Much recently, there has been a trend of body shaming on social media.
The victims mostly being plus-size and skinny females, and this has led a lot of people in this category to become very self-conscious and also to question twenty-first-century beauty standards further.
Here is a question you might want to ask, though: Is this new problem of self-consciousness peculiar to females alone? We will talk about that as we proceed.
With social media and the beauty industry changing how we see our bodies, people tend to make conscious attempts to replicate in real life the virtual reality beauty standards of long blonde hair, an hourglass figure, tanned skin, long legs, etc.…. as seen in games, printed materials, and television.
This, however, is very good news for the beauty industry because the new trend has enticed people from all social classes to race to beauty stores and cosmetic surgeons to get the perfect body.
Thus, it is safe to say that body shaming is a tool for marketing. Whenever you see an advert for a beauty product starring a “perfectly” shaped model, you subconsciously question your appearance and build up certain insecurities.
A body lotion company wants you to think your skin tone isn’t light enough, so it uses a very light-skinned model to prove its point and make you want to go two tones lighter.
A swimsuit company wants you to buy its products, so it uses a model with the ideal bikini body.
This would, in turn, mean a high patronage of weight loss products, skin care products, waist slimming products, and bikinis. See the chain?
Most young people have celebrity idols who they wish to emulate, and these celebrities are the definition of perfection for their fans.
People like Kim Kardashian West and Nikky Minaj, who have become household names, have redefined beauty by altering their original body shapes through plastic surgeries.
They have brought to life the fictional Barbie character from Disney. Who wouldn’t want to look like a million bucks?
Breast augmentation surgeries, typically breast implants, far outpaced other surgeries with nearly 300,000 operations nationwide.
Breast augmentations and the 223,018 nose reshaping surgeries both netted doctors more than a billion dollars in 2016.
Liposuction also remains popular, with 235,237 surgeries across the U.S. costing about $750 million (Sean Rossman, Americans are spending more than ever on plastic surgery, published in USA TODAY NEWS, 12th of April 2017).
That’s a lot of money spent in a year in a quest for the appropriate body figure.
Trolling people based on their physical appearance affects them in more ways than one.
People become uncomfortable in their skin because all they see when they look in the mirror is an imperfect being.
Victims of body shaming suffer from quite several mental health disorders, such as anxiety, binge eating, clinical depression, and anorexia. Let’s look at this one after the other.
1. Anxiety
The Oxford Advanced Learner’s Dictionary defines anxiety as worry, nervousness, or unease about something with an uncertain outcome.
The mental stress of struggling to achieve the socially acceptable physique burdens the brain.”
Am I making any progress, have I lost any weight yet, how can I make my progress faster?” These sorts of questions roam the minds of anxious victims of body shame. These constant thoughts degenerate into clinical depression.
2. Clinical Depression
This occurs when depressive symptoms rise to the point where a doctor must treat the patient.
Victims of body shame degrade from being simply anxious to developing a sense of self-loath.
This new sense of self-hate affects their daily lives so much that they become uninterested in the things they would normally enjoy doing and withdraw from social interactions.
At this point, suicide gradually becomes an option. Quite several body shame victims will lose their lives to suicide if not paid the required attention.
3. Binge Eating
Hollywood has successfully painted a comical picture of plus-size people engaging in binge eating.
While we watch these motion pictures and laugh our guts out, the message of plus-sized people being food abusers is subtly registered at the back of our minds, and when we see these people, we view them with that stereotype in our heads.
Binge eating is an eating disorder characterized by the consumption of large quantities of food in a short period.
While it’s true that overweight people engage in binge eating, overly skinny people looking to gain weight do the same.
People suffering from this are known to eat when not hungry, keep eating even when overfed, have no control over this eating habit, and even have secretive behaviors around food.
4. Anorexia
I recently heard someone say “Oh! She’s naturally anorexic, it’s her body type”.
There’s no such thing as an anorexic body type. Anorexia, like binge eating, is an eating disorder.
People in this category have developed a fear of weight gain and have taken measures like deliberate starvation and fasting to prevent their concerns from becoming a reality.
“Anorexic nervosa is a serious disorder that has the highest mortality rate of all mental illnesses,” says Sydney Pearson in her article titled The Truth About Body Shaming.
While these people try to prevent weight gain, they grow skinny to the point where their skeletal features become visible.
Let’s be candid: nobody has the right to talk about another person’s appearance in a demeaning manner.
We damage people by making silly comments about their looks on social media and in real life.
Back to the question, “Is body shaming peculiar to females alone?” The answer is no. Have you ever heard of the six-pack craze? Yes, that’s actually a thing these days. Women want a physically built man, and this has led to a rush in gym patronage.
Body shaming is an act of bullying and it’s best dealt with by standing up for yourself.
