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Tara Basro’s body-positivity campaign garners public support, stirs unexpected controversy
Despite the overwhelming support, however, the Communications and Information Ministry took issue with Tara’s campaign.
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Tara Basro stars in Indonesian horror movie blockbuster 'Pengabdi Setan'. (The Star/Chan Tak Kong)
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ctress and model Tara Basro has made waves across social media platforms after starting a digital campaign aimed at endorsing body-positive values on Wednesday.
Tara – who is most notably known for her roles in films directed by Joko Anwar, such as Pengabdi Setan (Satan’s Slaves) and Perempuan Tanah Jahanam (Impetigore) – posted two black-and-white photos of herself posing in her undergarments on her official Instagram page @tarabasro, proudly showing off her physique as she attempts to subvert the common perception of what passes as the ideal female body.
“What I’ve always heard from people [for a long time] is how ugly they think their bodies look. I eventually became used to criticizing and making fun [of my body]. If only we choose to grow accustomed to seeing the good in ourselves, to be grateful for what we have and make the best out of it instead of focusing on what we don’t have,” she wrote in the caption.
Read also: Instagram to introduce stricter rules about diet and cosmetic surgery-related posts
Amid the gloomy mood that seems to have pervaded public discourse in recent weeks due to coronavirus concerns, scores of social media users in Indonesia have shifted their collective attention to Tara’s latest headline-grabbing posts and sent the actress an outpouring of support for her body-positive message.
Twitter user @pamuladwi conveyed her support for Tara’s campaign, saying it encouraged her to confront her own insecurities regarding her appearance.
“I’ve been very insecure about how my body looks lately. I haven’t been confident about my belly, large thighs and calves. But then I saw this post; I should have loved my own body,” she said in reply to Tara’s tweet, which attaches a screenshot of her original Instagram post.
Belakangan ini lagi insecure banget sama bentuk badan. Nggak pede sama perut, paha dan betis yang besar. Terus liat postingan ini, harusnya ku juga sayang tubuhku sendiri😭😰❤
— Dwi Pamularsih (@pamuladwi) March 3, 2020
Into the Light Suicide Prevention Community founder and advisor Benny Prawira tweeted, “Thank you for doing this, mbak @TaraBasro. We need this kind of message to free our bodies from public judgment and love ourselves more.”
Thank you for doing this, mbak @TaraBasro . Pesan seperti ini yg diperlukan agar kita terbebas dari tuntutan masyarakat atas tubuh kita dan lebih mengasihi diri kita.
— txtdariaktiviskesehatanjiwa (@bennysiauw89) March 4, 2020
Other Twitter users expressed their support, while also pointing out the persistent phenomenon of body-shaming that puts unfair pressure on how women are supposed to look in public.
“Sometimes we’ve already given ourselves a dose of self-love for what we have, but other people say something about our physical appearance that makes us think twice about how we see ourselves. Shutting them out is difficult because there’s more than just one person who makes us feel down,” @edreaaaaa tweeted.
sebenernya kadang tu kita uda selflove sama apapun yang kita punya. tapi kadang mulut orang yang bikin jadi mikir dua kali, apapun itu lebih lagi main kataan fisik seenaknya. mau tutup telinga juga susa karna bukan satu orang yang yang bikin kita jadi down😭💔
— edrea (@edreaaaaa) March 3, 2020
Despite the overwhelming support, however, the Communications and Information Ministry took issue with Tara’s campaign, specifically a since-deleted black-and-white photo in which the actress is seen covering parts of her topless body with her hands along with the caption “Worthy of Love”.
“We received a report this morning. Having seen [the photo] myself, the content indeed counts as nudity,” the ministry’s spokesperson, Ferdinandus Setu, said on Wednesday as quoted by kompas.com.
He went on to say that Tara’s photo had violated Article 27 of the Electronic Information and Transactions (ITE) Law on appropriate content.
The ministry’s comment has since prompted strong reactions from activists and members of the public, many of whom criticized the ministry for undermining Tara’s body-positive message by mistaking her campaign for pornography.
Institute for Criminal Justice Reform (ICJR) researcher Maidina Rahmawati said the ministry’s attitude toward Tara’s post would only serve to “cause a social stigma and create a climate of fear”.
“The ministry has yet to fully understand the legal boundaries of what passes as appropriate; it does not support the positive message conveyed by the actress. Instead, it creates a climate of fear that discourages free speech,” Maidina said in a statement issued on Thursday.
She went on to call for a thorough reevaluation of Article 27 of the ITE Law, saying that it had been often misused to perpetuate gender-based crimes.
Tara was not immediately available for comment regarding the controversy when contacted by the Jakarta Post. (kes)
