We constantly talk about how bad it is to fat or body shame people; how much it hurts the people who it is targeted at, how it can make body love feel impossible. But while we often point out the strangers who do fat shaming, we fail to recognize the other parties that can do it too: ourselves. Whether you want to believe it or not, it is true. We can body shame ourselves just as easily as a stranger can—and it is a trend that needs to end.
This is something mom blogger Constance Hall recently realized, after a recent store experience. In a post to her Facebook page, Hall explained that she was shopping for a new dress when a store assistant told her that those dresses were only sizes 6 and 8 and that the other racks would be better for her. Hall’s immediate response was to take offense, though she tried to hide it from the assistant by saying she was a size 6. She admitted that both she and the worker knew she was lying—but, of course, neither women said anything about it.
When Hall went to try on the dress, she could barely get it on and ended up snapping the picture that has now gained thousands of likes and shares. Instead of admitting to the worker that it was too small, which would be admitting she had lied, Hall claimed that the color simply did not suit her very well. What she did not expect was for the store worker to respond by saying Hall looked to her like “one of those beautiful women who could pull off any color.”
That is when Hall realized that the woman was not trying to body shame her, she was simply being practical, as Hall described. The only one doing the body shaming was Hall herself, by having been so offended by the innocent words from the worker.
Body shaming can come from virtually any place or person. It can be social media, loved ones, total strangers and, yes, even yourself. That is why it is so important to never forget body love and acceptance, to be happy with your body and honest with yourself about your size.
So do not automatically take offense of things that are said to you; it is not always an attack on you as a person. Sometimes it is just someone stating a fact that you have to accept as truth, as Constance Hall said in her post. Lying to yourself is just another form of body shaming, one that you bring on yourself when you refuse to be honest about things. Size is just a number; it has nothing to do with you as a person. What is really important is that you love yourself and your body completely, because it is the only one that you get. So instead of adding to the body shaming problem, learn body love and acceptance, and show people what it means to love yourself completely.
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