The latest body positivity trend has been to slam women and men for being happy with their appearance, and call them "obese" for not being a size 5. If you haven't been on Facebook in the last month or so, you may not have realized how angry some people are getting over women loving their bodies. One Cosmo article about a woman who suffered from anorexia gaining weight outraged readers, stating that she should have stayed anorexic instead of becoming a size 12 (I'm around size 10-12 and not considered obese so there you go).
Now, I have a secret to tell you: the way other people look isn't your problem. Your college roommate gained 50 pounds last year? Not your problem. The woman you never met lost 100 pounds and posted a transformation picture on insta? You can like it, but it really isn't your concern what she looks like, or how much weight she still has to go. You can argue that if they post it on social media you're allowed to comment, and that's true, but why waste your time typing out a long message on why some random girl's stomach bothers you, or how you're "just trying to help" the person by calling them obese? Newsflash: you're not helping.
It takes years to build up self-confidence, and it takes seconds for it to crumble. And unless you have the proper knowledge or medical degree to call someone obese and tell them about all the health problems they have/will have, you should probably keep your comments to yourself instead of looking like a huge jerk.
One stomach roll or a few stretch marks doesn't make you obese, and the same goes for those who are called "too skinny." The internet can't stand to see people happy when it can tear them up and make themselves feel better about their own appearance. If you gain weight you're obese, and if you lose weight you probably have an eating disorder or a drug habit. There's no way someone actually ate healthy and worked out!
YouTuber and social media influencer Loey Lane made a great, sarcastic video recently about the "fat girl dress code" for summer, highlighting the fact that women, skinny or not, are constantly ridiculed for whatever they wear. Her key point in the video? What others look like doesn't affect you. Unless it's causing you physical harm, there's no need to worry about what someone else looks like.
One man is also under fire right now over the controversial post he made about "loving his curvy wife." While this isn't necessarily affecting men (men are also victims of fat & thin shaming, remember the Dancing Man?), it's brought a lot of attention to the double standard we're facing on the internet. Men can love their wives for being "curvy," but if his wife were to post a selfie on self-love, she would be attacked over her weight and told that she's celebrating being overweight.
Moral of the story? Just leave people alone no matter their size or shape. There is no reason to sit at your laptop and write out a 1,000 word comment on how concerned you are over a stranger's weight. If they're happy, let them be happy. It's not their fault you're bitter over the way other people look, especially when it's their body and not yours. Being body positive isn't condoning obesity, or anorexia, or anything you want to call it. It's not about feminism either, it's about learning to love yourself and to avoid judging others for things they may or may not be able to control.
