Two women are putting body-positive stickers on ads in the New York City subway
When yoga teachers Jessica Andersen and Ashley Simon waited for trains in the New York City subway system, they noticed something totally not OK: body-shaming ads, many of them encouraging plastic surgery. So the pair decided to do something about it in the most beautiful way.
Jessica and Ashley started the campaign “My Body Does” after seeing an ad for Protein World last summer featuring “uber-thin, large-breasted women in bikinis with the copy ‘ARE YOU BEACH BODY READY?’” they told People.
“They were insulting but also literally impossible to avoid if you were waiting for a train,” Jessica told People.
That’s why Jessica and Ashley created stickers to add to unrealistic, body-shaming, and/or unhealthy advertisements using a woman’s body to sell something. The stickers bear beautiful affirmations like “My body is a source of joy,” “I am free to have a body that is unique to me,” “I am thankful for all that my body does,” and “I am cultivating a loving relationship with my body.”
“The My Body Does stickers are about reclaiming both public physical space and space within cultural conversations about bodies and how they should ‘be,’” Jessica told People
The stickers are available for purchase on the campaign’s website in a pack of 4 for $2.50. Supporters of the movement have been buying the stickers and posting them to Instagram using the hashtag #MyBodyDoes.
“We hope our stickers inspire people to investigate some of the feelings they have, and the choices they make, and to discover what’s authentically them,” Jessica told People. “And if at the end of the day that’s still plastic surgery, then that’s okay. Because it won’t be about fear and manipulation, it will be about individual, conscious choice.”
We applaud Jessica and Ashley and thank them for calling attention to such an important cause in a beautiful way. If you want to support the My Body Does movement, you can purchase stickers here or follow the campaign on Instagram.
