Name: Megan Jayne Crabbe
Age: 23
Location: Essex, UK
Occupation: I'm a carer for my older sister who has cerebral palsy.
Megan Crabbe, also known as the Instagram sensation @bodiposipanda, is a champion for women learning how to love themselves from the inside out. This English rose is no fragile flower, having spent two years in and out of inpatient units as a teenager battling anorexia nervosa.
“I was so entranced by the glamour and beauty of the female celebrities I saw in the media, and unfortunately that meant I internalised a lot of unrealistic body standards young. No matter what I was going to be when I grew up, I knew I had to be beautiful, and beautiful always meant thin. My 5 year old puppy fat already seemed wrong, ugly, nothing like what I saw in magazines and on my TV screen. And that's when the dieting, and body obsession started.”
Through her struggle with anorexia, Megan found a fierce, deep love of herself and a passionate animosity for the disorder that robbed her of time, nourishment, intimacy, and identity. Even though the road was rocky, she triumphed over crash diets and hatred of her body to find the recovery she was yearning for. “It wasn't until I found body positivity at 21 that I truly recovered mentally,” she explains.
It was through the platform of Instagram and the hashtag “bopo” (aka, body positivity) that Megan discovered that there was truly an alternative to self-hate. She found the profile of a woman in Kentucky named Melissa, @yourstruelymelly, and the whole world of bopo opened up to her.
“I followed all the inspiring accounts I could find, got involved in the community, read feminist literature about the diet industry and oppressive beauty standards, and I realised that I had to spread the word. That's why I started @bodyposipanda, to let as many people as possible know that they don't have to spend their lives at war with their bodies either. I am so grateful to be able to spread the bopo message,” Megan says. And her vivacious personality and relentless honesty allowed her to garner thousands upon thousands of followers, even becoming an internet celebrity. So what’s it like in the spotlight?
“People assume that because of Instagram I live a super glamorous life, but really nothing has changed. I still spend most of the day talking to my dogs and refusing to put a bra on. I'm a carer for my older sister so I spend a lot of time with her, and write blog posts and Instagram posts in my free time,” she explains.
When she’s not blogging or being there for her sister and her three dogs, she’s putting her energy toward the future of body positivity, mulling over starting a YouTube channel and bopo projects the world over. “I always joke about a body positive world takeover, but truly that's what we need….the more self love the better.”
Reaching out beyond the profile, Megan hopes she can help foster healthy, self-loving practices for young girls who are bombarded by an unattainable and false idea of physical perfection.
“The message I most want young girls to know is that their purpose in life isn't to look like a photoshopped magazine cover or their favourite celebrity,” Megan emphasizes. “They have so much more to offer the world than contoured cheekbones, thigh gaps or perfect abs. We are more than bodies. We are more than how we look. And the biggest industries in the world profit from making us think otherwise, and teaching us that we're flawed so that they can sell us the solution. Don't buy it. You have so much to offer the world, and you are good enough exactly as you are.”
You can see Megan in bopo warrior action on Instagram.
For helping all of us to love ourselves no matter what we look like, we think Megan Jayne Crabbe is a really Cool Girl!
