Shutting Down Fat Shaming!

Jacqueline Jossa

I have never been happy with my body, I have been fluctuating between being overweight, and then underweight my whole life until I fell quite unwell and lost all the weight I had. I have friends who have struggled with fat shaming in the past and it was an awful thing to hear about just because it isn't their weight which affects who they are as people. It is a form of bullying, and whether in reality or online, it hurts - a lot.

Media portrayal has a lot to do with body-shaming, particularly as the population see a model they like the look of and wishing it was them. With recent years, the media has caught up with the times and though this doesn't speak for everyone, there are a good handful of companies which photograph models who are open to people of all sizes and doing so has improved reputation and sales. Being larger than the average person doesn't make you any less attractive and at last businesses are starting to see that. What makes things worse for the companies which still use thinner models is that they are unrealistically thin and are promoting eating disorders and other mental health disorders like Body Dysmorphia due to how impossible it is to look that way without being seriously unwell. I've heard of many news stories where celebrities who have modelled share their own stories of fat shaming, even by the people they worked for, leading to lowered self-esteem and general reluctance to wear certain clothes, or do certain things for fear of being judged.

With Instagram being a staple in many of our lives, people can shame others from the comfort of being behind a screen out of reach from any real consequences, a lot have given up on having accounts due to the immense stress caused by these judgemental beings. Though celebrities have been standing up to their bullies. Famous British Eastenders star, Jacqueline Jossa suffered insults at the hands of trolls who targeted her Instagram, saying her photos were Photo Shopped, labelling her a "dumpling." Her husband was also tagged in the vile comments and Jacqueline immediately responded with a screenshot of the comments on her story, along with the caption "I do look like this, even when I hoover dog hairs off the floor and baby sick all over me." Not long after this post, she uploaded a video of her with her beloved daughter Mia, and vomit on her top. The support she received from fans was incredible, I think it's safe to say the trolls learned their lesson. A commenter told Jacqueline that she was "a positive realistic role model to others."

Think twice before you flaw somebody for their weight, even if they shrug it off, chances are they will start to think twice about how they feel about themselves. One insult can affect someone dramatically for the rest of their lives.

2022 was the year of body positivity, with a lot of coverage online and in the media. We still haven't cracked it for everyone just yet, but we certainly have a good head start in 2023 so far.