Body Shaming as the name suggests, is shaming someone for their body

shape or body type. It is a modern term recently coined and talked about, but
body shaming in practice has existed for a very longtime. People have a
definite notion of “beauty” which defines standards of skin color, body
dimensions, hair length, or the kind of clothes someone should or should not
wear. People are always to thin, too fat, too tall, too short, too dark, or too fair
for the society, and it has repercussions that are not even realized in everyday
life. Body shaming affects mental and physical health in surprising ways- both
for the person who is body shaming and the one who is being body shamed.
(New Delhi, 2018)
Body shame is an often-overwhelming form of shame that is applied to the
presentation of one’s physical being and is defined by (Dolezal,2014) Body
Shaming comes in many forms, people being told they’re to skinny, too fat,
too pale, toot all, too short, lanky, spotty, not muscular enough, the list goes
on. The issue of body shaming is seen to be one that affects all society,
regardless of age, ethnicity, gender, sexuality, disability, body size and shape.
(Guard, 2018) A little Googling underscores just how common body-shaming
is around the world, no matter someone’s shape or size. And as Ferragni’s
experience points out, the shaming often isn’t just the work of trolls on the
internet, but also that of legitimate institutions with far-reaching influence.
(Mackenzie,2018)
When you here in the word “body-shaming,” Someone comes to their mind
almost immediately is skinny girls towards fat girls. Not everyone who’s bigger
is “thick,” as some would say. But let’s be honest, we’ve all noticed a rise in
body-shaming coming from the other end of spectrum. All this body-shaming
is leading to such low self-confidence in women. I would say men too, but
women face this problem more often.
Body shaming may be considered a form of bullying. It includes making
inappropriate or derogatory comments about their body size or shape. Body
shaming is not merely criticizing someone who is overweight, but even those
who are underweight. People of all shapes and sizes can be victims of body
shaming. Even when said in a joking manner, body shaming is still hurtful.
When someone is body shamed, it can lead to feelings of avoidance and
opting to isolate oneself due to the humiliation felt. There is also a note of
increase in feelings of low self-esteem, self-image, and self-worth. Worse, it
can make a person feel lonely and sorry for oneself – which can lead to
depression.

Additionally, body shaming can lead to unhealthy eating habits. It can go

both ways of the spectrum: eating too much to gain weight or refusing to eat in
order to lose weight. This can put people at risk of suffering from an eating
disorder.
 One of the most reasons that make body-shaming a hot topic for discussion is its
frequency. Body Shaming is much more common than we tend to believe. Many times the
shaming message is so subtle that we hardly notice it. But, the uncountable repetition of
such subtle messages ingrains it in our brain and we unknowingly get involve in body-
shaming. This may manifest in different forms for different individuals.

We may start laughing at someone else’s physical appearance without noticing that
we are also body-shaming someone. For example ,laughing at jokes of stand-up comedians
targeting fat people. We may form a negative self-image without realizing that we are body
shaming ourselves. For example,becoming obsessed wuth a skin color that we naturally
don’t have. If you try to assess the frequency of body-shaming messages we consume on
daily basis,you’ll be shocked. We are consuming body-shaming messages through movies,
web series, social media posts coming from influencers in the fashion industry, product
advertisements, people around us, and even strangers on social media channels who don’t
know a bit about us.

https://www.mindshiftwellnesscenter.com/the-weight-of-words-effects-of-body-
shaming-on-mental-health/