When I first encountered the term “death positive,” I assumed it meant that one looked forward to the day they died. It alarmed me when my family member told me they were death positive. I quickly changed the morbid subject and stayed ignorant about the term for over a year. Little did I know that my socially ingrained behavior towards talking about death was the reason we need the death positive movement.

Death positivity does not, in fact, rejoice in our mortality, but rather encourages honest and open discussion about death. The modern American norm is to avoid the topic, despite it being the only universal certainty humans face. The death positive movement aims to cast off the taboo of talking about the final stage of life. In doing so, we can accept the inevitable, be better prepared for when it arrives, and create a healthier society. The term “Death Positive” was first used in a 2013 tweet by Caitlin Doughty, mortician, author, and founder of the non-profit, The Order of the Good Death.

The Order of the Good Death began in 2011. The Order does not suggest that death is inherently a good thing, but rather that acknowledging it can lead to better end-of-life planning, reduced fear and anxiety around dying, more meaningful funeral practices, and a greater appreciation for life. Its stated goal is “about making death a part of your life. That means committing to staring down your death fears—whether it be your own death, the death of those you love, the pain of dying, the afterlife (or lack thereof), grief, corpses, bodily decomposition, or all of the above. Accepting that death itself is natural, but the death anxiety and terror of modern culture are not.”

Doughty at the time of The Order’s founding was anLA-based funeral director. She knew from firsthand experience that the modernAmerican funeral industry is emotionally and financially draining. Not only are funerals expensive, but also loved ones are not presented with many options for how their deceased are laid to rest, and the rigid process leaves little room for proper grieving. The Order was populated by funeral industry professionals, academics, and artists that were trying to change what was possible at the end of life, allowing the bereaved and those grieved to have more agency. As TheOrder expanded, they grew to offer educational content, guides, resources about death and dying, information on how to protect your rights before and after death, events live and online, and grants for those who shared the same values.These were the people that created and were the vanguard of the Death Positive movement.

On their website, The Order credits a number of activists, authors, movements, as well as historical, political, and social events to have laid the foundation from which the Death Positive Movement sprung. Several of these include:

1. The books On Death and Dying by Elisabeth Kubler-Ross, published in 1969, and Pulitzer Prize-winning The Denial of Death by Ernest Becker, published in 1973.

2. The first hospice in the United States opened in 1974 after the creation of the original hospice in London in 1967. Though the idea of a hospice may not seem revolutionary today, it was trailblazing back then to treat those terminally ill differently than patients in a hospital.

3. The Natural Death Act passed in the US in 1976, allowing people the right to opt-out of being resuscitated against their will. Direct results of this act were living wills and Advanced Directives.

4. The 1970s Chicano movement, in defiance of the demand to assimilate to basic U.S. society, embraced their roots. This led to the symbols of Dia de Muertos to be publicly displayed.

5. In the 1980s, palliative care was introduced more widely in the United States. It encourages open, compassionate conversations about mortality and prioritizing quality of life over prolonging suffering. It empowers individuals to make informed, values-based choices about their care, fostering dignity, agency, and emotional well-being at the end of life.

6. The 1990s saw the emergence of the Green Burial Movement, which advocates for environmentally-conscious ways to lay a body to rest. The first conservation cemetery in the US opened in 1998, allowing natural burial rather than the “traditional” casket-into-concrete route.

7. Around the same time, the Home Funeral Movement also gained traction, advocating for the right to keep the dying and the dead at home, instead of in sterile and/or lonely surroundings.

8. Death Doulas or Death Midwives (though these roles date back to ancient times) saw a sharp increase in popularity following the Home Funeral Movement. Many begin to seek these practitioners to provide support and guide dying individuals and their loved ones through the process of death.

9. The Death Café was started by Jon Underwood in England and has grown to be hosted in 78 countries. The objective of the Death Café is “to increase awareness of death with a view to helping people make the most of their lives” while people “gather to eat cake, drink tea, and discuss death.”

It is important to clarify what death positivity is *not*. Death positivity is not about showing off a certain dark fashion and posting macabre curiosities for likes on social media. There’s nothing wrong with those proclivities, but limiting death positivity to what one wears or shares discounts the serious work the Death Positive Movement does. From lobbying for laws to give people more agency over practices concerning death, to disrupting the death industry one funeral home at a time, to encouraging discussion on the structural inequalities that makes it more difficult for certain communities to obtain the end-of-life they deserve, the Movement pursues and creates real change.

Death positivity is also not about ridding all grief or fear of death. Louise Hung, a writer for the Order, said, “what the movement has done for me is allow me to function within, in spite of, and through my monstrous mortality fears. I try to explain this to people all the time. And it’s what shocks people most about this work. That it’s not about being fearless, it’s about finding a way into that fear and through some alchemy, turning it into something valuable in life. Even if that fear never goes away.” Being death positive is about acceptance and empowerment, even though death is frightening, messy, and indubitably life-changing. Embracing death positivity and encouraging others to follow suit can change lives as well, and possibly cause an ideological shift in our society today.

What can you do now that you know about and want to be part of the Death Positive Movement?

• Here are the five ways to affect death positive change‍
• Calls to Action for legislative advocacy
• Learn more about The Order’s LGBTQ End-of-Life Guide Project‍
• Volunteer to spread awareness and/or build a database about end-of-life rights and options