If I am to simply define body shaming, I would say it is the act of someone continuously criticizing a person's body and making them feel uncomfortable in their own skin.
It is also the (continuous) act of looking for imperfection or imperfections in a person's body and making them feel like they are less of a human being because of those imperfections.
Imperfections are part of life as there's no such thing as a perfect human and anybody of any age, color or race, height and build, and from any country can be body shamed.
While it can happen to anybody, I feel teenagers and adolescents experience more of it. The teen age is the stage of transition from childhood into adulthood as we all tightly know. It is also the stage where the body undergoes majority of its changes and growth processes.
At this point, teenagers tend to feel quite insecure about their bodies and would do all that they can to hide their imperfections so as not to be a victim of body shaming.
They might sometimes feel that the world is glaring at them, watching them grow and criticizing them for being too tall or short or being a plus size or being skinny as the case may be.
I remember there was a time where the South African artiste Lizzo was body shamed. I can say that the experience wasn't a pleasant one for her.
I for example, am a victim of body shaming. Once a victim, still a victim. Because I have a small stature and I look younger than my age, I am constantly asked questions like "how much do you even weigh?"
"Do you diet?"
"Do you eat at all? See how small you are."
"Shortie. You look like you need a jump in height" and the likes. But then I have grown accustomed to it all and I just smile and let it slide. I developed a thick skin.
But really,why do people body shame?
Below are some of the reasons why I feel some people body shame.
Hurt-- back syndrome: People who have been victims of body shaming might end up body shaming others to make themselves feel good or get even.
People might do it (most times deliberately) to hurt a person. Some people might also do it out of jealousy and envy (and this happens mostly among the females) to make a person feel bad. They might say terrible things about a person's body just to make such person hate their body.
Others might be engaging in body shaming without even realizing it. To them, they might just be poking harmless fun but those words could do some emotional damage to the victim.
Now, the big question is, how do we the society help those who have been body shamed?
First of all, we should learn to mind what we say or how we say it. We might just say something without even realizing the level of damage our words could do to the person it is being directed to. Not every one has a thick skin concerning issues like their body.
Now, while society can help them gain their confidence by making then feel comfortable in their own skin, meanwhile self acceptance is the first step.
You have to learn to love and accept yourself the way you are. If you don't feel comfortable about yourself and you don't love or accept yourself the way you are, then you shouldn't be expecting people to love love you the way you are.
It starts with you the victim.
Cheerios 😊
