Oasis.
Credit: DH Photo
“Everybody is body shamed” - this statement that I read somewhere set my mind thinking - how true or untrue is this? Very true it seems - as a world-renowned beauty and Bollywood diva was recently body shamed, trolled and criticised for her look at Paris Fashion Week. If someone like her can get trolled and shamed, and called ‘ auntyji.. buddi (old hag) imagine what an average woman may have to go through - the society is filled with insensitive people who are obsessed with other people’s bodies. Seriously it is a mental sickness, a compulsive disorder.
The trauma people go through facing them is unimaginable. The perpetrators and the victims, both need help.
We always believe that body-shaming happens rarely with men. But for years, men have also been body shamed - professional athletes and celebrities being the target of brutal body shaming for pot bellies or bald heads. - and adolescent boys get bullied for gynecomastia (man boobs) ‘or for being very skinny. Social stigma and gender dynamics force men to remain bottled up with their feelings. Emotional men are laughed at, and they rarely seek psychiatric and psychological help.
All these can result in severe trauma leading to mental health issues.
A study has shown that Suicide due to body shaming is the fourth leading cause of death in 15-19-year-olds. Continuous body shaming can have negative emotional effects, like anxiety, lowered self-esteem, depression, and the development of eating disorders. Hence it is important to inculcate body positive thoughts right from young age. A temple elephant was on its way to the temple to offer the daily rituals to the deity - one pig came in front, fully covered in filth and grime, on seeing which the elephant moved aside and the pig thought ‘ah see my power, even the elephant is stepping aside to make way for me’ -
whereas the elephant’s thoughts were - ‘I am on my way to do my temple duty -why get dirtied by this filthy pig’
This very philosophy can be applied when faced with body shaming by uncouth people - just move away… need not take anything from their filthy mouths... focus on your strengths and purpose of life!