversation about ‘obesity’ and having that stigma and having that shame, and being bullied into feeling a particular way, doesn’t really lead someone to positive health outcomes.”
Brumfitt’s tenure as Australian of the Year has not been without controversy.
Earlier this month, a student claimed she had “hit rock bottom” after Brumfitt “sexualized” and “shamed” her for a modeling shoot she did when she was 16.
Rhiannon van Zuydam, now 21, from Adelaide, says she was “happy and healthy” when she posed as a surfer for a newspaper in 2018.
“The conversation about ‘obesity’ and having that stigma and having that shame, and being bullied into feeling a particular way, doesn’t really lead someone to positive health outcomes,” he tells Stellar Magazine.
Donning a bathing suit and posing with a surfboard, she said she had been thrilled with the opportunity.
However, her photos caught the eye of the newly crowned Australian of the Year, Ms Brumfitt, who posted them on her Body Image Movement social media accounts.
‘Thoughtful. Sad. Sultry. Sexual. Confused. This is how I would describe the model in these images, NOT a ‘Surfer…’ the post read.
Ms van Zuydam said she was cruelly harassed by the activist’s supporters following the post.
“People in the comments were saying I was so skinny, someone said, ‘Get that girl a burger, her parents must be hungry,’ or, ‘Oh, she looks so miserable,'” she said. The advertiser.
Brumfitt’s tenure as Australian of the Year has not been without controversy. Earlier this month, student Rhiannon van Zuydam (pictured) claimed she had “hit rock bottom” after Brumfitt “sexualized” and “shamed” her for a modeling shoot she did when she was 16 .
Her photos caught the eye of newly crowned Australian of the Year Brumfitt, who posted them on her Body Image Movement social media accounts.
He added that the the negative responses to the post shattered her self-confidence and pushed her into depression.
“I was only 16 at the time, of course I’m going to be skinny: I’d train three to four hours a day and eat like a bloody horse, come back for thirds of dinner and stuff like that.”
“The fact that he used words that sexualized me was also very conflicting at the time.
“I was really closed off, I didn’t feel comfortable expressing myself. It took me years to feel comfortable in my own skin. That post made me hit rock bottom again.
Daily Mail Australia has contacted Ms Brumfitt for comment.
He told The Advertiser that he had shared the post. to gain attention from the fashion industry for her portrayal of young women.
She added that the negative responses to the post shattered her self-confidence and pushed her into depression.
“I expressed my opinion on these images as a call to fashion editors, magazines and the media in general to do a better job when it comes to how we portray and sometimes objectify girls and young women. in advertising,” said Ms. Brumfitt.
“I was devastated by the embarrassing, hurtful and derogatory words that followed my online post. I have never condoned and will never condone this type of behavior online.”
Ms Brumfitt later deleted the posts from Facebook and Instagram but is not believed to have offered an apology.
The post is still available on the Body Image Movement Twitter account.
Rhiannon’s mother, Sharyn van Zuydam, contacted her before the post was removed.
“I hope you feel wonderful about taking something special that was celebrated and turning it into a horrible situation,” Sharyn told Ms. Brumfitt.
Speaking later, he said he hoped Ms. Bumfitt had learned from the situation.
“Taryn was out there promoting body image, but if you didn’t fit her idea of what it was, we found it was doing the opposite of what she was trying to achieve,” Sharyn said.
Ms Brumfitt (Prime Minister Anthony Albanese pictured) was announced Australian of the Year.
“It seemed hypocritical, from someone who was supposedly promoting the acceptance of body image.”
It is the latest controversy to go after the Australian of the year.
In January, it was revealed that Ms Brumfitt may have inadvertently come to the attention of the ACCC after she appeared to endorse a number of products on Instagram without a disclaimer that she was paid to do so.
He has made several posts in recent years about food, fashion and cars on his ‘bodyimagemovement’ Instagram page.
San Remo Pasta, Modibodi underwear and a Mazda dealership are among the companies and products sold on her social media account.
Some posts include disclaimers of a paid partnership with the companies, while others seem to lack them.
Read more in this week’s issue of Stellar Magazine
Influencers are required to, at a minimum, end posts with #ad or #sponsored or add a kicker at the top explaining that it is a paid partnership.
Ms. Brumfitt, activist, writer, director, and public speaker on a decade-long mission to change the way we perceive ourselves.
In 2016, he produced a highly successful documentary called Embrace, which earned him international acclaim.
She was crowned Australian of the Year at a glittering ceremony in Canberra in January.
The Body Image Movement teaches people, particularly young women, to love and appreciate their bodies and has brought her to a global audience from her humble hometown of Adelaide.