BODY SHAMING

Assalamualaikum and good day to everyone. My name is Aareez Azhaf Hideki from SK
Langgar. Today, I will talk about Body Shaming.

Body shaming refers to the act of making negative or cruel remarks about someone’s body
shape, weight, size, or body image. This form of bullying is intended to humiliate a person
who is perceived as physically unattractive or does not fit into a societal beauty standard.
Body shaming can target people of all ages, genders and for a variety of reasons including,
but not limited to, being overweight, too thin, too tall, having skin issues and more. Body
shaming can happen in the home environment, at school, work and most frequently online or
social media platforms. It can also be seen in mainstream media like television shows,
movies, commercials, magazines, billboards etc. Sometimes body shaming comments can
come from your inner circle like your parents, siblings, friends, teachers, co-workers, and
even yourself through your inner critic.

For some reasons, cartoons and movies have been bombarded with fat jokes, have depicted
fat people as funny or, if not, the antagonist in the movie. From the big screen, cartoon
movies such as Shrek, Wall-E, Up, Little Mermaid, to television series such as the Biggest
Loser, to movies like Bridget Jones’ Diary and Shallow Hal, and even commercial ads like
that of PEPSI Obesity ad, they think they’re educating the people about obesity. The thing is,
they are educating people that being fat is NOT good.

Whether it’s in cartoons or in the playground, the bias that media is presenting to children at
an early age is an alarming sight. Fat shaming is a process where fat people are stigmatised,
bullied, and discriminated against just so they would be somehow motivated to lose weight.
Obesity is indeed an issue for all ages. The sad part is, people do not realise that even at a
young age, they are shaming the children, putting down our confidence in the process of
educating us.
It is often said that children’s minds are like wet cement, anything that falls on them leaves an
impression. The way we see the world is very different and we are much more sensitive to
little changes and things as compared to adults.

We’ve all heard the phrase “everyone’s different” from a young age. We’ve probably
accepted this for almost every area of our lives. We have friends who are hilarious, others
serious, some close to genius and others aloof. We see success in all different forms and
associate with people from various religions. Most of us have never thought to assess the
value of these differences, they just are what they are, and we appreciate the richness they
add to our lives.

What about when it comes to weight and appearance? Most of us also have friends and
family of all different sizes. But do we have the same acceptance of this? Or do you find
yourself at times critiquing other people’s bodies? “
How about we change our perspective of our bodies? How about we accept differences in
size the way we do other features in our friends? Children do this naturally and maybe people
can learn something from them. If your child points to another child and says “Mum, look at
that girl’s long hair”, do you shush him and tell him not to point? Or do you engage with his
observations and say something like “Gee it is long isn’t it. I bet it takes a long time to
brush!”?
What if he points to another child and says “Mum looks at how fat that girl is!”? Most of us,
because it is so ingrained in us that “fat” is something to be ashamed of, will shush them and
tell them not to say that. But this only teaches and reinforces the harmful belief that fat is
shameful. What if instead we encouraged acceptance and diversity. “Yeah, she is fat, isn’t
she? She’s strong too, look how high she’s climbed up that climbing frame!” This way the
children are not taught to agree with society that big is bad and fat should be feared, but just
as hair length is, body size is just another difference between us human beings.

We often think that it is ok to body shame because we believe it will encourage people to lose
weight, and improve their health and quality of life. But there are some major problems with
these assumptions. Firstly, the relationship between weight and health is nowhere near as
clear cut as popular media and even many well-intentioned health professionals would have
us believe. In fact, research shows that health does not deteriorate with weight gain unless it
is very extreme and the person becomes ‘morbidly obese’. Secondly, research also shows that
body shaming does not motivate change and only makes people feel worse and more isolated.
Thirdly, the assumption that someone changing their weight will improve their life is
completely flawed and based entirely on myths and stereotypes created from body shaming in
the first place.
So, why should we care enough to stop the body shaming?

1. Body Shaming can affect someone’s well-being

A stare, a sound or even name calling can impact on a person’s ability to showcase their
confidence. Physical, emotional and mental well-being can really change when shaming is
present because we are controlled to believe that opinions matter.

2. Body shaming can result in eating disorders, depression and anxiety

Social media makes so many people feel inferior and unworthy. It leads to people wanting to
change who they are by either eating less, binge eating or even not eating at all! The world
that we experience every day leads to depression and anxiety because of everything we are
exposed to.

3. Body Shaming does not benefit anyone. It is bullying!

Bullying is never acceptable. We have seen how it has affected many young souls. So many
young people have taken their lives because of the opinions of others. Body shaming is no
different. Does it make someone feel better to belittle someone else? Nobody should feel less
worthy and nobody else should control your self-worth, that’s why it’s called Self-worth. A
person should not have the power to make you feel less deserving, even if they feel that way!
Body shaming shows more about the person doing it than the victim. The way we respond to
it, says a lot about the way we feel about ourselves! Kill them haters with kindness!!

It takes courage to make the decision to stop participating in body shaming, and by doing so
forge a better future for us all. My final question to you is: do you have the courage? And my
final request: please search for it and use it every day.

Thank you and have a nice day.