All through elementary school and high school, I was skinny. I had to wear those terrible jeans with the adjustable straps inside until I was in middle school. I had people come up to me that I had just met and they called would call me “too-skinny” or most of the time I was told that I didn’t eat enough. However, I ate like there was no end to my stomach and it was constant. I remember coming home after school and eating 20 pizza rolls then a couple hours later eating a full course meal at dinner. This did not bother me in elementary school because I didn’t know any better. As I went into middle and high school this skinny-shaming became much more prevalent, especially by peers. As everyone else was developing and evolving into young women, I stayed the same.
I know what you all are thinking, why would being called skinny be so damaging to someone, being skinny is a good thing? Sure, skinny can be a good thing but constantly being called out and being defined by a word on a day to day basis is not something to brag about. If I went to a restaurant with anyone, I could guarantee that someone would call me out for not eating every molecule of food off my plate. In high school, my lowest weight was 85 pounds and at that point in my life I was trying everything to try and make myself gain weight. I would eat the most fattening foods and would eat every hour on the hour like clockwork. I was a size 00 and fit into an extra small in shirts. Nothing helped. I was constantly sick and my health was not in a great place.
The worst thing about it all is that when you finally do gain weight, you feel less comfortable in your skin. You have adapted to being skinny so long that you feel like you need to stay the same way forever. Even though you may look better than ever, when your 00’s don’t seem to slide up your legs as easy, you become self-conscious. Even though you are no where close to being overweight, you feel as if none of your clothes fit as well.
Skinny is such a controversial word. People see nothing wrong with calling someone skinny, as if it is a compliment, but as soon as someone says a person is overweight it is seen as judging. Everyone thinks that skinny is beauty, however, I have found that health is beauty. News flash, even thin people have cellulite and stretch marks, as does every other female on the planet. And if they say they don’t, they lie. As we degrade one body type we are drifting further and further away from reaching true body acceptance.
