Taryn Brumfitt is a feminist on a mission; a mission to get every woman to love her body as it is and not to buy into the media’s depiction of what the word ‘beautiful’ means.

To begin her ‘mission,’ Brumfitt questioned 100 women on the street, to see exactly how they would describe their bodies. These were some of their responses:

“gross”                 “fat”                      “imperfect”                        “old”                      “short”                 “disgusting”        “frumpy”

As you can see there is not one positive word listed above.  This is because most women do not see their bodies, or themselves, in a positive light.  Brumfitt wants to help women, across the globe to change this vocabulary list above, and the ways that women see themselves.

She has been getting her message across by investing her time in a documentary called ‘EMBRACE,’ which dives into why body loathing, self-consciousness, and internal struggles with self-worth and beauty is so common, and what women can do to change this reality.

Brumfitt, a mom of three and professional photographer also once had hatred towards her body.  In the first video kicking off her campaign, she talks about how she would wake up every morning, look in the mirror and tell herself how ugly, dumb, and disgusting she was.   She later was even considering a boob job and tummy tuck, which she talks about on her website, BodyImageMovement.com .

However, Brumfitt decided not to go through with the surgery.  And she decided that instead, she must learn to love her body the way it is.  Brumfitt said, “How am I ever going to teach Mikaela [her daughter] to love her body as it is if her Mummy can’t do the same? How am I ever going to encourage her to accept and love the parts of her body that she doesn’t like without being a walking contradiction?”

This moment, was when she began her journey towards self-acceptance, a road that is far from easy, but in the end, worth it.  In an interview Brumfitt admits, “It’s taken a lot of effort, time and energy but I can tell you there is nothing better than a.) Loving your body wholeheartedly, lumps and bumps and all and b.) Telling society where they can shove their ideals of beauty.”

In May of last year, Taryn took a big risk, and posted a before and after picture of herself to Facebook; this photo received more than 3 million likes.  However, this photo was not what you think.  It was not showing off a photo-shopped flat stomach of an overly perfect woman post-weight-loss.  The “before” shot was from her, when she was younger, in a body building competition, and the “after” shot was of her post-birth, showing off her natural, real body of a woman un-photo shopped with zero cosmetic surgeries.

Brumfitt explains that she believes the photo received so much attention “because heaven forbids a woman to love her body after.”

Since this image has become viral Brumfitt has dedicated all her time to her project, the Body Image Movement.  Now, she is focusing on raising the $200,000 to make ‘EMBRACE’ come to life.  She believes this film will truly change the way that women perceive themselves.

In the final part of Brumfitt’s interview she poses an important question:

“Women are always being told to change or be different — lose weight, fight aging, smooth your skin, get rid of cellulite. I mean, really, women are such amazing and dynamic creatures can we please change the conversation from this bullsh*t to something with a little more substance?”

Preach it.