This article is for the girls who have ever had a negative thought about their bodies, and for the girls who have eating disorders, have ever thought about gaining an eating disorder, or have overcome an eating disorder. You are beautiful, and don’t ever let anyone tell you different. 🙂

When you think of Weight-Shaming, you don’t usually think of skinny shaming, do you? I bet you didn’t even know that skinny girls get shamed just as much as “fat” girls. One anonymous girl posted a picture of tweets that were sent to her on Twitter. The girl posted a picture of her with her friends and people commenting on the picture, “She looks ill.” Another commented, “My gosh, go eat some meat!” Another said “Mediocre”, and the biggest one, “Anyone fancy a Big Mac?” Fat/Skinny shaming isn’t okay. In fact, it’s horrible, and it makes people feel really bad about themselves. 

 Another sterotype is if you are “Fat” then you don’t care about your weight; if you’re too skinny, then you care too much. It’s not true. My friend Brittany (I changed her name) gave me her consent to tell her story. Brittany is a very skinny girl. She eats a lot to try to get her weight up, but she can’t gain weight. She is skinny-shamed for something totally out of her control.

You are beautiful!

Media and our society create and support an unrealistic and damaging image of women in order to sell products. Most magazines have titles like, “Get skinny fast!” and “Crazy Dieting tips that really work!”, and what those magazine companies don’t realize is that these tabloids and ads are destructive! Although both men and women can develop an eating disorder, the number is higher in teenage girls. “Cultural idealization of thinness and youthfulness have contributed to eating disorders affecting diverse populations,” says ANAD, (Anorexia Nervosa and Associated Disorders Association). And also according to ANAD, the cause of eating disorders is not understood completely.

Showing perfect, skinny, beautiful girls on the cover of magazines and in commercials portrays their perfection, and sends unhealthy messages to girls. It is not unusual for girls to obsess over their bodies, and even Kim Kardashian made a great point about Photo-Shop. Kim replied to reporters that criticized her for being photo-shopped, “So what? I have a little cellulite. What curvy girl doesn’t? How many people do you think are Photoshopped? It happens all the time!”

Though Kim didn’t realize it, she made an excellent point. Thousands of models are photo-shopped, making them more attractive, skinnier.

According to HelloGiggles, 42% of girls in first through third grade want to be thinner. No six year old girl should be worried about being too fat! 78% of 17 year old girls are unhappy with their bodies. Also according to HelloGiggles, quote, “Teenage girls are more afraid of gaining weight than getting cancer, losing their parents, or nuclear war.”

Just from reading that, it really is time that we do something about Photo-Shop. HelloGiggles made an excellent point. Quote,“You don’t need to cut half of a woman’s thigh off to advertise a product. You don’t need to bombard every single media outlet with digitally-enhanced images of idealized versions of beauty.”

Fat-shaming is a horrible thing to do to someone. One girl said on Twitter using the hashtag #Fatmicroaggressions “I am comstantly underestimated. My intelligence, my strength, my talents, my humanity.”

Another said “Being told to lose weight first and come back when you do, at a job interview.” If someone is getting denied a job because of their weight, then there is a definite problem.

Someone else said, “People not believing I was ever in the military because ‘the army doesn’t take fat people.”

Another girl said that when she walked into the door at a clothing store, the sales person told her that they didn’t carry plus sizes.

Even Walmart, yes, the store Walmart, had a category up on their website labled “Fat Girl costumes.”It seems everything these days are fat-shamed related!

Magazines and the thought of perfection can cause girls to develop eating disorders in hopes of being skinny, of being perfect, and it is not okay. But don’t get me wrong, it’s fine to show a beautiful woman on the cover of a magazine, but it is not okay to show a heavily doctored photo. I got most of my facts from an article that I wrote in April called “You Are More Important Than The Number On The Scale.” There you can read all about eating disorders such as Anorexia Nervosa, Bulimia, and other disorders that can come from those eating disorders that I mentioned.

I think it is very important that everyone learns about eating disorders and self-image issues so that if you know someone with an eating disorder or self-image issues, you can help them. If you know someone that struggles with an eating disorder, then you can call the national Eating disorder helpline at (800) 931-2237

Colbie Callait took a stand against Photo-Shop and perfection by taking her makeup off for her music video “Try” and didn’t let her producers photo-shop her face in the video! Her video featured several girls without their makeup, and it was beautiful! I think it is wonderful that celebrities are taking a stand. Again, join the fight against photo-shop! This fat-shaming shouldn’t continue to go on!

Kendall Jenner was criticized for being too “Fat”, and she is a beautiful model who is a perfectly healthy weight. Kendall was told to lose 80 pounds, and even Taylor Swift, Katy Perry, and P!nk (Pink) is fat-shamed. So the next time you fat shame or skinny shame someone, put yourself in their shoes. Imagine what it would be like to not be able to lose weight and people being rude to you for it. Imagine what it would be like to be so skinny, and not being able to gain weight. Imagine how it feels to be so skinny and have so many health problems.

Words really do hurt, and I seriously urge you to think before you speak. You may really hurt someone, and they might think about your hurtful words for a long time, years maybe. They might think about how rude someone was to them, and not be able to recover from it.