February 12, 2016 by Skyler Stanford
“Why do you starve yourself?” is an often heard question by any girl 125 pounds or under. This is skinny shamming; whether through a joke or pure insult, commenting on someone’s weight (no matter what that weight is) can make the person feel self-conscious and insecure.
“I’ve been called bulimic,” said Nicole Rizzuto. “It made me feel terrible that someone would think that about me.” Many people have witnessed something like this where someone is accused of having an eating disorder because of their body type. “I don’t have to have a disease to be skinny,” said Rizzuto. We should accept that people are born with different body types. Concluding that someone has a mental illness like anorexia or bulimia based solely on their appearance can be extremely hurtful.
As a society, we’ve agreed that pointing out someone’s weight or insulting someone who is overweight is rude and unacceptable yet skinny girls are still subjected to both of these. This may be because skinny girls have never been the “underdogs” in tv, movies, or media. Life is believed to be easier for those who have never seem the plus-sized section of clothing stores. “It makes me feel like I don’t meet society’s image, which makes me feel like I don’t meet everyone’s expectations” said Casie Henderson. “…It reminds me that I’m not like everyone else”. We are forgetting that we are all human we all have similar struggles based off of our own insecurities.
It may seem like it would be harder to lack confidence when you can fit into a small size but that concept is far from reality. We should all keep in mind that no one is free of insecurities. If we are going to preach that bullying is wrong we should take into account that bullying can happen to anyone, and it should never be ignored because the person being bullied doesn’t look like a victim. We should all strive to to celebrate the beauty in ourselves and others.