We are not born with a preconceived notion of a perfect body. Everything we hear and perceive about bodies of different shapes and sizes is embedded into our minds when they are fragile. From ‘kitni moti ho gayi ho’ (you have gotten fat) to ‘kabhi kabaar kha liya karo’ (eat something), we all must have heard something similar from a teacher or a random relative that pricked us for a long time.
Problematic body shaming comments we may have heard during our teens or childhood
“You will look prettier if you lost a little weight”
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Every adult who was a chubby teen has definitely heard this unsolicited advice from an adult or peer or even friends. It’s possible that this statement may not bother a fully grown adult, but for a teen, every word of this sentence hammered a sense of insecurity and inadequacy that may have resulted in low esteem and confidence.
Unsolicited diet and workout advices
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Rather than educating children and young adults about nutrition and eating right, the focus usually becomes restricting fattening foods. Also, the advice that always is centred towards staying thin rather than healthy. If the mindset of ‘thin equals healthy’ is not preached from a young age, imagine the amount of awareness young adults will grow up with.
Comparison with friends and peers
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As a fat teen, I can corroborate that one of the body shaming statements that got to me was constant comparison with classmates and friends by adults. It’s high time we stopped looking at thin and lean as the ideal body and instilling the idea in our teenage years.
“You have gained or lost weight”
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One of the problematic body shaming comments we don’t realise is carelessly throwing comments like ‘you have gained weight’ or even ‘you have lost weight’. You may understand as an adult that any comment on the body is inappropriate, but your teen self registers this idea in an unhealthy manner. It believes that being skinny or thin is the ‘ideal body type’ and anything other than that is inadequate.
Skinny shaming comments
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While fat shaming comments may surely hamper a teen’s mindset, skinny shaming comments are not exactly constructive, too! Comments like ‘kuchh toh khaya kar’ (eat something) or ‘ek din udd jaayega’ (you’re so skinny you will fly off) affect self-confidence too. It also instils a sense of inadequacy and low self-esteem on a young adult’s mind.
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