Body shaming is possibly a never-ending conversation. A body is always subject to insecurities at some point in your lives specifically given that we live in a society with very low and rigid standards of beauty and culture.
Body shaming, especially fat shaming, is a concept that is quite inherited in society. People often body shame others in the shadow of compliments, especially since we live in a society that values weight loss and thinness as something everyone should be striving for.
In reality, everyone should value all shapes and sizes, no matter how they look or what people like. One should always realize that people are very sensitive towards shaming even by the closest person around and at the same time, we should keep a check on behavior in relation to body shaming other people.
Here are 5 things which you don’t think of as fat shaming but they actually are:
I feel so fat today
We live in a society where people highly value thinness and perfect bodies. Thanks to the media, the idea is constantly fitting into our minds. It is suggested that being fat is the worst thing a person can be. Heavy weighted people are always treated differently by people around them. People are always commenting on their appearance and disguising their comments as health concerns. There are days when we don’t like our bodies but using this kind of phrase to describe the feeling is completely wrong and should be avoided at all costs. Instead, we can have a more polite way of putting it and say, ‘I don’t feel my best today’.
You can’t be fat and beautiful
It takes a lot of courage for a fat person to reclaim the world that has been consistently putting them down. Looking at the positive aspect, people try to accept their bodies no matter what the weighing scale says. Having a neutral perspective to things is always better. Saying someone can’t be fat and beautiful just helps grow the concept that only thin is attractive when that is simply untrue.
Do I look fat
Fat is generally proposed as a synonym of unattractiveness. In all the sitcoms on streaming services, women ask their husbands the classic question “Do I look fat”. Which is just another way of asking “Do I look good” but this has such a twofold negative impact in terms of firstly, bad being undesirable or bad and secondly women needing validation over everything.
Did you lose weight? You look great
There can be various reasons for losing weight but it’s impossible for most of us to go five minutes without hearing about someone’s new diet, cleanse, or fitness regimen, so assuming weight loss as most people’s end goal becomes surprisingly common.
Co-relating happiness with weight loss seems like a very misconstrued concept especially when we’re bombarded with diet and weight loss “transformations” and “before and after” pictures but not everyone is looking to lose weight or even wants to.
You’ve such a pretty face for your size
Another phrase that suggests that compliments is used to overshadow the aspect of body shaming because this one implies that a person would look better if they lost weight, or as if they’re attractive in spite of their body size. Beauty exists at all sizes.