Micro, Mezzo, Macro

In social work school we talked a lot about change on the micro (self), mezzo (between persons/organizations), macro (global/societal) levels. I'm going to give you some examples of activism on the micro, mezzo and macro levels and give you some more information on why this is important.


Micro-Level Activism:

• Stop weighing yourself. 

• Your worth is not the sum of your gravitational pull to the earth. There are many ways to measure health. Focus your attention on healthy behaviors, not weight. When we move our bodies for the sole purpose of losing weight we can take a lot of joy out of the experience! Read up on Health at Every Size and learn about how weight is merely one measure that does not acurately portray a person's health in its entirety. When you stop weighing yourself, you have freedom to explore what is healthy and what does health feel like, instead of what number the scale tells you that morning. 

Mezzo-Level Activism:

• Stop negative body talk.

• When you are in groups, with friends, with co-workers and you see the conversation turn to judging what they ate this morning, fat shaming themselves or others, thin shaming people they admire, cutting their bodies up in parts to hate, stop the conversation. Say things like, "Hey, I really like what we were talking about before, can we go back to that conversation?" or "It makes me really sad when you talk about your body that way. It also makes me wonder if other people are affected by the way you talk about (your body)." Sometimes its not only shutting the conversation down, but exploring other possibilities. "I've decided to love my body exactly how it is and wouldn't it be great if we could all do that? No matter what we looked like?"

Macro-Level Activism:

• Don't buy products, or buy-into ideas that hurt you.

• Your dollars are a powerful tool in being a Love Guerrilla. Do you find yourself being lead on by commercials that tell you to change who you are? Do you feel worse after succumbing to these messages and purchasing products that you will never use? Stop buying them! Maybe soft body creams are important to you. And maybe that right cream is in a health foods store purchased by people who are diverse in shapes and sizes and the packaging is beautiful and the cream is natural and speaks to the part of you that wants to buy products with integrity. Think about how your wallet speaks. Don't like a commercial for how they portray women/men? Don't buy their products. If you do like a product, do your research! Find out what that company cares about, if its Dolphin protection great! If the company invests in harmful weight-loss products, do more research. Money speaks.

Why these levels of activism?

Activism and change occurs on a personal (micro), interpersonal/organizational (mezzo) and societal/global (macro) level. Sometimes we are ready to go do macro-level activism and need help with micro-level. Or maybe mezzo-level activism is the hardest for us and we need help. If you need more ideas, you've come to the right place! I will be posting micro/mezzo/macro activism ideas for you to complete and share with others! What types of activism are important to you?