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Rose Minani

English 2010

3/25/2021

“Body shaming is real”

Introduction:

Body shaming has become a social norm all over the world. What is body shaming?

Body shaming is the act of criticizing your own body of another person’s body in front of them

or behind their back. It goes beyond the basic forms like fat-shaming or skinny shaming.

Individuals such as teenagers should not look up to the way media advertises what a great

looking body of a man or women should look like because of the way media body shames the

other many unique body shapes and sizes, really affects the emotions and health of a victim who

feels no confidence in the way they physically appear; leaving you with so many insecurities and

taking away your happiness.

Many celebrities have talked about body-shaming along with quite a few other

individuals who have even gone out to do social experiments. Most people like to hide behind a

screen so therefore celebrities are targeted all the time. People need to realize that no two people

look the same , not even identical twins are 100%.So why should we comment on how a person

needs to look? Gam (2020) States that In the present study, the total prevalence of body shaming

was found to be 44.9 percent. In the article Gam explains how the majority of the 44.9% of

people experiencing body shaming at least once in that year were females. Most of the time

females experience the most body shaming but guys also go through body shaming. For example

some guys wish that they could be muscular just like how females wish they could have a tiny

waist and wider hips. Whether we know it or not body shaming kills and most of the time people
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don’t realize that it could strongly affect the well-being of an individual.Body shaming is a

horrible act that is committed by the majority of humans. It needs to stop, because it can lead to

varying forms of eating disorders, insecurites, sucidal thoughts and plans on cosmetic surgery.

Eating disorders

Millions of people throughout the world suffer a body image problem and risk the

development of eating disorders like anorexia or bulimia. Anorexia and bulimia are very

confusing diesease that have overlapping features. Anorexia is when your BMI is less than or

equal to 18 and bulimia is when you're stuffing your face and self inducing vomiting. “A great

desire to get a good body shape (in general / social criteria) and low body image, lead to

disruption of normal eating habits to problematics of eating disorders and control of poorer body

nutrient intake such as bulimia (Fitriyah,Rokhmawan, 2019). Their insecurities take over, and all

they see are the negatives that others point out about them. No one will notice the repercussions

of them developing eating disorders. Lots of people have died from being anorexic and even

developed more illnesses from it.

According to (Steinhausen, 2021), Of the 42 studies of 3,006 individuals diagnosed as

having anorexia nervosa, there were 178 deaths over follow-up, representing a crude mortality

proportion of 5.9%. The study was characterized by self-starvation, weight loss and body image.

If those individuals weren’t influenced on what they needed to look like those numbers would be

low. We obviously all come in different shapes and sizes but society and the media puts a lot of

pressure on us with beauty stereotypes. If we don’t do something about it those numbers will

keep increasing. While starving yourself can help you lose weight it can also cause serious health

issues .We need to stop body shaming ourselves in order to stop body shaming others. We
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shouldn’t have to starve ourselves just to make others accept us . We need to be proud of our

bodies and share ideas and opinions that will motivate us to be better . Together we can stop

body shaming .

athletes and insecurities

Like many other people, professional athletes have body insecurity. If gaining weight was

okay, if fat was okay, if not having the "perfect" body was okay, there would be no insecurity.

Body insecurity usually happens when you compare yourself to others or when people are

commenting on your body . Most of the time when a female athlete is under-performing the first

thing that’s picked on is her weight. McMahon, McGannon, and Palmer (2021) states that "using

thematic analysis, three female athlete's stories showed how they were subjected to

psychological abuse from members of their entourage when their bodies failed to meet

socio-cultural expectations. The article talks about how these females were not heard and felt

defeated by their bodies. The Coaches were weighing athletes in front of their teammates,

commenting on their weight, and telling athletes that thin equals faster. They also encouraged

extra exercise and dieting. The list of abusive words and behaviors goes on.

“The pressure on female athletes to lose weight was laid bare last week when Mary Cain,

an American middle-distance runner, and former teenage prodigy, claimed she was driven to

self-harm after being "emotionally and physically" abused by disgraced coach Alberto Salazar's

methods (Bloom 8).” The outcome of being emotionally and physically abused, Mary Cain

stopped menstruating and broke five bones due to osteoporosis. Some may argue that coaches

have to shame to challenge their athletes to reach their full potential. “Some people don't take it

well, some people go to extremes, some people get sensitive about it. Today more people are

sensitive about it(Bloom 8)." While challenging athletes to train harder, stay fit, eat well and
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improve on their performance is great, you should never make comments like you’ve gotten

slower, you should go to the gym. These types of comments can lead to insecurities and low

self-esteem.

Plans for cosmetic surgery and sucidal thoughts

Many young women are faced with the dreadful pressure imposed by the unregulated

modeling and advertising industries that are promoting unrealistic body images. People think that

insecurities can be fixed. They worry so much about what others think that they undergo

surgery.According to (View of "You're fat and not normal!" From Body Image to Decision of

Suicide, 2021), an 18-year-old girl from Texas-US, shot herself because after being often

ridiculed as fat and ugly. All her insecurities and depression took over and she ended her life. In

the article another individual of the name Angel Green, a 14-year-old girl from Indiana-US,

committed suicide by hanging himself on the branch of a tree near the bus stop not far from his

school( Fitriyah,Rokhmawan, 2019). Angel Green’s friends called him fat and said that she had

spotted skin. Ashley Cardona, a 12-year-old girl from Montbello-Colorado-US, committed

suicide after much bullying and was called "Gorilla Scarface" for her tall and large body(Fitriyah

, Rokhmawan,2019). Professor Fitriyah and Rokhmawan , from the university of nurul jadid, in a

study they did where people with depression and low self esteem were analyzed , they found that

negative self-assessment due to a personally assessed body condition that does not fit the general

criteria, in fact, can lead to depression and the decision to end life; suicide.Professor fitriyah and

Rokhmwan tells stories of teenagers who ended their lives from being constantly bullied and

shamed for physical appearances. Brandy Vela, an 18-year-old girl from TexasUS, shot her own

head because after being often ridiculed as fat and ugly(fitriyah , Rokhmawan,2019). When

people constantly call you names you start to believe them. You look at yourself in the mirror
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and can't find anything beautiful about yourself. Lots of people have felt feelings of disgust and

shame or changed their behaviour to avoid situations that make them reflect negatively about

their bodies. “Other work has focused on individual psychological differences and has shown

that attitudes to cosmetic surgery are associated with such factors as negative body image (

Henderson-King, etc.All). Most people get surgery because of negative body image . Society

likes to tell people that they need to be slim and thick. Others feel like having a lot of body

percentage is shameful. We sometimes like to compare ourselves to others, so getting surgery

sometimes seems like the easiest and fastest way to look our best. What we don’t realize is that

we are not doing it for our own happiness , we're doing it because we feel like we need to fit in.

“Excessive depression due to negative body image is not something trivial ;The output

of the resulting behavior may vary depending on the mental form of the sufferer (View of

"You're fat and not normal!" From Body Image to Decision of Suicide, 2021).” Everyone takes

things differently and handles painful situations differently. You may say something as a joke but

the person you're saying it to won’t take it as a joke . To express your opinions about someone’s

body, think twice before you say them because your ignorance doesn’t only affect people’s

emotional and physical health, but could also take away their life .

Counter argument

Almost everyone has felt body shamed at one point. Considering, we live in a world that

puts a lot of pressure in external appearances , body shaming can sometimes be carried out from

a well-meaning place. An individual may feel they are giving you advice on how to fit in with

everyone eles in the world by criticizing your appearance , or feel that they are complimenting

you for your work to abide by societal standards by commenting on ways your body has
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changed.Other times body shaming is meant to bring other people down. Like all bullying, this

tends to be the result of an insecure individual who likes to strike where it hurts. Because our

appearance is judged brutally by the outside world, making comments at our bodies can be an

easy way for a bully to feel that they hurt us. Times have changed and people are more sensitive

now than ever .Some people think that a person needs to be thin to be healthy. So most of the

time body shamers target a person’s weight. While one needs shame to reach their full potential;

body shaming is a horrible act that is committed by the majority of humans, and it needs to stop.

Some people think that shaming an individual of their physical appearance or weight will

challenge them to fix it . Some individuals are born with disabilities that makes them look

different from the rest and they can’t change anything about it. There are a lot of things that

make us different and sometimes we have no way to change it. For example, African American

hair texture won’t be the same as a cacasuion hair texture and that’s something you can't change.

Conclusion

While most people think shaming encourages someone to make a change, it actually just

causes them to feel worse about themselves and not make a change. body-shaming, whether it’s

on TV, in a song or said in-person, does absolutely no good in helping someone make a change

in their life. There is nothing wrong with wanting your body to look good but don’t do it for

anyone’s happiness. Everyone was born with a different body and that is totally okay. You are

beautiful inside and out . Body shaming is the act of humiliating someone based on their body

size, body shaming is affecting men and women mentally and physically, and body shaming has

changed the “ideal body type” in our society for decades.It can lead to varying forms of eating
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disorders, sucidial thoughts, diminished performance at school and plans on cosmetic surgery.

You have to remember that all the models you see on the magazines most of the time their bodies

are photoshoped. When an individual comments on your body it’s mostly coming from their own

insecurities.We were not created to be perfect so no one should expect your bodies to be either .It

important to be aware that we are all created differently. We are one of a kind and shouldn't be

shamed for that. Boy and Girls, no matter what the size of your waist, stomach, or what the

number on the scale says, your body is beautiful, and so are you. If no one can see that , look at

yourself in the mirror and say I'm beautiful and make sure you believe it .
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Work cited

Ben Bloom. “Female Athletes Reveal Sport’s Culture of ‘Fat-Shaming’ .” Daily Telegraph (London), Nov.

2019, p. 8,9. EBSCOhost,

search.ebscohost.com/login.aspx?direct=true&db=n5h&AN=8Q2154748608&site=eds-live&scope=site.

Fitriyah, L. and Tristan Rokhmawan. “"You're fat and not normal!" From Body Image to Decision of

Suicide.” (2019).

Gestalt Theory, Dol 10.2478/gth-2019-0012 © 2019 (ISSN 2519-5808); Vol.41,No.2, 107-112

International Journal of Community Medicine and Public Health Gam RT et al. Int J Community

Med Public Health. 2020 Apr;7(4):1324-1328

Jenny McMahon, Kerry R. McGannon & Catherine Palmer (2021) Body shaming and associated

practices as abuse: athlete entourage as perpetrators of abuse, Sport, Education and Society, DOI:

10.1080/13573322.2021.1890571

Steinhausen,, H., 2021. The Outcome of Anorexia Nervosa in the 20th Century. [online]

Ajp.psychiatryonline.org. Available at:

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<https://ajp.psychiatryonline.org/doi/pdf/10.1176/appi.ajp.159.8.1284> [Accessed 27 March

2021].