Body Image

This post was originally typed up as a guest post but the person I sent it to never got back to me so I don't actually know if it's "out there" or not. Either way I thought that I might as well post it on my own blog because it's a topic that is very important to a lot of people. Body image has always been a hot topic online and ‘body shaming’ is becoming more and more common. ‘Body shaming’ is embedded into pop culture and it’s not just ‘fat shaming’ that occurs, ‘skinny shaming’ is getting increasingly more popular and songs like Megan Trainor’s All About That Bass doesn’t help with the issue at all. It’s important to realise that body shaming can happen to anyone, whether it is self-imposed or a form of bullying so it’s unfair to only boost awareness of one type.

For years it was thought of as unacceptable to be what some people deemed overweight, it was impossible to flick through a magazine without seeing a story about how someone was bullied because of their weight. There has now been a boom in numbers of plus size bloggers, models, actresses and artists. This has all lead to ‘skinny shaming’, many people now praise plus size confidence and avidly protest the skinny. Don’t get me wrong, ‘Fat shaming’ is still incredibly present and it has by no means stopped, Katy Hopkins proved that when she produced My Fat Story. The point I’m getting at is that it’s nearly impossible to win when it comes to body image if you’re going to take in everything that appears on tv, on the radio and online. People can’t even be muscular without being called disgusting these days and really, who are we to judge? I’m sure anyone who shames people for how they look isn’t exactly perfect either because nobody is.

It’s equal from all body types; sporty people shame the unfit, the fat shame the skinny, the skinny shame the fat and it goes on and on. People sometimes forget that skinny, fat, muscular… They are all descriptive words! They weren’t created to be negative, they were created to describe a body shape. If you really must insist on torturing yourself about how you look you should remember to think positively and come up with good points to overshadow the bad. There is no right or wrong way that you should look, outward beauty is defined personally by what you pick up from other people. Another common misconception is that ‘body shaming’ only happens in the playground. Well, not the actual playground but school is where a lot of people pretend it’s confined to. ‘Body shaming’ is something that can affect your whole life if you choose to let other people get to you, the likelihood is that anyone who shames you has their own body issues.

Whilst typing up this post I came across two body image charities; Body Charity (http://bodycharity.co.uk/) and The Be Real Campaign (http://www.berealcampaign.co.uk/home/). They are well worth checking out as they raise awareness of Body Dysmorphic Disorder (imagined ugliness) and self-esteem issues. Another figure to look out for is Tess Munster who is an advocate for the acceptance of body size, she doesn’t shame people for their size or shape. She started the #effyourbeautystandards movement as a way to empower women and boost their self-esteem.