Body shaming

 Body shaming

A flaw in our society is people who body shame. The definition of body shaming as defined by Oxford Dictionary is "the action or practice of humiliating someone by making mocking or critical comments about their body shape or size." People body shame others because of the way they look. If they do not look a certain way there ridicule them. They also body shame others on what they wear saying how they can not wear articles of clothing that should be on a "skinnier" person and how it does not go with their body type. It is allowed to exist because people who are shaming continue to shame and no one speaks up. No one really profits from body shaming but there are some people who feel better when they put others down. Lots of people do suffer from it though. People are made to feel bad about themselves and be put down.

People who get body shamed because they do not look like what society believes they should look like suffer from more than just the shame of not "fitting in". They suffer from "fat shaming" by others. Lots of individuals also suffer from depression. Depression is a mental health disorder characterized by persistently depressed mood or loss of interest in activities, causing significant impairment in daily life. "When we examined the mean differences between the normal weight, somewhat overweight, and very overweight groups, we found thatthe very overweight group had  overall psychological well-being. They were lower in self esteem and higher in anxiety and depression than the normal weight group and the somewhat overweight group. Thus, in this sample, feeling very overweight was itself a vulnerability factor" . Society does not only target people that they believe are "overweight" or "too heavy" they also target people who are "too skinny" or "too boney." People hear from others about how they should be "skinnier" or "need to gain more weight" so often that they start to believe it themselves.

Why people fat shame others makes no sense. Yes lots of people are overweight because they do not have self control over what they eat and do not get the regular exercise they should be getting but there are also others factors that play into being overweight.

Hypothyroidism, also known as underactive thyroid, is a disease where people's thyroid does not make enough hormones to meet the body's needs. It affects nearly every organ in the body and without enough of these hormones the body functions slow down. It slows down the metabolism which causes people to gain more weight. The saying "never judge a book by its cover" applies to people who judge others and in this case fat shame others. Just because they are overweight does not mean people have the right to put shame on others because of their body because they do not know why they are the way they are. "And that's what it often boils down to: the judgement of others. This can have a massive impact on how we see ourselves and our willingness to do something about a problem. In a society with a media where people are body shamed for even the most miniscule imperfections and the standards of beauty are often literally impossible to achieve, people often need a boatload of confidence to be overweight and overcome it and the negative preconceptions this invariably results in, such as women genuinely being paid less due to their weight. It would hardly be surprising if many people struggled with this,instead ending up lacking any motivation to get in shape just to meet the approval of those who love to criticise them....The sad fact is, some people just love to judge and condemn others, and will find any excuse to do it, no matter the burden it places on society. 

There are lots of people in today's society that get shamed because of their body type and there are way more that are doing the shaming. There are many different reasons why people choose to put others down by body shaming them. Some of the reasons are they feel insecure about themselves so they point out other people's problems to distract from their own. Another reason is people like to get laughs from their peers or friends so they make others feel bad so more people will like them.

Body shaming is a big problem in today's society and always will be if we do not put an end to it. Body shaming not only affects how people feel it affects how they see themselves. It makes them believe that there is something wrong with the way they look, when there is not. Many people do not speak up when they see someone getting shamed because they are scared of what society will say about them. This is something that needs to stop. There are many different ways it can be stopped from people standing up and saying something to people not saying anything when they are about to say something rude. People can also stop body shaming themselves and accepting that how they look is perfect. If everyone would stop shaming others and would stand up for others who are body shamed our society would be a better place.