Body Shaming

Hey Guys x

The issue of body shaming has come up a lot in the media in the last year or so.

In the last week or so, it has also heavily reached the YouTube community, due to a video called 'Dear Fat People' by Nicole Arbour, which as you can tell by the title, body shamed 'fat' people. I won't link it because, 1) I don't think it's up anymore, and 2) I would never promote anything like that on my blog. Needless to say, many members of the YouTube community, both YouTubers themselves and fans, responded to this, leading to many conversations about body shaming.

So I thought I'd join the conversation and write a post about body shaming.

I used the quote above because, for me, it's the best way to describe the effects of public body shaming, if anything, it makes you seem more insecure because you're trying to make someone else insecure.

I say 'public' body shaming, because we all notice different things about different people, whether it be their weight or their height, because we're all humans. We probably all say things in our heads like: 'She's so much bigger/smaller than me' or 'Why aren't I as tall/short as her?' and that's completely normal, because we all want something that we don't have.

However, public body shaming is where the problem is.

In magazines, there is always a headline along the lines of: 'Look how much weight [Insert celebrity name here] has put on!' and I hate that. People put on and lose weight all the time, but this doesn't mean that their faces should be splashed across every magazine in the country!

Honestly, body shaming is something that really gets on my nerves.

Why do some people feel like they have the right to make a comment on someone else's body?

I mean, if you're worried that someone genuinely has a problem (such as anorexia) and you know that person well enough, I think it's acceptable to gently tell them that you're worried about them, because you genuinely want to help them as you believe that there's something wrong.

But making fun of someone because of the way that they look is a completely different thing and shouldn't be tolerated under any circumstances, whether you do it in school, in the media, or anonymously online, it's always wrong.

Recently, Carrie Hope Fletcher said that some people made the comment that she was 'too fat' to play Eponine, the role that she plays every evening in the West End production of Les Miserables. She then said that these comments made her go to the gym and start exercising, which was something that she wanted to do for a while. When I heard this, I didn't know how to feel about it. In one sense, I hate the fact that someone made Carrie feel bad about the way that she looks, especially as, from my point of view, she looks completely great and her weight has nothing to do with playing that role. But on the other hand, I love the fact that she used those comments to spur her on in something that she wanted to do anyway, so props to Carrie!

However, a lot of the time, body shaming doesn't have that effect. And I want to do something about that, and I want you guys to get involved too!

It's really easy.
No one lets us feel uncomfortable about our bodies if we don't let them.

Pick something about you that you hate. Then pick something about you that you love.

Comment below with both of these things.

But rather than say 'hate', say 'learning to love', because if you can learn to love something trivial about yourself, someone else might learn to love something a lot more important.

Here's mine: I love my lips and I'm learning to love my thighs.

Thank you for reading.

Comment below what you love about yourself and what you're learning to love!

Keep Smiling - Lou xx