Teens these days scroll through hundreds of posts on social media that showcase perfect body figures which create an illusion that they need to be a certain size to be noticed. Then they look themselves up in the mirror and become their own worst critic. More often than not, they starve themselves the next day and the day after and the day after till they stress so much that they either starve themselves even more or binge eat the day after. It's a vicious cycle and one that is so hard to break.
I have seen kids starting from the age of 8 or 9 use cosmetic products, posing in front of cameras in ways that made them believe are pretty and validating, and it is saddening to see such young minds be deluded to think that they are somehow not good enough, that they need to act and look a certain way to be worthy of attention.
Society calls us out by our physical traits such as the fat one or the skinny one or the dark skinned one, the short one, tall one or the one with lots of acne as if that defines us, and we mistakenly abide by those names and forget who we truly are.
We live in a world where a person's character is judged by the size of their clothes.
It is particularly difficult for the kids in school as they become victims of bullying for their weight and even height. Often, people are dealing with medical issues that are hardly ever in their control. The potential in a child is overlooked and self confidence is destroyed.
Society has normalized advertisements that portray being fat or having dark skin as being ugly. They sell their products by making you believe that you need to be fairer, thinner and at the same time thick enough to be called attractive. The cosmetic industry sets so called high standards of beauty and markets their products, convincing one they can be good enough, even when they already are. But your outer beauty, your weight doesn't define you at all. And that's exactly what industries don't want us to believe in.
Teens are made to believe that a certain body size is a requirement to have someone simply take an interest in them.
And if someone already has the required body type, they feel if only their body is taken seriously, not the mind.
And what most of us fail to see is that skinny shaming is just as bad as fat shaming.
Statistics show that about 94 percent of teenage girls and 65 percent of teenage boys have gone through body shaming.
If you are going through it, I want you to know, remember and remind yourself that whatever shape, size, colour you are in, you are worth loving someone and being loved back just equally, if not more. And more importantly, you are worth being taken seriously.
If you feel as if the social media is taking a toll on your mental health and self image or you are in a destructive relationship, take a step back. There's nothing wrong in taking time out and prioritising yourself.
Sometimes the kids find it difficult to talk about the problems they face regarding their bodies, even to their families. It somehow makes them believe that they are weak if they go to the elders for every critic they face. So if you are a parent, I want you to remind your kids that they are beautiful and loved no matter what. Encourage healthy lifestyle but don't focus on something as temporary as outer beauty.
If you have a peer who's having body image issues, I want you to just listen to them and be as supportive as you can. Encourage them to seek help when necessary, be empathetic.
Because overweight or not, eating disorders are real, body shaming is real, depression and anxiety are real and someone is going through it right at this moment and we need to be courageous enough to openly talk about the issues. And not just talk about them, but also reinforce new habits to stop body shaming and spread positivity in our lives and the lives around us.
And I do hope that you eventually become comfortable in your own skin.
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