Now we’ve all heard about it; fat shaming. Fat shaming is defined as, “the action or practice of humiliating someone judged to be fat or overweight by making mocking or critical comments about their size”. All over the world, women are standing up for themselves and speaking out against girls being bullied due to their body image. We are seeing more and more plus size models and actresses in the media, which helps the younger generation learn to accept people the way they are; to help them realize that everyone is beautiful in their own skin. Is our society really trying to be more accepting? Perhaps not as much as we would like to think. Let’s talk about skinny shaming.

Skinny shaming is just like fat shaming, the difference: instead of being bullied for having a fuller figure, women are now being bullied for having a thin physique. For some reason, it seems like society has given people the green light to shame skinny people. Maybe it’s because they think everyone needs to shame someone and since it’s bad to shame fuller sized women, then it stands to reason that they must shame skinny women instead; you, know, because we have to make fun of people otherwise we aren’t truly living life. Oh wait, that’s right, that’s total bullshit.

It’s not right to shame anyone for how their body looks; skinny, fat, or anywhere in between. We are all women who are beautiful and deserve to be treated well by society, or at least by each other for a start. Is that really so difficult for us to do? You know what might help? Trying to put ourselves in the other person’s shoes. I know, I know, it sounds cheesy, but if that’s what will give us the start we need, then so be it. No one likes to be bullied.

Just picture it, you go onto your social media and no one is making mean comments about another woman’s body. Or you can enjoy your chicken salad without other people saying things like, “you need a burger, not a salad” or being able to wear a bikini without your friends saying, “I can see your ribs” and then proceeding to poke at them. Stuff like that gets into a person’s head and causes them to start over thinking basic decisions like whether they should wear a bikini or just buy a one piece to hide their torso or if they should spend the extra money on a burger so that she can eat her lunch without people making jokes.

I know I went on a little bit of a rant, but it bothers me to see women hurting other women. We don’t always stand up for ourselves because we don’t want to seem sensitive or the person who can’t laugh at themselves every once in awhile. Don’t worry, we can take jokes, but when our body becomes an ongoing joke, we stop laughing. Think about it the next time you go to lunch with your friends. You wouldn’t want them cracking jokes about your burger, so don’t crack jokes about their salad.