Body Shaming is another name of discrimination. Discrimination based on bodily features. It is about criticizing a person or making them feel insecure or ashamed of themselves for not being perfect in all sense even after knowing that no one is perfect in all terms. Mostly women face the issue of body Shaming and have to listen to passing comments such as how thin you are. Do you eat something or not? How fatty you are? Stop eating too much. Do some exercise. Acne-prone skin? Apply something on these otherwise, they will leave scars and you look ugly and no one will like you.
Every single day women have to listen to these words which hurts their feelings and sentiments. How can anyone hurt the dignity of a woman? Commenting about someone's insecurities and pointing towards them with the opinion of changing them is not a good way to deal with any person. How would you feel if someone unacceptably pointed at your features? "A pretty face is kept over a pretty heart", is a true statement. Among women, beauty is the most remarkable aspect. It is always said that a woman is known by her beauty but that's not true, she is known by her identity.
Different types of body shaming
Different people experience different types of body shaming. Here are some...
Fat Shaming
Body Weight is considered to be an attractive feature for females, as a good-looking or attractive body is the first thing most people see in a woman. If a woman is too fatty then they term her as obese or overweight and make fun of her by saying fatty, buffalo, pumpkin, and other creepy words.
Skinny Shaming
Here comes the fact that if a woman is not fat then she must not be too skinny. A skinny woman is welcomed with the words stick like bones without mass, undernourished, or is advised to eat more and more.
Body Hair Shaming
Women need to be neat and clean without having body hair. Everyone knows that body hairs are biologically present in both males and females irrespective of this they want a woman with no body hair or if she has it then she has to listen to these comments, You need to remove these, they don't look good, You look like a bear, You should wear another dress, it's revealing your body hairs.
Grey or White Hair shaming
Indian women mostly have black hair, so if women have grey or white hair then people say: color them, they don't look good, young women don't have white hair, Hey look at her, she looks like an old lady or aunty, See how rough her hairs are, can't she go to the salon.
Facial Features shaming
Looks are very important in a woman's life. Whenever we talk about a woman most of the discussion starts with: How beautiful, she is. Good looks and attractive facial features are the noticeable things in a woman. There is a pre-defined image of women in people's minds that women have big eyes, sharp noses, pink lips, and black and long hair, if someone doesn't have these features then those features get pointed out by people.
Voice Shaming
It is believed that women have sweet voices like Cuckoo and their voice needs to be pleasant to ears. Women having a heavy voice or nosal voice have to hear many comments such as: you need to work on your vocal cords your voice is like beep or it's too annoying, very unpleasant, blood will come out of my ear if I listen to this voice more.
Consequences of body shaming
Those persons who have experienced body shaming told about its after consequences:
Depression:
Many women are sensitive, they feel depressed when someone taunts them about their appearance. They take those comments so seriously that they overthink it and get themselves addicted to depression and anxiety.
Eating disorders:
Women in the overweight or underweight category face eating disorders, as fatty ones start dieting and want to lose weight to look pretty and attractive while skinny one starts eating too much food or junk food to gain weight which makes their intake imbalanced.
Low self-esteem:
Most women start thinking that they are not perfect or that good-looking or attractive that someone like them after body shaming so they would try to cut themselves off from society and not want to engage in any kind of social gatherings as these bitter words lowered their self-esteem.
Increased Suicidal Risks:
When women are criticized a lot for their appearance then many of them cannot bear that disrespect or are not able to handle that criticism which increases the risks of suicidal thoughts and can cause more opportunities for self-harm. Negative thoughts about themselves make them feel useless and unwanted.
How to stop body shaming?
Creating awareness among people that no one is perfect, everyone has some kind of imperfection in themselves but that does not mean one should point it out by criticizing them or commenting on their appearance.
- One should need to be well dressed, mannered, and well groomed not perfect.
- Focus on the increment of knowledge rather than on people's shit talk.
- Emphasize one's qualities not on one's looks or body shape.
Conclusion
Body Shaming is not a way to point out the insecurities of a woman. It can bring sadness or feelings of disappointment among women that they are not pretty enough because a woman is considered to be good-looking or attractive. Negative comments or bullying someone for their looks can have a huge impact on someone's mind which is not good for them, they can take any wrong step after considering these steps, so we need to stop body shaming or bullying someone.
Words can hurt a heart more than a knife, so appreciate someone by your words rather than criticizing them. Words have more power to destroy a person's mental peace, you can't even imagine how deep they get stuck in someone's mind that after much effort they are not able to throw them out of them. Be kind to others and respect them.