As someone who has struggled with accepting my body from an age where I shouldn’t have even known what body shaming was, I think society is either too unaware or too unbothered about the effects of ‘skinny shaming’, and in general, body shaming. Both men and women are subject to forms of body shaming in their everyday lives, through media, friends and family, or otherwise. Although I may not seem like someone who is insecure about my body or physical appearance, it is ignorant to believe you know enough about someone to make comments about them, to their face, or to others. Media has increasingly portrayed natural bodies in a negative light, and praised unnatural bodies as something that is ‘ideal’ or ‘the norm’. It not only gives men and women unrealistic expectations of what they should be looking like, but unrealistic expectations of what others should be looking like. What saddens me more , is that I have been a victim of body shaming, less through media, and more so through friends and family. This happens so much, that there is a form of disgust towards our own bodies, if they don’t fit societies standards. It not only saddens me but angers me that people feel as though they have to subject themselves to forms of body modification in order to feel accepted. I think people should be more aware of the effects of their words, and how the things they say can stay in the minds of someone who is already insecure about their body, for a long time. I think people need to understand that not every body is going to fit the ‘ideal’ body shape. Some people are naturally skinny, it doesn’t mean they ‘don’t eat’, or they’re ‘anorexic’. It also doesn’t mean they’re happy with their body and like it when people call them skinny. Some people are genetically larger than others, it doesn’t mean they’re ‘ugly’ or ‘obese’. Many people suffer from disorders and diseases that takes a toll on their physical appearance. Be kind, always
- depressionandfinesse
