Body shaming is a daily occurrence. We see it happening around us, sometimes we may unwittingly even be a part of it. This goes much deeper into our psyche.

We have all grown up looking at Disney princesses or superheroes who have bodies to die for. We never saw a Barbie or Ken with real body proportions. Our childhood unintentionally filled our head with notions of body perfection.

As we grew up some of our moms had something to say about our tummies. Yes, it was always with the best intentions, but it left us feeling inadequate. Being the heaviest kid is your class was always a difficult thing to endure. Children as we know, can be pretty cruel.

As we grew older Barbies turned into Miss worlds and movie actresses, Ken / Goku turned into WWE stars or ripped movie actors. What we failed to understand this whole time was that the ideal body image was not in fact what we were idealising. Our ideal weights are based on things like our BMI (body mass index), each person is different. Our body image being based on others like movie stars or wrestling champions is not only unrealistic but a sure shot way to demoralise ourselves and others.

Fitness is important but that doesn’t give us the license to make another human being feeling lacking or to shame them for their body. Do you really want to judge another human being based on the numbers on the weighing scale?
We need to change what has seeped into our brains over time and use our OWN brains. As mature adults we really need to ask ourselves, doesn’t personality matter? Doesn’t kindness make a difference? Being a good human is more important than being thin, right? We really need to look beyond the exterior to the person inside. I personally would rather be loved for all my qualities than having a perfect body.

Stop body shaming. it has wiped off the smiles on too many faces.