Amelia Moseley, BTN Reporter: Taryn, Australian of the Year, tell me what has it been like?
Taryn Brumfitt, Australian of the Year: Oh, it has been such an honour to be Australian of the Year. But how exciting that we've been able to have a really important national conversation about how people feel about their bodies.
Taryn on Stage: And what if instead of spending their precious time and energy at war with their bodies, our young people were free to become the leaders, big thinkers, and game changers the world needs more of right now. It's not our bodies that need to change. It's our perspective.
This is how you sort of got started on this journey, right? It all was a photo that you post or two photos that you posted, can you tell me about that?
Taryn: So I did a bodybuilding competition for a very short amount of time on my quest to um, get the perfect body because I thought it would make me happy and it actually didn’t. I had my three children, I ended up hating my body. So I trained hard and then you know what, I'm standing there in my perfect body, and I'm not happy. Too much sacrifice, too much time, too much obsession, and it's just not worth it. So I sort of ah, put my, let's call it “my perfect body” in my before. And my after photograph was as I am now with a bit of cellulitis, a few folds and rolls and whatever it is. And it just broke people's brains around the world that a woman could love her body after. And that's kind of how it all began. And what I got back from thousands of people around the world was ‘oh I'm really struggling with how I feel about my body. And what can I do?’ So it was a case of um, there’s big problem, how can I be part of the solution? Let's tell some stories, because that's the most effective way to get into people's hearts and minds is storytelling, and decided to write some books and eventually made films and film is the best way to tell stories.
Embrace Kids (2022): I'm Taryn. Ten years ago, I began a global movement to help people embrace their bodies. But people younger and younger, don't like their bodies. I'm not pretty enough, I'm not good enough, because media of no one's really liked me. And I am determined to do something about it.
But what I want everyone to know is that we're all so unique and special just the way we are, and we don't need to look like anyone else. We don't need to fit in, we don't need to conform, we just need to really embrace what we've got, we've only got one body, it’s the body that you'll have for the rest of your life. So getting in as early as possible, and deciding and choosing to have a great relationship with your body. It is like a superpower in life.
What would you recommend for young people to have a more positive relationship with their bodies?
Taryn: Yeah, I think there's four things that I want everyone to know. The first one is to celebrate diversity. We all come in different shapes, sizes, abilities, colours, like that's what makes the world, that's what makes the world special and, and different. And imagine if we didn't look the same, it would be so boring. We all have different strengths and I think we need to really um, celebrate those differences in people. The other thing is to um, focus on functionality. So we get so lost and so caught up on how we look that we forget about how we feel. And we also forget about all the things that our bodies can do. Like our senses, we can see and we can smell and we can hear and we can touch and there's all these things that our bodies do that we actually don't take the time to be kind of grateful for. The other one is real role models. Who are you allowing into your life, and make sure they're people that want you to be a better human being, that they're lifting you up, they're encouraging and inspiring you to be a better person, don't follow people just because of how their body looks. And the fourth one is be kind. Being kind to ourselves and kind to others. Self-compassion is key when we want to feel better about our bodies.
So you recently spoke at the National Press Club, huge event. Ah, you spoke about no, a no photoshop policy. In particular, when it comes to influencers on social media. Can you tell me a little bit more about that idea?
Taryn: It's some, something so easy that influencers and models can do is have a, a photoshopping policy that doesn't allow any magazine or anyone who's editing photos to remove the pimple or to smooth out the lines or to make any changes to their appearance.
Taryn at National Press Club of Australia: Educate yourselves on how you might be contributing. Put a photoshopping policy in place that your images can't be airbrushed or altered. Let your audiences see the real you. I put one in place seven years ago, and it's so easy, and no one has ever given me a hard time for having that policy. Simple.
It's an opportunity and an invitation for influencers to be bold and make decisions that will ultimately make people feel better about themselves.
So Taryn what's next? After being Australian of the Year, where are you going to take your message?
Taryn: Look, we’re, we’re on the mission to reach a million children. That will be the focus and we won't stop but that's one in four. So once we've achieved one in four, we're going to go for one and two, and then we're going to go for every Australian, every Australian child deserves to grow up, appreciating and valuing their body and feeling good in their bodies. So that's the mission, whatever it is that will help people embrace, that's what you'll find me doing.
Yeah, so good.