"Body Shaming In Our Society"

(Yumna Gulzar, Karachi)

Body shaming in our society is very common. Either its women, men or even a child people easily criticize about their body shape. It needs to stop! People know how they look like some of your words can easily harm person's confidence and also disturb mental health.
I think that whatever size or shape body you have, it’s important to embrace it because body shape is not depend on how good or bad person you are! Being fat for women in Pakistan has become like a taboo, a bad one, especially for the young unmarried girls. Being fat is of course not good for health but that includes all types of human beings women and men alike. I personally heard by a lot of people.
"She is so Fat and look more than her age, if she want to get married she should lose some weight blah blah!
Not only this family demands smart slim and fair skin tone girl smh.
"Girls of all kinds can be beautiful – from the thin, plus-sized, short, very tall, ebony to porcelain-skinned; the quirky, clumsy, shy, outgoing and all in between. It’s not easy though because many people still put beauty into a confining, narrow box…Think outside of the box…Pledge that you will look in the mirror and find the unique beauty in you." (Tyra Banks)
Apparently, at times people think that making over-weight/under-weight people ashamed of their body will motivate them, whereas, in reality, it makes them feel worse about themselves. Here, let me remind you that I’m not in favor of being over-weight or under-weight, the point of my article is to promote the idea that no matter what type of body you are blessed with, you shouldn’t be ashamed of it.
The reason I’m using the word “Under-weight” along with overweight is because of what I have observed. A surrounding where the people who weight slightly less than their actual weight are also mocked thoroughly.
Coming to the psychological destruction of body shaming! You see, it is too easy to tell someone that they are not up to the desirable standards of the “society”. We think that by making statements about their body we are just having fun, but in reality, it is more than that. While bullying over-weighted/under-weighted people, we not only make them feel worse about themselves but one way or the other, we destroy their self-esteem.
It takes just one sentence to make someone hate themselves. Whether it is said by someone close to you or by that girl from class you hate the most, in the end, it is really offending. And guess what! Even using the words “Just kidding” at the end can’t cope up with the shame they feel for themselves.
It’s not just with the adults, even school going children massively participate in body shaming. In Pakistan, especially in middle and secondary schools, this whole dilemma exists at a broader level. The children will make fun of each other by expressing insulting words and expressions which probably results in severe isolation and depression at an early age.
In last i just say that words come from mouth can effect people in bad way or good way so speak good may be he or she face so many problems in life and your words make them happy.

Yumna Gulzar
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