What's the deal with body shaming? Let's discuss it!
Negative Body Commentary: Its Impact and Strategies for Overcoming It
Body shaming is a form of cruelty where someone mocks or insults someone else based on their body size, shape, or specific body parts. You might hear this in person or online, and it can target anyone—whether they're overweight, underweight, or just a bit self-conscious.
This negative criticism can be aimed at others or even yourself. Perhaps you're not happy with your weight or how you look, and you criticize yourself harshly. Maybe you engage in negative self-talk, like saying "I feel so big today" or "I need to stop eating so much."
Body shaming can occur in various settings, whether it's face-to-face or through the internet and social media. It can be done by family members, friends, or even strangers who don't know you. Even when you're joking around, comments about what you eat or how much you consume are still considered body shaming. Giving advice about dieting or praising weight loss is also considered body shaming, even when it's unintentional. While friends and family members may not mean to hurt your feelings, their comments can still be hurtful and critical.
Cultural pressures to look a certain way can contribute to body shaming. Today, we're bombarded with images of glamorous celebrities in magazines, advertisements, TV shows, and social media platforms that can make us feel envious and focus on our perceived flaws. In these idealized images, we often see bodies that are unattainable through normal means and can lead to unhealthy behaviors like dieting, excessive exercise, or negative self-talk. Society has set unrealistic standards for what we should look like, and body shaming is a harmful result of this.
Teenagers are particularly vulnerable to body shaming, as their attitudes and beliefs about body image and self-esteem are heavily influenced by their families, peers, and social media. Mothers can serve as role models for their daughters, for example. If your mother is constantly complaining about her shape or weight or criticizing your own body or eating habits, it can have a significant impact on how you view yourself.
Body shaming can lead to several negative outcomes, such as:
Eating disorders
Negative body image is one of the leading factors in developing disordered eating or an eating disorder like anorexia, bulimia, or binge eating. Dieting can become a harmful obsession, leading to restricted eating, vomiting, excessive exercising, or overusing laxatives. Over time, these harmful behaviors can deplete essential nutrients that are necessary for good health.
Body Dysmorphic Disorder (BDD)
Body shaming can interfere with your self-image and make you feel extremely self-conscious, which can escalate into BDD, where you become obsessed with a perceived appearance flaw. Body dysmorphic disorder is characterized by repeated avoidance behaviors, such as constantly looking at yourself in mirrors, hiding body parts you don't like, picking at your skin, or repeatedly asking others if you look okay. Severe symptoms of BDD can cause significant impairment in daily life, lead to depression, and even suicidal thoughts and behaviors.
Excessive exercising
Being physically active is great for your health, but when it becomes an addiction, it can lead to chronic fatigue, injuries, and anxiety or depression. If you're exercising compulsively, it may also lead to a syndrome called Relative Energy Deficiency in Sport (RED-S), which develops when your calorie intake is insufficient for the amount of energy you expend.
Anxiety and depression
Body shaming can trigger or worsen existing symptoms of anxiety and depression. If you're body-shamed in public or online, it can be stressful and make you feel isolated and helpless. Hearing negative comments about your appearance can be mortifying, increase your insecurities, and damage your self-esteem. Self-talk can become negative, like saying "I'm a bad person" or "I'm completely worthless." This negative self-talk can escalate into feelings of intense loneliness, depression, anxiety, and poor body image.
Physical health issues
Body shaming, especially fat shaming, can have harmful effects on your physical health, as well. Bullying related to weight during adolescence can contribute to negative body perceptions and preoccupations with specific body parts. Overweight adolescents, in particular, are at risk for developing depression.
Fighting back against body shaming on social media involves a multifaceted and proactive approach. Here are some strategies that can help:
- Cultivate a body-positive environment on social media by following accounts that promote body diversity and realistic beauty standards.
- Practice self-acceptance and self-compassion by focusing on your body's abilities and personal growth rather than appearance.
- Call out body shaming and fatphobia when you encounter it, and use inclusive and respectful language in your conversations.
- Join body-positive online communities for emotional support, belonging, and empowerment.
- Limit your social media consumption to protect your mental health and reduce exposure to triggering content.
Don't let body shaming bring you down! Remember, your body is a vessel that carries you through life and helps you do amazing things. Focus on your overall health and the great things your body allows you to accomplish. If body shaming continues to affect your mental health, consider reaching out to a mental health professional for support.
- Engaging in stress management techniques, such as mindfulness and self-care, can help counteract the negative impacts of body shaming on mental health.
- By pursuing education and self-development in health-and-wellness, mental-health, fitness-and-exercise, and nutrition, individuals can learn strategies to improve their self-image and maintain a positive body-image.
- Understanding the science and psychology behind body shaming can aid in recognizing its harmful effects and developing self-compassion and self-acceptance.
- Incorporating regular exercise and fitness activities into one's routine can promote physical and mental well-being, boost self-esteem, and contribute to overall personal growth.
