I’ve Been Skinny Shamed My Entire Life And I’m Tired Of It

So you’re telling me that calling people fat to their face is offensive, but somehow telling skinny people to start eating is okay? Well, I might be low on the flesh scale but I, certainly have the same amount of feelings as you do, probably more while we’re at it.

To begin with, whatever body type or skin colour a person is, it is NOT okay to blurt out negative comments about them, or to them. People are as they are, and in some cases, like mine, we can’t help but be. No matter what you say, it’s going to be that way. So, you might as well deal with it. Even if not, why is my body your business anyway?

I am naturally skinny. By birth. Trust me, my mom tells me I was born underweight, I was probably the ugliest newborn ever. My mom started crying when she first saw me. I don’t know what for, there could me a million reasons. It was her first time being a mother. So yeah, I was born underweight and I was kept under observation for 14 days. That’s definitely not the first thing you want to do when you’re born, but I had to. Because I was skinny.

And so my not-so-happily-ever-after began…

No denying of how absolutely in love I am with my body. Of course there are times when I wish I could change some things here, gain a little something there. But I sure love it oh so very much, and you bad mouthing it, can hurt me. All my life I’ve heard things like:

“Why don’t you eat anything?”

“Does your mom not give you enough food?”

“Watch out, it’s windy outside! Don’t get blown away!”

“You look like a hanger when you wear loose T-shirts.”

“Hugging you doesn’t even feel right.”

“My grandma has prettier hands than yours.”

“What size do you wear? -2 or -4?”

“You should be put up in the school biology lab, we’re short on skeletons.”

“How do you even manage to put clothes on?”

C’mon girl, do I move around naked? I am right here, sitting right in front of you. Wearing clothes. These sure are upsetting, but honestly, when I go back and look at my bare waist in the mirror, beautifully carved in the perfect angles, I feel like a queen. Knowing that I can eat all I want without having a care in the world, is the best feeling ever. Well, care can also be referred to as extra fat here.

Isn’t it funny that you admire the runway models and tease your fellow mates for the same reason? You complain about you having extra weight and then, you again complain about me having less weight. The thing about being skinny is, however in love you are with yourself, people will always have something or the other to ruin it for you. Don’t you dare let them get to you. They say size 0 is no size, but it is a size nonetheless. So bear with it.

Not all of us starve ourselves to death to look like this – willingly or not, some of us are heavy eaters and blessed. Not of all of us are diseased, some of us were just born this way and can’t help it. They will tell you about how you should not feel bad about yourself and let other people talk, and you will also wholeheartedly believe it. But sometimes, you just wish all this could stop. No matter how hard I try, sometimes it does cross my mind – if only my body was not the centre of attraction. We’re just as human as you are. If an overweight person can get offended, so can an underweight person. It’s not about a particular type. It’s about everybody.

Why is it anyway necessary to shame another’s body type? I’m skinny, so I can only tell you how I feel, but there are people in every body type that have certain complexities. There is no need to remind them then and now about what their body lacks. Having lived with it for years, I’m pretty sure they’ve already known it. My mother has been a great strength for me through all this. She says, “If you’re healthy from the inside – mentally and biologically, then your weight does not matter.” Be proud of whatever you carry and however you carry it. There is no specific definition to beauty, and so, you define it. You are far more than that.