Body shaming: the new compliment.

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Body shaming is not just a fancy word. It is what you do when you constantly feel a need to refer to someone's bodily fault and imperfections, whether as a joke or not. 

Although, it refers to physical appearance. It affects both physical and mental wellbeing and it may alter the way people see themselves. 

People body shame others without realizing they have done so. I find it offensive when people feel a need to constantly remind you of flaws that you are well aware of. Sometimes you want to look them in the face and tell them bruh, it is none of your business!! They say things like: "you look so fat" or "look at your thin legs", like what are you talking about, I am not in this world to please you, your opinion does not even matter to me, so, just shut up!

Sometimes, you just want to be emotional, breakdown, and cry in front of people to make them see that you have been trying to keep in shape. You run every morning and evening, you have not even taken your favorite, Fanta, in a long time. You read the label of drinks and avoid anyone with "CARBONATED WATER' written on it. That is the main enemy they told you about, right?

You post a picture and the first comment you get is; "see your big stomach" or  "see your fat face". How do people even come up with such comments and go-ahead to send it? They are being honest, right? Or they are just blunt and don't know how to mince words? I hope they realize that they are the reason why someone has stopped posting pictures, or the reason why someone has become depressed or worse still attempted suicide.

If it is this bad for someone whose weight gain is not a result of an underlying health condition, how bad must it be for someone who must be dealing with postpartum weight gain, insulin resistance, PCOS, and so forth?

You get criticized for being too skinny, you also get criticized for being too fat. We talk about having a healthy self-esteem and developing a thick skin to negative comments. If it was that easy, nobody would be complaining about body-shaming.

When people insist they do not find what you intend as a joke, funny, please do not say they are overreacting. We should learn to understand boundaries. We sometimes body-shame people absentmindedly, or out of habit, so, we need to be conscious and take correction when they say so.

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