Body Shaming Research Paper

In the US, nearly 30 million people suffer from an eating disorder, and almost every single ailment is caused by a negative body image (National Association of Anorexia Nervosa). People, regardless of gender, are expected to look a certain way if they want to fit in with the others around them. Girls are expected to have an extra slim waist, thigh gap, and a perfectly sculpted face, while guys are expected to have washboard abs and high cheekbones. These expectations are nearly impossible to achieve and there is nothing that a person desires more than to be accepted. America’s image of the ‘perfect body’ should definitely change; trying to achieve the high standards can result in a multitude of negative outcomes like mental illnesses, low

People can be bullied online, at school, or even at home. Social media and the internet in general has the power to change the world, but when put into the wrong hands it can do more harm than good, and things can go south very quickly (Kronengold). Body shaming is one of the most common forms of cyberbullying. There are many people that don’t have thick skin and the comments people make get to them very easily, and the bullies on the other side of the screen can keep doing it because the victim doesn’t know who the username belongs to. People can easily hide their identity on social media, this makes it easier to bully people because they do not know who they are. The comments make the reader feel worthless and ugly, but that isn’t the case. “A study of bullying behaviors in 11-16 year old boys and girls found that overweight and obese school-aged children were more likely to become victims of bullying behaviors than their normal-weight peers” (EatingDisorderHope). Bullying at school can occur on a regular basis, over and over again. This repetitiveness can leave scars, because words cannot be taken back after they are said. Individuals that have depression, perfectionism and/or anxiety are more prone to develop an eating disorder. Anxiety can get so bad that they have nightmares, flashbacks, or even go as far as to dropout of school to avoid the

One statement may be that many people can reach these goals if they try hard enough. The truth is that many, many people don’t have the same body types as people who can. Many women are naturally skinny – and struggle to look “curvy.” Others may be naturally “curvy” and struggle to look skinny. Some guys can pack on muscle, others are very, very thin (Ardison 2). Many others may claim that you have to look good on social media so it’s best to lose weight. Overall, almost everyone wants to look good on social media. But the people that struggle to lose weight are ridiculed, only about 5% of Americans can meet the desired beauty standards (Vitelli). Finally, one of the most common claims is that lowering body standards promotes unhealthy lifestyles. Lowering body standards does not promote unhealthy lifestyles, people just have to know the difference between healthy and unhealthy. Both obesity and popular body goals are unhealthy. There are four elements to leading a healthy life, a balanced diet, moderate (not excessive) exercise, healthy BMI, and not smoking (Feller 2). Evidently there needs to be a change in the way Americans think about the perfect body. There are so many terrible consequences for trying to achieve them that we need to come to our senses and put and end to the “perfect skinny