What is “BODY SHAMING”?

Body shaming involves forming perceptions about people just by the way their body is structured. It focuses on judging people on the basis of how they merely look. Body shaming, in it’s very nature, it’s extremely unethical as one doesn’t know the “person” inside the body and thinks that if someone’s corpulent, then they’re “ugly”.
HOW does body shaming affect people and their mental and social well-being?

Individuals who are constantly called “elephants” if they’re fat and “lakdi” ( looking like a stick) if they’re extremely thin, without realizing the fact that it directly or indirectly affects their confidence. They start feeling self-conscious and sometimes even start hating themselves since all the people of society call them names. They don’t accept themselves the way they simply are. And needless to say, they’re beautiful the way they are!

Why does Body Shaming happen?

It’s extremely disheartening to see that body shaming is still relevant in the 21st century, where we consider our society to be a “modernized and well-developed one”, only to finally realize that we haven’t quite literally made any progress!

People body shame because of various reasons, some of which include a lack of empathy, societal beauty standards as well as insecurities that people have embedded within themselves.

What should we as a society do?

It’s necessary to realize that for people who are already very insecure bout themselves and their bodies, we as a society should play a crucial role in making them feel loved and welcomed. We don’t realize that bodies are just MEANT to be different and that is how it makes everyone look beautiful in their own way.

What has social media done to this already distorted scenario?

Well, social media has its own pros and cons. While it can make you feel happy and joyous one day, you might never know if it will make you cry the next day! Social media serves as a “blessing in disguise” for some people whereas it serves as a “ curse” for others. People who are active on social media often face a lot of backlash and hatred because of many reasons, one of which is their physical shape and size!

People who read negative comments being made on their bodies often feel extremely sad and depressed. Some of them try to deal with it, with a smile on their faces but these emotions eventually keep bottling up and then it may lead to an outburst of emotions. People who can’t tolerate all this may also think of taking their lives since their insecurities skyrocket after a point of time. Moreover, individuals with a history of depression or trauma, are more likely to be affected by all this.

‘Spreading love is way easier than spreading hatred. But, we need to choose what we want to spread very wisely, because it has the ability to “make” or “break” others.’ So, the choice is ours whether we want to make the world a better place by spreading love and body positivity or whether we want to continue making it difficult for people to feel that they’re not alone in their journey!

Let’s make this a better, brighter, positive, and socially acceptable society for everyone by removing all the societal and conservative norms that have been holding us back!

Let’s treat everyone with the admiration and respect that they deserve and make the world a better place for everyone!

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