All of us have faced body shaming at least at some
point in our lives. Body shaming is not just restricted to fat-shaming and thin
shaming; it can be any derogatory comment about your body. If someone comments
how frizzy your hair looks or the number of grey hair that you have, it is body
shaming. If someone comments about your skin colour, teeth, eyes, nose, lips, or
any other part of your body in a derogatory way, it is body shaming.
When confronted with
body shaming, most of us feel tongue-tied while an avalanche of emotions
somersault within us- anger, hurt, resentment, bitterness, sadness. The reason
we often fail to reply to our body shamers is that we start doubting ourselves.
When someone makes us feel miserable about our body,
we are often paralyzed by self-doubt. As a result, we fail to stand up for ourselves
at that moment. Later, we sulk thinking why we failed to give an apt reply.
There are two major problems of failing to stand up
for ourselves when we are subjected to body shaming:
(i)
Our mental health gets compromised.
(ii)
We give the body shamers another chance
to hurt us.
If we all speak up, if we stand up for ourselves
every time someone passes a derogatory comment about our body and we promise
ourselves not to indulge in body shaming, the venomous culture of body shaming
would die a natural death.
Here are some tips to combat body-shaming:
1.
Understand that people who body shame others are victims of body
shaming
First
of all, it is important to understand who these body shamers are. They are
chronic victims of body shaming and are always uncomfortable with their bodies.
As they have such a hateful relationship with their body, they pull others down
by body shaming.
Realizing
this truth can help us forgive those people easily and not take their words to
heart.
2.
Speak up
When someone passes a comment about your body
weight or skin colour or hair, speak up. Let the person know it is not alright
to comment about your body. Let the person know that you will not tolerate and
give space for such a conversation.
If it is a friend, give a generous smile and
tell him/her that you are happy and you love yourself just the way you are. If
your friend wants to drag the discussion, ask whether they are happy with their
body. If they are, they should not bother about how you look.
If it is an elder who is commenting about
your body weight due to concern for you, smile and tell them it is your body
type and that you are perfectly healthy. So he/she does not have to worry about
you.
If it is a stranger who is commenting about
your body, tell them to mind their own business.
I agree it is not easy to give a reply to the
body shamer especially when it is a person who is close to you. But keeping
quiet will worsen your mental health and allow that person to criticize you
once again.
3.
Develop a healthy and harmonious relationship with your body
If
you want to combat body shaming, you have to develop a healthy relationship
with your body. The foundation of the relationship needs to be so strong that a
derogatory comment about your body cannot shake it.
Practice
loving affirmations towards your body every day. Stand in front of the mirror
and say these affirmations aloud:
“I love my body. I send
love to each organ, bone, muscle, and part of my body.”
“My body is a miracle.
I take care of my body by feeding it nutritious food. I enjoy caring for
myself.”
“My body is perfect for
me. I am beautiful and attractive just the way I am.”
“I am comfortable in my
skin. I accept all of me.”
Invest your time and
energy in taking good care of yourself. Make your relationship with your body
so strong and harmonious that no one’s comment can make you doubt yourself.
These are three tips to combat body shaming on a
regular basis. Our mental health gets badly affected when we quietly tolerate
body shaming and drown ourselves in self-doubts. We try a wide range of things
to look perfect so that our body shamers speak well about us. But guess what?
No matter how we look, our body shamers will always have something wrong to
tell if we give them that space.
So, let’s pledge today to
-Stand up for ourselves when someone makes a
derogatory statement about our body
-Develop a healthy, loving, and harmonious
relationship with our body
-Never indulge in body shaming
We are all in this together!
