Body is an integral part of our life. Similarly, ‘Body shaming’ is all around us and judging has become such an automatic response that people tend to do it without any prior thoughts. Some people try to find humor in degrading someone else’s figure which is highly undesirable. The problem arises when we start judging others based on outer looks.
The world is too big to have one sort of view to show beauty. It’s time to break the mold if we want to stop ‘Body shaming’ in all forms. Motivate, encourage, and support the differences. If each one of us starts to accept our body structures, nobody can make us feel bad about it.
Thinking about the parts of your body you could change or comparing them with the notion of “perfect body” our media has successfully created. It saddens me to witness the social media popularizing certain body types as beautiful. Today, almost all teenagers are highly active on social media. When platforms like Facebook and Instagram reinforce the ideal concepts of beauty, it distorts the thinking processes of the teenagers who in turn experience insecurity and face issues of low self-esteem later in life.
I remember reading an article about a 22-year-old photography student who started approaching plus-size females and offered photo shoots to them. He believed we should take the responsibility for the change we demand and has been spreading awareness since. He also wanted to open a plus-size modeling agency that would challenge and fight the established culture of body shaming.
Intentionally or unintentionally most of the people including we do body shaming, and we don’t even realize. At the same of view, we all have more or less experiences regarding this.
Some of us are laughed at those who are under-weight,
Some of us are fat,
we are alienated for being dark
Some of us couldn’t smile because of crooked teeth.
Many of us are short.
Sometimes this body-shaming thing goes beyond the boundaries.
Many people who judge intelligence based on looks.
Many people who guess the profession of other people just by looking at them.
Even someone assumed an intellectual person as a maid just because of skin color.
In schools/colleges if a kid doesn’t fall under the category of so-called good looking/perfect people, people mock at the uncommon kid. They couldn’t make friends easily. If this happens regularly people go into depression, suffer from an inferiority complex, lose confidence, and keep themselves away from everyone, they might even develop anxiety and other mental issues.
If you can’t make a person feel better at least you shouldn’t make them feel worse. You don’t know what they are going through or what they went through, even if you comment on someone just for fun and without any wrong intentions, still, they might get hurt because they might have been commented numerous times not just by you alone. Don’t judge anyone, treat people around you with respect, understand, and help them.
We often blame society for what is happening around but we need to realize that it is we who form the society. Thus, the first step is to fight our thinking patterns to accept ourselves, and then we need to make others aware of the same. Embrace who you are!
By- M. Hema Sri