Body shaming

In the wake of social development, we human seem to over-look the “ideal” physical appearance. Therefore, there is a growing trend of either criticizing others’ bodies or constantly offering tips about how to hide our “imperfection” whilst actually much less knowing our appearance. Each and every person enables himself right of commenting others’ body-size without hesitation. This paper was designed to investigate some of the facets to the issue, regarding the justifications as to why body-shaming becomes such a growing issue; the factors induce it and the detrimental consequences.
Body image is a term used to describe the subjective mental representation an individual develops regarding his or her body based on “sensory, motor, and affect (both pleasurable and unpleasurable) (Knafo, pg.1). Susan Harter found that “at every developmental level, the evaluation of one’s looks takes precedence over other domains as the top-concern” (p.134) Body-shaming is the action or practice of humiliating someone by making mocking or critical comments about their body image (shape and size). In the present world, slenderness of the female figure is generally preferred, and being overweight, “obese”, or “fat” comes with the range of negative cannotations and social implications (Knafo pg.2). Admittedly, the more desirable and idealized the body image is, the more universally body-shaming occurs. In the context that these terms are as inextricably linked as a chicken and an egg, body shaming is frequently mentioned and analyzed with the notion of body image.
First, let analyze why people ridicule other’s body. In the history of mankind, there have been hundreds records of freedom of speech in the form of wars. Many had sacrificed themselves for the freedom of speech today; therefore, people may probably feel free to spit their words out. At public settings, it seems to be inappropriate to poke fun of someone on basis of sex, race or private life, whilst, body size is still acceptable topic to exploit. Besides, the theory of downward social comparison suggests that we can make ourselves feel better by comparing ourselves to someone of lower status. Also, it is irrefutable that body-shaming manifests in various ways, which often lead to the comparison, shame and perpetuates the idea of imperfect physical features. For those primary reasons, “body” joke may still be round.
Second, it is worth examining the inducement of physical looking criticism. To start with, the pressure and comparison of sociocultural on individuals at the very young age is also clearly seen to be an inextricable link to body-shaming. “The societal pressures on female to achieve mere standards is so pervasive that children begin to hear, internalize, and imitate at young ages, beginning at round 5 or 6” (Knafo, pg.7). That is to say, starting at early time when we were little girls, we were imposed on to the belief that girls need to have low fat, long legs, beautiful hair. Lingerie commercials like Victoria Secret convince you only thin women look like angels. In fact, most of the girls' first toy, a doll, has been designed to be a role model with ideal body shape. A study demonstrating the susceptibility of young girls to the influence of dolls as messages about thinness and body ideals has concluded that children do take the perspective of the doll on their identity, and inevitably desiring their physical qualities (Knafo pg.8). This pressure grows even more dominant at the stage of puberty, the roughest time when teenagers have to undergo significant changes, both physically and mentally. They begin to have better understanding of self-evaluation by means of multi social media, feedback from their peers, and interaction with many other sources. All these sources of impact can be referred to the term “the looking glass”, which is the way people see themselves through interactions with others, based upon how others might perceive them (Knaofo pg.2), These adolescents, in an attempt to achieve such ideal bodies, have manipulated themselves into the mold created by "society”. General speaking, the cultural standards of attractiveness endorsed by society have successfully penetrated people’ minds on a large basis. Last but not least, as international media companies expand across the world, the growing popularity and uniformity of flawless beauty is causing worldwide concern. So, “the mass media are generally agreed to be an influential source of images and messages about the idealized body that women and girls are expected to strive for “ ( Monro pg.85) . To explain it further, those global entertainment enterprises affect people minds by reshaping perception, belief of ordinary citizens about the perfect looking. Most of the concepts promoted by the leading mainstream media are of fashion and model origin. They value and feature body proportion which they consider perfect - " curvaceously slender, physically appealing and unrealistically thin” (Whyte pg.823). Unfortunately, many people now blindly imitate broadcasted models, causing the alteration to their perceptions of bodies. The perceptions of ideally thin on billboards, magazine covers, television commercial and celebrity, due to nationwide coverage, have become so widespread that even 3-year-old girls are reported to absorb those kinds of messages promoting specific standards to the body. It is statistically proven that the exposure of topic regarding ways to lose weight most effectively, dieting usually obtain higher views compared to other fields in the articles. As a result, we the viewers, unexpectedly but constantly have been bombarded with the fallacy that only thin people deserve to be well-treated.
Undoubtedly, body-shaming is a burning issue these days despite no matter how we tackled on a war footing; it profoundly poses threats on human health and well-being. There are evidences that body-shaming triggers death and other mental-physical health problems. One reason I believe that body shaming is never an acceptable issue is because of the result in overall low-self-esteem. “Self-esteem is usually considered to be a key indicator of psychological health and social life adjustment; its link with academic success and achievement has been emphasized in decades of theory and research” (Dorak pg.554). Body-shaming influencing people differs person from person. For some teenagers, satisfaction with their physical appearance plays a critical role in their developmental process and becomes the central determinant of their sense of self (Dorak pg.554). It even drastically grows with adult’s perspective. If the body facilitates the opportunities for ones to attain the goal, then they are fortunate to adjust to it. On the other hand, the body might be perceived as the restriction to the success of individuals, for they feel that they have been impeded. According to Zumpf and Harter, the fact that outward appearance becomes such significant places those at risk of social-motional problems. It contributes directly to negative evaluations about oneself. A person thus underestimates her core values, but considers appearance more influential than any other aspects of her internal world. She is now more concerned about how they appear to others rather than how they truly feel. She unexpectedly has lost her sense of identification, which comes from the feelings inside, to desperately avoid those hurtful comments from the society. Furthermore, It is such a pathetic matter in present world that a person's appearance being used as standard means to decide how she is treated. In this way, body surveillance regarding the intervention of body shame has reached a level of inhumanity and gone against the moral behaviors. Opponents to this issue have rightly argued that body-shaming is a harmless joke, it is not even a crime or a criticism. However, a recent study conducted by Common Health finds that "the sort of weight-based discrimination that he experienced is not just unpleasant and stressful; it may actually lead to premature death” ( Newell). Joking about man’s appearance both intentionally and unintentionally is not that kind of weapons killing others, but malicious words do. It is not an exaggerating problem when it comes to life-and-death. Scientifically, body-shaming triggers suicidal thoughts, which apparently result in higher mortality risk. To illustrate, the authority nutrition Website had conducted research in a study of 2,436 people. It showed that extreme obesity was associated with 21 times greater risk of suicidal behavior and 12 times greater risk of suicide attempts. That is to say, people who were made fun of on by their body shapes may think that they do not belong to this society in which they are being treated as an outcast because of their body shapes. In some other cases, people want to lose weights immediately by starving themselves to death or drinking kinds of deadly medicine. Things continue to worsen when those who suffer from weight-harassment decide to take risk in cosmetic surgery. In addition, eating disorder is another detrimental effect of idealized body exposure. Due to the depression, people will eat more calories and feel less in control of their eating, sample of natural human reaction. This way or another, eating disturbance habit will cause obesity, predict later risk of poor functioning, and reiterate a circle of body-shaming. What’s more? Body shaming also does harm to mental health of victims such as depression, panic … to many but a few. The present problem is that body shaming has gone too far to its extreme and it is, to some extent, an invisible killer under specific circumstances.
What is actually needed is proper education to self-respect. First and foremost, we should learn to identify things that make us upset about the situation. By doing it, we will step by step recognize the value of self-image. Then, spending time with those who have body-positive and refuse to comment on other’s appearance will enhance the positive outlook. It sounds awkward to network with people making fun on other’s look. Furthermore, we are better learning to confront people perpetuating body-shaming than evading it. Last, the solution lies in our attitude. Finding out part of our bodies we love most would promote the confidence and respects for ours.
To conclude, body shaming issue, in all seriousness, rises a concerning matter. It is better to have deep insights into this prevalent issue, and take steps halting it to the best of one’s ability. Detaining people in shaming other bodies in modern life is by no means a waste of resources. In fact, it should be the global priority today. A full stop to deaths caused by body-shaming is essential; otherwise, it will soon be too late, we and the next generation will be shouldered by physical looks. I pen down by a quotation “Being skinny is OK. Not being skinny is OK. Having curves is OK. Not having curves is OK. Bashing someone for their body-types is NOT OK.”