Body shaming has been around for a long where people humiliate their own or another individual’s physical appearance. Let us look in detail at body shaming, its types, effects, and most importantly, why we must stop it.
What is body shaming?
The meaning of body shaming is within this word itself. Criticizing or shaming your own body or another person’s body by judgment or comparison with someone else is called body shaming.
Definition of body shaming
The body shaming definition has a list of things. We have seen and heard since childhood that people ask others to change their appearances like their elders. If someone is fat, he/she is suggested to follow some instructions to lose weight; if someone is dark, he/she is advised to use fairness cream. People often judge themselves by looking at the mirror and comparing themselves with others of their bodies.
Types of body shaming
Any negative comment on the body size is termed body shaming. Let us look at some common types of it.
Weight
This is one of the most common types of body shaming. This is further classified into fat shaming and skinny shaming. People often pass on negative comments about a person being fat such as “he/she needs to buy an extra ticket to watch a movie”. Similarly, people with thinner bodies face comments on their body weight. Others usually say that these people do not get food at home, or that they have some eating disorder.
Attractiveness
This is also divided into two parts; pretty shaming and lookism. We have seen very often how people are judging and doing discrimination against others for being so attractive which is termed as pretty shaming. The perfect example of this is the job of an air hostess where a beautiful face and body are the primary requirement. On the other hand, lookism refers to discrimination against people who do not look very attractive in terms of physical appearance.
Body Hair
This is again one of the natural things where people have hair grown on their legs, arms, and underarms. People with more hair on their legs or arms are often called an animal by their friends or neighbors. Somewhere, society also believes that women should not have hair on any part of their body to look more beautiful and cleaner.
Age
This usually happens with people of an older age. They are bullied or discriminated against for their age. People pass on negative comments about their wrinkles. We have also seen on social media how old and bad celebrities are going to look when they would not put on make-up.
Food shaming
Telling others about the amount of food they are eating is food shaming. This is generally done in relation to body size and sometimes even gender. For example, if someone says that the other person should not eat cake because he is very fat or there is an ideology of some people that women should not eat much. We should not be shaming others just because they want to eat what we think is not good for them.
There are some more types of body shaming such as skin color, clothing, being trendy, etc.
Psychological effects of body shaming on the mind
People doing body shaming do not spare anyone, be it a common man or any celebrity. The effects of body shaming on social media also cause permanent damage to the victim and sometimes even to the bully. We have seen people troll and make fun of celebrities on social platforms for being too thin or heavy. They should understand that there are no positive effects of body shaming for the one doing it or the one on the receiving side. So, what are the effects? There are plenty. It can lead to low self-confidence, leading to serious mental and psychological effects on the mind including depression, anxiety, and social isolation. Let us look in detail at the common negative effects of body shaming on the mind.
Depression
This is one of the harmful effects of frequent body shaming done by people around you.
Anxiety
Constant negative comments for a prolonged period can lead to low confidence and anxiety. These people start seeing themselves as unworthy and build self-doubt. This can go wrong further since anxiety will not let these people perform well in their careers.
Eating Disorders
This is again one of the causes of body shaming. Eating disorders include anorexia and bulimia. Fat people will discontinue eating by going against their body needs and skinny people will start overeating which can result in dehydration and constipation.
Body Shaming facts
People often try to surround themselves with good ones and motivational messages however the fact is that it has become very hard to avoid body shaming and feel confident.
A survey shows over 80% of men and 90% of women have reported being body shamed. Legs, bellies, butts, and lack of muscle are some of the common parts they most felt shame about. Though men and women both report body shaming, however, negative comments on a woman’s body affect them longer. As per studies, women report negative comments about their body throughout their age however men stop receiving such comments after a certain age. This concludes that as a culture, it has become a norm to comment on a women’s body irrespective of her age, whereas everybody considers men fine at any stage of their life.
There is a thinking that the people who have been body shamed will stand for others and would not do their body shaming however, a survey was conducted, and it was noticed that over 30% of people who have been body shamed accepted that they have also body shamed others.
Basically, such thoughts usually grow from and within our families. Over 60% of women and 30% of men reported that their mother body shamed them. About 40% of women and 25% of men reported that their fathers commented on their bodies. Grandparents are also not far, they have body-shamed a little over 35% of women and 15% of men.
How to feel free from body shaming
We have read above that both chubby and skinny people experience this form of bullying. The important fact is that you should neither judge your body nor be judging others. One should accept and love their body because understanding and feeling good about the appearance of your or another’s body is very important to mental health. Let us look at some of the tips for breaking free from body shaming and how to stop it yourself.
Use affirmations
There is always a negative talk in your mind that keeps telling you about the body, that you are too thin or fat, short or very tall, etc., or you even hear the whispering of other people who have body shamed you. All these cruel messages should be replaced with affirmations where you should look into the mirror and say loudly about the things you like about yourself. Even a woman can look at her belly and say that she has carried a child for nine months and has scars all over to prove it.
Body Positivity
It does not matter what skin color you have or the kind of shape your body has. You should always be thankful for good health and be grateful to God for everything and not what is missing. No therapy can help if you do not feel confident about yourself. No one is perfect and every other person’s body has some flaws, so you should accept your body the way it is.
Do what you like
It is imperative that you should find and do activities that make you feel good and grow more comfortable with your body. Though you don’t have to go out to find that happiness, you can dance, walk, and stretch at home or in the garden.
Stop hiding yourself
People often isolate themselves if they experience body shaming. They sometimes even cover up their whole body or sit silently in the corner of the room which is full of people. Life is very short, and we should not live it this way. You should stop worrying about what people will say about your appearance and start taking small steps such as going out with less coverage, even for a shorter period, or greeting people by just saying hello or good day in social gatherings. You should also notice people’s behavior with such changes to make you come out of hiding.
With that, you should also learn how to stop body shaming others. You will not tolerate someone commenting on you because now you know the effects on your mental health. So instead of passing negative comments to that person, why not say something nicer so that person will also feel included and confident?
There are also some powerful “body shaming quotes” and “stop body shaming quotes” by celebrities to grow self-love, such as “Stop trying to fix your body, it was never broken” and “Each body is a swimsuit body.” These celebrities also advise hanging “stop body shaming posters” around your walls and listening to “stop body shaming speech” in your free time.
Conclusion
There was recently a piece of news around body shaming in Spain, where it was growing at a faster rate, so the Spanish government started a “stop body shaming campaign.” They declared on all public platforms that all bodies are equal and beautiful.
Such thoughts can be common, but you can do some work to stop growing them more. There are certain ways that we discussed above how to deal with body shaming. Other than those, with the appropriate support (including therapy), one can move towards a healthy mindset by rising above the struggles of body shaming and living a fulfilling life.
Let us avoid any kind of body shaming, now and together.
