Body shaming is a phenomenon that is hardly new, especially to women, who continue to be more significantly targeted than men. Women have for much longer been haunted by body shaming since they have constantly been inflicted upon derogatory remarks about their looks and appearances. Worst still, in the last few years, with the rise of social media, body shaming has gained much in importance inducing more damages.

Everyone can be body shamed, whoever it is. However, facts and statistics show that women are more likely to be affected. According to a study provided by FITRATED on over 1,000 American men and women surveyed about their experiences with body shaming and the people in their lives, 92.7 percent of women reported to have already been body-shamed against 86.5 percent of men. Similarly, with 94 percent of teenage girls and 64 percent of boys reporting some level of ridicule for the way they look, body shaming by gender is undoubtedly blatant.

It is a matter of fact that body shaming – commonly referred to as the act of mocking a person’s physical appearance – has already existed before it made a giant leap forward with social media platforms. Whether we accept it or not, social media has hugely shaped our outlook on things. The more we are stepping into a newer innovative era where technology prevails, the more we are falling into the trap of misusing its products. It is important, however, to note that everything having inextricably link with belittling, deriding, and harassment online is all considered cyberbullying.

Now, taking into account how some people use social media for evil-driven intentions, it is not unfair to say that many lives are wiped out, hopes are shattered. Social media has now seemed to be used to sell and consume body images – the perfect ones – and to display a new culture based on the perfect life. Indeed, it influences a lot on how people see themselves, because of the beauty standards priorly and repeatedly imposed on. It negatively affects their concept of beauty. The truth is, many people are, nowadays, found increasingly to struggle with the ideal body image. They are targeted by unpleasing comments based upon their appearance, making them lose their self-esteem. In point of fact, body shaming is not only limited to fat-shaming or skinny shaming, height-shaming, and shaming of hairiness or lack thereof, it may mainly include shaming of tattoos and piercings, or people’s disabilities.

Facts and statistics on body shaming are to be shared to help people know more about this phenomenon and that they could overcome it. Just because body shaming rose very quickly to a high level due to social media does not necessarily mean social media platforms are all defective. Instead, it can positively impact body image in many ways.

It can convey body positivity and empower social media users as many researchers discovered and proved. Sarah Gervais, a psychologist and Associate Professor in the Social and Cognitive Psychology and the Law-Psychology programs, highlighted that Instagram is a more appropriate tool because the platform has adjusted its system settings by excluding from the search engine some specific keywords and hashtags related to eating and fitness issues. This has been made so to help people focus on healthier representations of their bodies on social media.

Sources: healthline / King University Online