Thin Shaming and Fat Shaming? No you're just being a dick.

This is gonna be one of those posts where I get on my high horse and rant for a bit because I've been ticked off to the point where I need to let off some steam.

Today's subject is something that's been in the press quite a lot at the moment, especially regarding Cheryl Fernadez-Versini's weight loss. And that subject is fat shaming and thin shaming.

As mentioned previously in a post, I have in the past, and still do, have problems with my weight and eating. 4 years on from having my ED I still have those thoughts when I want to lose weight that it's the easiest way to go about it. Just don't eat and you'll be the weight you want for the holiday you're going on in a couple of weeks..

This mentality is something that the media fuels. You look at any magazine stand in any shop and you're likely to see these kinds of covers across the shelves.

Don't get me wrong I'm not going to sit here and lie and say that I never read magazines like this. When I was younger, I'd be down the shop once a week or once a month to get my copy of whatever magazine it was I'd moved onto. But that doesn't mean that I agree with the message that they send now.

Looking at them after growing up somewhat gracefully, I'm almost disgusted that this is the industry that I want to work in. An industry that openly and frequently fat and thin shames women making young girls and even grown women feel like they aren't good enough, or that it's acceptable behaviour.

Granted, curvier girls have been subject to ridicule for far longer than skinny girls have, but that doesn't make either of them worse than the other. Calling someone a 'skinny bitch' is just as bad as calling someone a 'fat bitch'. However when a skinny girl gets it, no one defends her. When a larger curvier girl is called fat people stand up and and protect her calling out whomever has made the comment. But when it comes to 'skinny' girls, it's totally acceptable..

The most recent example of this is an article I read to do with Meghan Trainor's single 'All About That Bass', a song which contains the lyrics:

'I'm bringing booty back Go 'head and tell them skinny bitches that'

In the article, which is an open letter to Miss Trainor, it makes a large number of good points about the song. The second paragrah however was the one that resonated with me the most:

'Your fame is based off of your promotion of the idea that every female is beautiful in her own way- a belief that I have as well. The difference is that I don’t promote the idea that being curvy is necessarily better than being thin. You have degraded petite females to get further on your path to fame, and further skewed the concept of “positive body image.”'

Yes, it's great that she's promoting a positive body image, but like the article says, it shouldn't be at the expense of those with differing body types to your own.

It later goes on to mention an interview that Meghan had undertaken in which she stated that she at times she wished she had the strength to have an eating disorder. Something that offended me INCREDIBLY. Having an eating dosorder and becoming dangerously thin doesn't make you stronger, if anything it makes you weaker. This comment was very narrow minded and one that she shouldn't have made considering that she is a role number to so many young girls.

All in all, what I'm trying to say here is that you shouldn't call anyone names of fat/thin shame anyone. It doesn't make you better than anyone to make someone else feel like shit. I'm also trying to say that you shouldn't give a fuck what people think of you. Whether you're a size 6 or a size 20, as long as you're happy, and not risking your health, who gives a shit what all the haters say!?