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By Leyah Shanks

Instagrammer Stevie Hart from Southampton’s radical approach to self-love has become a viral hit.

Stevie Grice Hart known as ‘Bopo Boy’, is a 26-year-old body positive (or bopo) influencer from Southampton. His inspirational message of self-worth recently became a viral sensation, gaining millions of views and reaching news platforms across the globe.

He thinks that body shame has become an accepted part of society, and he’s not cool with it. He told me: “People seem to think that it’s normal to comment and pass judgement on other people’s bodies. I joined Instagram to try and negate that.”

The part time YouTuber has himself suffered at the hands of poor body image. As a young boy, Hart noticed that his body type was missing from media representation. He subsequently spent many years of his life yo-yo dieting, replacement-meal-shaking, abusing weight loss pills and obsessively exercising.

“I thought I’d be popular and successful, but neither of those things happened. I just went from 18 and a half stone to 10 stone and was left with excess skin and stretch marks.”

 

 

Hart’s most engaging content comes from his open discussions about his ‘moobs’ and here to stay belly. His approach to the unconventionally masculine body has been at the root of his success.

The counter-culture that bopo throws at prescribed norms has real weight to it. The construction of the beauty myth and the media’s role in perpetuating body shame is being neutralised by radically oppositional body politics. But Hart says the community needs to bring more attention to issues faced by men.

He thinks it’s hugely important that more men take on the role as body positive activists. He said: “I don’t want kids to have to go through the years of self-hate and abuse that I did.” He talks about the importance of representation and its direct connection to body image.

“Children look around them for representation and if they can’t find it, they’ll look to other spaces. For me, that was the media. In the 90s, diverse male representation wasn’t a thing. Being shown the same kind of imagery time and time again subliminally reinforced that my body was the problem because nobody else looked like me.”

He thinks it’s important that social media is used in a positive way, and more men grab a hold of the reigns. He said: “It’s important to be that real-life representation. To show that bodies come in every way imaginable and that it’s perfectly OK to look the way you look. The way you are is perfect!”

He believes that toxic masculinity is largely to blame for the lack of men taking up activism. He explained: “Men are expected to be as cold as stone and never talk about their emotions.”

Hart says that men are held to a ‘high’ standard where they are expected to be conventionally ‘manly’: “All men need to be incredibly toned and have shoulders wider than a mountain range. Anything less than that isn’t good enough. I think this is where the majority of body shame in men comes from.”

 

 

He hopes that this attitude will fade and society will gain some perspective: “I hope that this will change over time because it’s such an outdated idea. In my opinion, being raw and honest is incredibly brave.” Hart, who has an undying love for coffee and comics, also believes that the media’s reinforcement of toxic masculinity is one of the main factors interfering with self-image perceptions of men.

“We’re starting to see body diversity in the media for women. Don’t get me wrong it’s by no means enough, but it’s a start. However, we never see any attempts at this for men. The same type of guy we have seen time and time again is the only ‘acceptable’ body type.”

When Hart joined Instagram 2 years ago, he aimed to counterbalance this rhetoric. He hoped that he could cultivate an inclusive community which deconstructs the narrow-minded views of attractiveness and gender stereotyping.

“I hope to be the role model that I needed when I was a young boy who was lost and blamed my body for everything.”

Hart also thinks that editing apps such as FaceTune and Photoshop are problematic to the way men view themselves. He explained: “I think all it does is emphasise the idea that there’s something ‘wrong’ with us and it must be changed to suit ideals before being shown to the world.”

The married man who is planning to adopt a child with his husband, says that the scale of readily available editing software is frightening: “It scares me that kids grow up with so many tools at their disposal. They may end up not even recognising what they actually look like.”

 

 

He thinks the difference in body shame between men and women is their perceived attitudes about opening up. He explains: “Talking about your emotions and feelings isn’t ‘manly’. Men are expected to just shake off low self-esteem when actually, it hurts just as much as it does to anyone else.”

So how do we go about making men feel more comfortable in their own skin? Hart thinks that showcasing diversity is key: “I diversified my Instagram and followed people of all body types. It truly helped me to understand that bodies come in all fits. Representation is so huge. If we saw bodies that look like ours in the media, it would send out shock-waves and begin enabling us to feel more comfortable in our own skin.”

It seems as though Hart’s got some pretty big aspirations for the future, too: “I’m waiting on the day they cast a chubby gay Disney prince. Honestly, if Disney ever want to cast me I’m totally down!”

 

Are you a man with a tale of body positivity to tell? We’d love to hear from you! Head to our Your Stories page to find out more.

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