Ladies, we are the problem.
From websites devoted to fat-shaming Adele and Meghan Trainor to magazine covers urging us to “try the latest diet teas,” it’s safe to say there’s an undeniable message out there: "Skinny is Beautiful."
However, men are not the ones responsible for promoting this message – it’s women. The Editor-in-Chief’s for Cosmopolitan, Vogue and Glamour Magazine are all women. Yet, women are blaming men for having unattainable standards of beauty. Who is developing these standards of the photo-shopped body as the ideal for women? – Women.
Stop blaming the impersonal “media” and start blaming the women responsible for spreading these false messages.
Women celebrities are also caught fat-shaming more times then men. Playboy model, Dani Mathers, took a picture of a naked woman in a gym locker room and posted it to snapchat with the caption, “sorry, if I can’t un-see this then you can’t either.” How about Nicole Arbour’s YouTube video, “Dear Fat People,” in which she rants for six minutes about how obese people need to be fat shamed.
Women are more critical of each other than men are to women. Why?
Health, life and wellness coach Nicole Burley believes this is because as women we “have internalized the unrealistic idea of 'perfection.' We feel held to an unattainable standard — and, as much as we don't like it for ourselves, we tend to inflict it on other women.”
This is why so many women criticized Meghan Trainor for her hit song, “All About That Bass.” Meghan Trainor’s song praised curves and feeling confident in your body. Yet, many people we’re upset by this. Critics said she was “skinny-shaming” in her song – seriously?
Women, we need to stop attacking each other and pointing fingers. Rather than divide ourselves as women based on “skinny and fat,” we need to unite and conquer our thin-obsessed culture. We can accomplish this by valuing each other for our internal qualities as women, instead of our external qualities.
So let’s shut down the messages that tell us we need the newest diet pills and stop following Instagram pages for “thinspiration.” Let’s also hold the women who promote these ideals accountable. Because nothing is going to change if we continue to just blame the “media.” We need to go straight to the EIC’s, Joanna Louise Coles, Anna Wintour and Cynthia Leive, and tell them to stop promoting emaciated body types for women.
