When I was in 2nd grade I remember this boy in my class called me a “cow” because I wasn’t skinny. That was the day when I realized what body shaming was and how it feels to be body-shamed; I’ll never forget the way I felt that day even though it happened when I was so young. Body shaming is serious and it hurts to hear those impudent words from others.

Body shaming makes people feel like outcasts and that they don’t fit in because of how their body looks. 8th grader Hardeep Kaur said, “I have been body shamed and I felt disrespected when it happened.”

Mental Impact:
(DISCLAIMER: In the following two parts I will be discussing Suicide, Mental Health, and Eating Disorders)
65% of teen suicides are caused by body shaming in the U.S. Most teenagers take away their own lives just because of what others say about their body, and it’s sad that they have to feel like they’re not good enough to be alive. 8th grader David Dugasz said, “I think body shaming makes people think they’re not good enough.” Most teenagers have an outcome of depression and anxiety because of those self-serving people and corporations that make the apps that bring them down. 8th grader Jaslyn Diaz-De la Rosa said, “Body shaming has impacted my mental health because it made me sad and mad at myself.”

Approximately 5.48 million people in the United States are currently diagnosed with an eating disorder. Eating disorders can be debilitating, especially at a young age.

Anorexia, bulimia, and binge eating are all types of eating disorders that can happen to anyone. Anorexia is caused when someone starves themself to lose weight. Bulimia is caused when an individual makes themselves throw up to take food out of their system. Binge eating is caused by repeatedly eating without control. No teens should have to go through an eating disorder or suicidal thoughts.

Body Requirements of Society:
Social media is an immense platform that most people use to post pictures and share their lives, and even build lifestyle brands. Even though social media can be fun at times, it also can be negative for us teenagers. Social media creates an illusion of what the“perfect body” is, and that can be hard on many people because we don’t all have the body of a celebrity.

The world tells us to be “perfect” when it’s not reality. 8th grader Rohan Sharma said, “I think you shouldn’t follow anyone that influences their body.” It almost feels like the world is fake and judgemental when it comes to someone’s body.

Many teenagers understand that social media can be harmful. 8th grader Niyah Morris said, “People on social media are fake.” The outcome of unrealistic social media is someone feeling not good enough for society.
Most teenagers today use filters to make them look like someone they’re not. They use these filters to look more like celebrities they desire to look like. All celebrities are teaching us teenagers to use filters and photoshop.

The current vice-principal of WMS and former health teacher, Mr. Harris, said, “It is wrong for society to influence the “perfect” body and social media is all about making money.”

When someone is body shamed, oftentimes they lose sight of who they are as an individual because of what people say about them. This leads to people thinking they can’t wear what they want to wear because of how they look. 8th grader Mia Leon said, “Social media makes people think they need to be skinny.”

In fact, there is a “Tik-Tok trend” going around that is very negative for kids that use the app every day. The “trend” is where they put their fingers around their wrist to see if they are “skinny enough”, if their fingers don’t wrap around their wrist they need to lose weight. This “trend” is very harmful to our minds because then we feel the need to do it ourselves. Not to mention that the trend itself is not an indicator of health. This shouldn’t be a trend because people compare their fingers to their wrist, and some of us have thick bones or shorter fingers, so it’s impossible to compare. People also lose weight because of this trend in a very unhealthy and harmful way.

Body Shaming Goes Different Ways:
Body shaming happens to every shape and size of a person. A WMS student that would like to remain anonymous said, “I have been body shamed and it was weird for me because people used to say I had ‘no body’.” Body shaming affects all body types because they either feel too skinny or too fat for this world’s expectations.

WMS Counselor, Mrs. Torella, said, “There is no such thing as a perfect body.”

Sometimes people don’t even realize they’re doing it until the other person is hurt emotionally. 8th grader Pablo Hernandez said, “I have been body shamed. At first, I thought it was a joke, but then I realized that it wasn’t.”

We shouldn’t have to change to please others because it’s our body and we should decide what to do with our bodies. So many people feel the need to fit in as a result of these fake standards created by society. 8th grader Dominic Nycz said, “You shouldn’t have to change because of what people think of you.”

Exercise:
Many people see exercise as an activity others do to lose weight when in reality exercise is just a way to stay active and healthy. Believe it or not, but society often uses exercise as a form of body shaming or controlling behavior to show that “big people” need to exercise. It is important for people of every size and shape to exercise to feel better about themselves emotionally or physically. At the end of the day, you get to choose what you get to do with your body. Even though exercise is good for people, over-exercising is extremely bad for someone’s heart or arteries. Over-exercising can eventually make someone addicted to it. People of every shape should have a healthy relationship with exercise, which means doing it to be happy and healthy for yourself, not anyone else.

Feeling Better About Yourself:
There are many ways to feel better about yourself when you feel down. Meditation, therapy, buying clothes that you like and feel confident in, and exercise to feel better emotionally.

Famous singer, Lizzo said in a Teen Vogue article, “If you are feeling down in yourself today, just remember that your body is your body.”I think what Lizzo said is very true because you choose what you want to do with your body and how you want your body to look.

I decided to write this article because I feel like body-shaming is a misunderstood topic not many people discuss. If you have ever been body-shamed before, the best thing to do is to talk to someone that will listen and understand you. It doesn’t matter what your body looks like, you are beautiful just the way you look.