PREVENT BODY SHAMING
PREVENT BODY SHAMING
The Issue
Stop body shaming
We’ve all heard the phrase “everyone’s different” from a young age. We’ve probably accepted this for almost every area of our lives. We have friends who are hilarious, others serious, some close to genius and others aloof. We see success in all different forms and associate with people from various religions. Most of us have never thought to assess the value of these differences, they just are what they are, and we appreciate the richness they add to our lives.
Start encouraging acceptance of shape diversity
How about we change our perspective of our bodies? How about we accept differences in size the way we do other features in our friends? Children do this naturally and maybe we can learn something from them. If your child points to another child and says “Mum, look at that girl’s long hair”, do you shush him and tell him not to point? Or do you engage with his observations and say something like “Gee it is long isn’t it. I bet it takes a long time to brush!”?
What if he points to another child and says “Mum look at how fat that girl is!”? Most of us, because it is so ingrained in us that “fat” is something to be ashamed of, will shush our children and tell them not to say that. But this only teaches and reinforces the harmful belief that fat is shameful. What if instead we encouraged acceptance and diversity: “Yeah she is fat isn’t she? She’s strong too, look how high she’s climbed up that climbing frame!” This way our children are not taught to agree with society that big is bad and fat should be feared, but just as hair length is, body size is just another difference between us human beings.
Similarly, if an African child comes home from school saying, “Mum John called me black!” how would you respond? How about something like “Yeah your skin is black because we come from a part of the world where people have black skin. We’ll take you there one day, it’s really amazing.” What if your child who is a bigger than the average child comes home and says “Mum, Charlotte said I’m fat!” how do you respond? How about being honest and showing them that how they are is perfect for them? “Yeah you have more fat on your body than Charlotte – that’s just the way your body likes to be. It probably helps you be so strong too and might be why you can kick the footy so far”.
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The Issue
Stop body shaming
We’ve all heard the phrase “everyone’s different” from a young age. We’ve probably accepted this for almost every area of our lives. We have friends who are hilarious, others serious, some close to genius and others aloof. We see success in all different forms and associate with people from various religions. Most of us have never thought to assess the value of these differences, they just are what they are, and we appreciate the richness they add to our lives.
Start encouraging acceptance of shape diversity
How about we change our perspective of our bodies? How about we accept differences in size the way we do other features in our friends? Children do this naturally and maybe we can learn something from them. If your child points to another child and says “Mum, look at that girl’s long hair”, do you shush him and tell him not to point? Or do you engage with his observations and say something like “Gee it is long isn’t it. I bet it takes a long time to brush!”?
What if he points to another child and says “Mum look at how fat that girl is!”? Most of us, because it is so ingrained in us that “fat” is something to be ashamed of, will shush our children and tell them not to say that. But this only teaches and reinforces the harmful belief that fat is shameful. What if instead we encouraged acceptance and diversity: “Yeah she is fat isn’t she? She’s strong too, look how high she’s climbed up that climbing frame!” This way our children are not taught to agree with society that big is bad and fat should be feared, but just as hair length is, body size is just another difference between us human beings.
Similarly, if an African child comes home from school saying, “Mum John called me black!” how would you respond? How about something like “Yeah your skin is black because we come from a part of the world where people have black skin. We’ll take you there one day, it’s really amazing.” What if your child who is a bigger than the average child comes home and says “Mum, Charlotte said I’m fat!” how do you respond? How about being honest and showing them that how they are is perfect for them? “Yeah you have more fat on your body than Charlotte – that’s just the way your body likes to be. It probably helps you be so strong too and might be why you can kick the footy so far”.
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Petition created on November 12, 2024