God has made us perfect the way we are, with all our imperfections. We come in all shapes, sizes and colours. We’re beautiful this way, diversity is our beauty. He made some of us taller than the rest and made some of us shorter than the rest. Some people, He made, wider. Some, He made, thinner. Everyone cannot have the same height, width and colour.
We don’t choose how our bodies should have been made. We only choose what to do with this gift of God. He loves us all equally. Then why can’t we accept others the way God has made them. Why must we try to mold everyone to this perception of beauty that has been ingrained in our minds by people who own the fashion industry, people we don’t know even exist. Who gave them the authority to decide what we should consider beautiful and what we should deem ugly.
You pick up any magazine, watch any TV show, all you get to see is people being targeted for their appearance. We are fed a bunch of disgusting lies. That’s beyond shallow. We are being brainwashed into judging people by the way they dress and the way they look. We overlook every other aspect of a person’s personality if he doesn’t fit our delusional beauty standards. We claim him to be undesirable and unworthy of any respect and acknowledgement. Only those are revered who come up to our beauty standards. This is outrageous.
Nobody gave us a license to judge others or a license to force people to change their bodies to our liking. We don’t own anybody. Their bodies are their own. Don’t let magazines and TV define beauty for you. Ever wonder what body shaming victims go through? It may seem harmful to you but ask victims. They’ll tell you how your brutal words shatter their confidence, how they can’t seem to look at themselves in the mirror. There are so many effects of body shaming, one can’t even imagine. Victims suffer with social anxiety, higher amounts of infections, poorer health, crushed self esteem and eating disorders like Bulimia and Anorexia.
This is what a few victims had to say when they were asked about their body shaming experiences.
”My in-laws body shame me all the time, their words shatter my confidence and make me feel ugly and unworthy.” – Sadia
“I was body shamed as a child. I was called fat. I suffered Bulimia first and then Anorexia because of this. I was a fat child and an extremely skinny 23 year old. I finally overcame these disorders. I am happy with my weight and the way I look.”- Hina
“My friends always make fun of my body. It’s not proportionate according to them. I have no self-confidence. I hate my body. I just want to wear baggy clothes and hide myself that nobody ever gets to see me. It’s not in my hands to fix my body.” – Anum
According to Mehwish Siddiqui, an art student, “People in our society claim to go ‘see’ a potential marriage proposal rather than ‘meet’ a potential marriage proposal.” We must change the way we think, even help change the way our elders think because nobody has the right to body shame another. Remember it’s not love or concern, it’s bullying.