Australian Film Embrace Focuses on Body Image

On Friday, Feb. 1, MAC teamed up with the Counseling Center to show the documentary Embrace, an Australian film about the Body Image Movement. The film revolves around Taryn Brumfitt, a woman traveling the world to meet other women struggling with body image, promoting self-love, and working on accepting themselves.

Taryn’s story began in 2013, when she posted a non-traditional before-and-after body transformation photo on her Facebook. In the before, she was on stage competing in a bikini bodybuilding competition after having given birth. In the after, she had ditched the obsession with exercise and food and simply focused on being healthy.

Her photo went viral. As many women are, Brumfitt was dissatisfied with her post-pregnancy body. While she did consider cosmetic surgery, she ultimately decided to try the radical idea of loving her body as it was. One of the deciding factors of this choice was her young daughter: she didn’t want her daughter to grow up and think she needed to change her body, too.

As Taryn travels and meets new women, the documentary focuses on their personal struggles and growth dealing with body image issues. Among the friends she makes are actress Nora Tschirner, photographer Amanda de Cadenet, model Harnaam Kaur, Cosmopolitan editor Mia Freedman, and director B. Jeffrey Madoff. While listening to their testimonies may be painful for some, the film is an important look at how society often looks at individuals as nothing more than the sum of their parts.

After the film, those who attended had a brief discussion about their reactions and thoughts on the content.