Recently, there has been a lot of debate going on surrounding a YouTube video entitled “Dear Fat People” created by a woman named Nicole Arbour. In the video, Arbour condemns overweight people for creating the term “fat shaming”, which she dubs to be a false term created by people to garner sympathy for the overweight. In her opinion, overweight people do not care enough about themselves to become healthier. The sarcastic six-minute video also touches on topics such as the benefits of shaming people into losing weight, death due to obesity related diseases, and all the unfair “privileges” that fat people get simply due to their weight. You can agree or disagree with Arbour all you like, but it doesn’t change the fact that videos like these are part of the reason why body image is such a huge issue in today’s world.

Sharing content that only perpetuates the idea that people are way too fat for their own good doesn’t do anything to help the negative images we have of ourselves. We live in a culture that is more accepting of people who say, “I hate myself” than “I love myself”. We are all supposed to dress and look a certain way in order to “fit in” and be able to feel beautiful by society’s messed up standards. However, there is no one specific body type or facial structure that is beautiful. Beauty is not a term that can only be applied to a select few. Regardless of whether or not you are skinny or fat, people should not be allowed to tell you how to feel about yourself. Being overweight doesn’t make you any less of a person. I do not understand why some people, wholly unrelated to the people they are criticizing, feel that it is ok to tear down individuals who are most likely already just as insecure as the rest of us. Who are we to tell other people that they shouldn’t be happy with themselves because of the way they look? Everyone deserves to love the body they have, regardless if it is stereotypically “healthy” or not. It is not up to us to decide for others what is right.

Loving yourself entirely does not mean you are egotistical. There is a difference between confidence and cockiness. If you feel really good about yourself one day, you should be allowed to express that. If you like how your hair looks or what outfit you put together it should be completely accepted and encouraged for you to feel confident. Sharing your positivity should not be misconstrued as being full of yourself. There is a stigma attached to self-love that prevents people from being able to look at themselves and truly love what they see for fear of being labeled as egotistical. However, people should not be put down for wanting to be at peace with the way they look and feel about themselves.

Whatever it takes to make you feel good in your own skin is what you should do. If someone feels his or her most confident while wearing sweats, so be it. If a different person feels his or her best when he or she is fully made up, who are we to judge? We spend so much time and effort focusing on what everyone around us is doing that we lose sight of ourselves. We need to learn to love and accept ourselves before we go judging anyone else because once we feel confident in ourselves, the things everyone else is saying or doing won’t matter half as much as we previously thought they did.

Loving yourself is an amazing feeling. Being able to accept you for who you are and feel good when you look in the mirror is one of the best gifts you can give yourself. Few people are 100% confidant in themselves. But to wake up every day and hate what you see gets really old really quickly. Positivity and love will outshine everything eventually. But, until that day comes, it doesn’t make much sense to make fun of everyone else going through the same sort of emotional and physical struggles that we are.