Hey everyone,
Today I felt the need to talk about something very topical, and that is body image. A “comedy” YouTuber recently made a video that went pretty much viral, entitled “Dear Fat People”, in which she shamed overweight people and made some extremely cruel remarks while calling it comedy. This sparked a thought process in me about body image, specifically for people in similar situations to me: doing serious exams, starting university, moving out of your parents house, etc. These things can throw your system off course and you may find your body reacting to that, leading to you maybe being more sensitive about your body image, which is perfectly natural.
I feel extremely embarrassed that our society constantly shames people, women especially, for being overweight, even if they are only slightly overweight. Although there are not as many stick thin celebrities around these days, the desire to be thin is still a horrific reality in most aspects of teenagers minds. Teenagers are extremely impressionable, whether we want to admit that or not, and when we see nothing but slender, tall, beautiful people in the media, and a constant stream of criticism for anyone who doesn’t fit that mould (see any tabloid magazine on the shelf of your local shop), we can’t help but feel as though we need to fit into that skinny person profile.
It takes a long time to break away from that mentality, and for me I was stuck in it every day for years upon years, definitely up to six months ago. Even still, I have days where I look in the mirror and want to go back to bed and never look at myself again. I have learned over the years to look seriously at myself in the mirror and tell myself one thing that I like about myself, just one little thing. It can be the way my hair has fallen that day, or how clear my skin is, or how nice and healthy my legs must be to carry me around all the time, for my entire life! Honestly, you may not think these things can work - I certainly didn’t believe that I’d love my body more by doing such a small thing, but I did, and I cannot even express how amazing that is.
Don’t let anyone tell you that your body type is wrong, because they can’t speak for you. Only you can speak for you, and as long as you feel healthy and happy, you shouldn’t change that just to please someone else. You are the one living in your body, and you only have one in this lifetime, so you need to love it and look after it.
I’m not really sure if I made any sense, but seeing people shaming others just for being a different, “less desirable” body type makes me really frustrated. As a parting note: if you saw protruding ribs on a dog you’d be concerned for their wellbeing, so why is that acceptable for humans? Let me know what your opinions on body image are on any of my social media platforms.
Much love,
JMG, stylenua.
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