What is Fat Shaming?

According to the MacMillan Dictionary, Fat shaming is: “unkind and usually public criticism of someone for being overweight.” This is actually very harmful to children, teens, and adults. One might think that this is a way of getting that person motivated but it’s the total opposite. “However, stigma and discrimination against overweight people cause major psychological harm and worsen the problem.” as stated by Healthline.com.

Fat Shaming is found in many environments. Whether it’s in public with a group for friends or even online. This shaming doesn’t have the intended result because when most people do this they want to help motivate the other person. Instead, it causes them to want to eat more and they may even over-eat. This is just one of the problems that come from Fat Shaming. People who are Fat Shamed have a 2.7-times chance to have depression, according to Healthline.com. Thus there is a 21-times higher chance of suicidal behavior in people who are obese or overweight, as stated on Healthline.com. There is also a 12-times higher chance of people who are obese to attempt suicide, this being known as a suicide risk. This is just a small amount of a bigger picture. Taking someone and who they are as a whole and telling them things to lower them isn’t a good choice to make because it puts the victim in a higher risk bracket for several things. So, don’t judge someone based on their outside, but on what’s inside to stop the pain from spreading and to help lower the number of people trying to commit suicide due to the fact that they are getting fat-shamed by a number of people.

Source(s):

https://www.healthline.com/nutrition/fat-shaming-makes-things-worse

https://www.macmillandictionary.com/us/dictionary/american/fat-shaming