On social media today, any bikini picture you find will most likely be accompanied by numerous comments like:
"You look so skinny!"
"Omg, tiny!"
"Have you lost weight?"
These types of remarks are given as harmless gestures to be kind and flatter the person, since being "skinny" is often seen as an admirable body-type in today's society. However, these types of compliments are toxic in a variety of ways.
1. Skinny does not equal healthy.
Not to much surprise, the definition of skinny is, "lacking sufficient flesh," or, "lacking usual or desirable bulk, quantity, qualities, or significance." Is this what we want to be? The definition literally states that it lacks the 'desirable' qualities and quantities; how have we allowed ourselves to surpass what we should innately desire (health) to prioritize this body image?
This type of thinking is the root of eating disorders like anorexia and bulimia which plague or society so heavily today and cause approximately one death every 62 minutes. Even those who do not have eating disorders feel less confident in themselves and are constantly working toward a goal that can never be enough.
In itself, the fact that nearly anyone you ask could tell you that "skinny" is what society finds most attractive is unhealthy and exemplifies just how widespread this phenomenon is. These types of comments do not go unnoticed.
2. Skinny does not equal fit.
When skinny is a compliment, that implies a lack of muscle and natural body tone that is associated with a healthy lifestyle. Rather than zeroing in on this goal of health, people aim to lose "bulk," even when it comes from muscle. Many women today avoid arm workouts, fearing that it will make their arms look larger since this is often one of the smaller areas on women.
Many articles such as this one have been written in an attempt to debunk this idea, but women (and some men) continually seem to think that working out means bulking up and, consequently, avoid workouts which would otherwise be healthy just for the sake of matching this body-type.
3. Skinny isn't the only version of beautiful.
When saying, "You're skinny," is a compliment, that is advertising to the world that being skinny is your personal, desirable body type.
When saying, "Thank you!" to a remark such as that, you too are implying that you wish to be skinny and that is what you find most attractive. When people read that who may be perfectly healthy, but naturally have more body fat than you do, this inevitably makes them feel insufficient.
This promotes those unhealthy ideas of beauty and makes people feel insecure who totally should not. Being curvy is also beautiful, but this idea will continue to die the more we, as individuals, choose to make "skinny" a compliment.
Whether we realize it or not, every time we say thank you to a compliment using the word "skinny," we promote the same ideal body type that we all loathe. The cycle cannot end and no one can be satisfied with themselves so long as "skinny" is being used as something desirable.
In fact, when we continually use this as a compliment, it implies that being skinny is the only thing desirable and that those who are not as thin would be more beautiful if they were.
A road to a society with more reasonable expectations is attainable with just a little bit of self-awareness and thought behind the things we say or post publicly on social media.
Thankfully, society is ever-changing and can easily be changed by individual action. Your individual action inspires others and can potentially create a quick ripple effect for the betterment of the world we live in. In order to achieve this, however, someone has to be willing to stand apart from the crowd and decide that things are going to change.
In a world where "skinny" was not used as a compliment, health would be so much closer within reach both physically and mentally, yet we have to take the steps to get there.
