Just because I'm skinny doesn't mean you can body shame me
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Health and Wellness

Just Because I'm Skinny Doesn't Mean It's OK To Body Shame Me

It's not OK for me to tell you to slow down on the Ho Hos but it's OK for you to tell me to go eat a burger?

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Just Because I'm Skinny Doesn't Mean It's OK To Body Shame Me
Aurora Harris

In today's society, body shaming seems to be common, which is unfortunate since it happens to everyone. Body shaming is known to occur to women or men we may consider "overweight." People may crack jokes or insults to overweight individuals.

As I am not considered "overweight," I am considered a "twig" to most — which has, of course, come with body shaming.

When you have a high and fast metabolism, it's pretty easy to just eat whatever you want and not gain the weight like other individuals might, but can I help that? No, I cannot, so stop telling me to go "eat a burger" because that doesn't make me feel any better about my thigh gap.

Skinny individuals might often hear negative comments from people that may pose to be "larger" or "thicker" but that doesn't make it OK.

If I can't tell you to "shed a few pounds" then you most certainly cannot tell me to "gain a couple pounds."

In my opinion and experience, it seems as though skinny individuals like myself get the backlash from "overweight" individuals. Is that because people that are bigger than me think I won't get offended because I'm small, or weigh less than them? Do people that body shame the skinny think that we're too comfortable in our own skin to get mad or angry? Or is it to make me feel bad about being too skinny to eat my way into a couple extra pounds?

Yes, in this world it is very hard to feel confident in your own skin with all the body shaming and negative feedback, but that shouldn't be a trigger to thinking it's OK to lash out on others.

I know for a fact that if I got on Twitter and found a "thick" person and called her "fat" that I wouldn't see the light in the next day because I'd be called cruel or get negative attention for body shaming. Now, If you were on Twitter and saw a bigger person call a skinny person a "twig" or "too skinny" there would be not near as much hate. That is completely outrageous because it all hurts the same.

The truth is, if you're a decent human being you won't care if there's a 400lb man on Twitter posting shirtless selfies or a 5'8"125-pound girl posting bikini pictures. A decent human being would be able to sit back and acknowledge that both pictures are the same. Because if both individuals in the picture are happy and confident then you should respect that and not body shame. What do you achieve from being a negative Nancy? 20k likes on a tweet? If that's the case, then you're just pathetic.

And don't think that just because I can wear a size 0 pant or an extra small top that I'm not self-conscious about my body. It's because of body shaming pricks like you that make me feel like I can't go out to the beach in my bikini because my ribs show when I raise my arms, or because my ass isn't peachy enough for you to look at.

The word on the street has always been, if you don't have anything nice to say then don't say it all — at least that's how my parents always raised me.

If you are overweight, who cares? If you have a thigh gap, who cares? And if you're considered an average weight, who cares? I know I don't, and I especially don't care enough to make an insult about it.

If you don't like when people tell you to go to the gym and lay off the junk food then do not come at me with a “go eat a burger" comment or a “do you even eat" side comment. because you won't gain anything out of that one — especially because I've heard that too many times. Be confident with yourself and keep your snide comments to yourself. I don't care if you're a size 14, so don't care that I'm a size 0.

And that's the tea, sis.

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