•”You’re so skinny dear! Don’t you eat something or what? Look at yourself.”
•”Slightly dishevelled and a little overweight…ugly, fat, effeminate…He is not that muscley and his head is bigger compared to his body.”
•“You will fly in the air just by a blow of my mouth. LOL.”
•“Hey! Skeleton.”
•“Your dark circles are so prominent.”
•“You know what my mother/father said when she/he saw you for the first time? – doesn’t she/he eat something?”
•“Your eyes are so tiny.”
•“What is your weight ?? 20 kgs I guess?”
•”You are like a thin stick.”
•“We can learn only two things from you, my dear-Never compromise on eating and eat more.”
•“There is no way that is going to fit you.”
“Are you really going to eat all that?”
•“You are SO fat!”
•“Your body is disgusting.”
•How can you perform your duties well with such skinny/fatty physique?
The abovementioned statements are just few examples of Body Shaming.
Body shaming is the act of suggesting that someone’s body isn’t good enough, and that they should not be satisfied or comfortable with its current composition, proportions, or exposure to the gaze of others. It is rude and disrespectful behavior, and there is no body type that creates an exception that would make body shaming less rude or less disrespectful (even if that body is, in fact, unhealthy).
Body shaming is known as the action or practice of expressing humiliation about another individual’s body shape or size; a form of bullying that can result in severe emotional trauma.
A person’s body is his/her own. It is none of your business. You are neither assisting nor improving the lives of anyone by boorishly sharing your opinions and “helpful” intentions.
Body shaming is somehow limited to attempting to shame fat people into changing their wanton ways “for their own good”. This is certainly not the case. Body shaming includes:
•Suggesting that fat people are too fat to deserve basic human dignity, that fatness is a result of a flaw of character or failure of self discipline and therefore deserving of derision and mockery
•Suggesting that short people are undesirable and therefore foolish to attempt to begin a romantic relationship with a potential partner of average or above-average height.
•Suggesting that slender people are too thin, their bosoms and backsides are inadequate, that they’re weak and un-manly, that they’re unhealthy and that their eating or exercize habits must be disordered. Dismissing very slender people as stuck up, meek, cowardly, weak, pathetic, neurotic, or shrill because of the composition of their bodies.
•Suggesting that a body is too old to be beautiful. That the signs of maturity and experience are unsightly and revolting, and should be covered or “fixed”. That people over a certain age should cover up, that older adults should not reveal their bodies or sexuality.
•Suggesting that some bodies are to be hidden from view. Too fat, skinny, tall, short, unusual, scarred, tattooed, devoid of curves or of defined muscles, unusually or deeply pigmented, affected by physical or medical challenges…and that they should not choose clothing that allows their skin and form to be visible for what it is and to celebrate it.
•Suggesting that tall people should only wear or do certain things because of their height, and that tall women should avoid high heels or shorter partners.
•Suggesting that bodies are not sufficiently gendered: that muscular bodies are not feminine enough, that willowy bodies aren’t masculine enough, and that bodies that do not clearly evoke a gender are an embarrassment to be fixed.
While making a confession about how body shaming has affected this anonymous girl, she said, “I was made to believe that I was ugly and I could never change. When people demotivates you continuously, you loose all hopes. I have developed ‘trust’ issues. It was so easy for people to make me believe that I look bad. Now if anyone tells that I look beautiful, I don’t believe them. I hate camera. I feel so embarrassed to get my pictures clicked in public places. I don’t know why, but I feel that everybody will be laughing at me, seeing me take pictures. I feel ashamed to ask my super gorgeous friends to click my pictures. I think 100 times before posting my picture on Instagram and after posting I regret my action.”
Criticizing someone at a level where the person starts hating their own body is highly unaccepted fact. How can you motivate someone to be fit by doing their body shaming? How can you be so brutal that you have made the person feel terrible about her/his own body? If this is the way, you think you can help someone to improve her/himself then I am definitely unapologetic to say that you are torturing the person mentally.
If people continuously receive negative comments about their bodies, it will influence their self-esteem and might lead to anxiety or depression.
So, all such kinda repulsive and narrow minded, unfortunately labelled as ‘human beings’ comprising of aunties, uncles, chachi-chacha(s), Kaki-Kaka(s), baba(s)-baby(-ies) friends, enemies….. don’t body shame others to validate your own. Do consider the fact in your mind that humor does not always conjure smiles. When used in a wrong manner, humor sometimes can be very twisted and affect someone’s life to the core. One such type of humor is body shaming, which is a corrosive trend that has become one of the most damaging forces in today’s world.
These days, people do not seem to find anything wrong in making fun of someone else’s body and shockingly enough, some people think/believe that making a person feel ashamed of their bodies is a potent way of motivating them to transform themselves, and that they will work even harder to achieve this miracle.
Body shaming is a deplorable practice that must be avoided at all costs. No one is perfect, and if we remember our own imperfections, we will learn motivate, support, and encourage each other. Body shaming is an issue that will not be solved unless everyone learns to accept their own bodies, and until the myth of the ‘perfect body’ ceases to be.
Choose kindness, choose empathy. Spread awareness about body shaming because……
Body-shaming needs to stop!