Ladies, it’s time we stop insulting each other. Body shaming has been a long fought battle and I believe it is time we have a cease fire. Before (and I’m talking about a couple of years back), fat was shameful.
To this day we can still observe the stigma, but the media is starting to participate in dismantling this harmful idea. Famous companies such as Dove, have started campaigns such as “Real Beauty” to represent more diversity in beauty and body shapes. Even pop stars such as Nicky Minaj, Beyoncé, Adele and Meghan Trainor have given their opinions regarding beauty standards.
Yet, the efforts have been ruined with the new trend: skinny shaming. This can be perfectly exemplified in Meghan Trainor’s song, “All About That Bass”. What could have been a perfectly empowering song turned sour with the line: “Go ahead and tell them skinny bitches hey.” It makes my skin crawl. We need to stop saying things like “real men like curves” or “only dogs go for bones.” This is a backwards way of progress. We want ALL body types to be considered beautiful. Not only fat or skinny.
The body shaming conflict also puts weight on the importance of appearance. Just by observing how brutal this conversation has become, we are ignoring the insidious message behind the confrontation. By going back and forth so much we are essentially giving too much importance to how women look. As a woman, I sometimes feel like a yoyo being pulled between expectations. “Be fat and proud! No, skinny and healthy! It doesn’t matter, love yourself!”
At the end of the day, we are looking for self-acceptance. And true love cannot be accomplished by judging others and trying to make yourself feel better by putting others down.
