Body Shaming

Body Shaming, Insecurity and eating disorder

Body shaming is a form of verbal action by mocking, judging or giving critical comments about an individual’s body shape or size. It had played a significant role on the rise of the young American women who are suffering with low self-esteem, insecurity and eating disorder such as anorexia nervosa. For generations American society has set the standards for women, to how a woman should look or present herself and especially what is considered beautiful and desirable in terms of body image. One live in a world where supermodel body, the fit body and the twiggy or skin and bones body are considered acceptable, attractive and desirable in the eye of the society. This stereotypical ideology has been

Doctor Gallivan once stated that “53 percent of 13 year old American girls are unhappy with their bodies. This number grows to 78 percent by the time girls[they] reach 17” (Gallivan 4), this statistic shows that at a very young age women/girls already feel unhappy about their bodies because of the way society portray beauty and what is considered acceptable to the public eye. The role of body shaming has a great impact into why teenagers feel insecure about themselves; most common reason why young Americans get bullied in school is because of their weight and shape they are in. In a research article Weight-Based Victimization Toward Overweight Adolescents: Observations and Reactions of Peers it was stated that “nearly 85 percent of adolescents reported seeing overweight classmates teased in gym class”(Puhl, Luedicke, Heuer 699). Body shaming does not always come from random strangers, even direct criticisms from family members could cause a big impact to young girls or our youth. A simple “hey you’re gaining a little weight” from an individual's family member can cause low self-esteem, can make that individual feel insecure about themselves and can push them to practice unhealthy eating habits; if they are not safe in school nor at home with criticisms about their body shape, then where can they be safe from all the judgment and mockery? All

A woman’s body is not something that an individual could look at and criticize it due to it’s size or body shape because it can cause significant damage to an individual emotionally, physically and psychologically. According to Gallivan “ Adolescent girls often think that being thinner would make them happier, healthier and better looking”( Gallivan 12), but being happy and better looking does not have to be about being thin or being sexy, it is about how an individual portray herself as a person and learn to embrace and appreciate their body just the way it is. Parents should teach their children the value of appreciating, embracing and loving the body that they are born with, because once children carried this lesson, they will learn not to criticize, mocked and tease someone because of their size and