Our society has many faults, but one I really don’t understand is how the negative appearance, particularly concerning weight, is considered an acceptable and time-consuming topic of conversation.
I hear it all the time. “Have you seen how fat she’s getting?”, “Jeez, he needs to get a bra for his manboobs”, and “She’s too skinny. I bet she never eats” are commonly phrases used to poke fun at someone, and I personally find it disgusting. It’s time that this kind of superficial categorization is stopped.
First of all, how is talking about someone’s weight even interesting? Yeah, maybe being anorexic or obese is unhealthy and not particularly attractive, but why the duration of the discussion is longer than two seconds is a mystery to me. Is someone who feels a compulsive need to criticize the appearance of others simply such a boring person that they have to attack others in order to come up with a topic to talk about at all? If not, then why not discuss something else? There’s plenty of topics out there that are more relevant. To me, even gossipping about that one girl that hooked up with that one basketball player is more mature than talking about weight. At least the former actually reflects on who the person is, even if it the content may distort the truth.
Which brings me to the second point. How does someone’s physical appearance show who they are on the inside? Believe it or not, some people actually believe that those with a healthier weight have better personalities than their over or underweight counterparts. Overweight people are stereotyped as lazy while underweight people are said to be overconforming to society. This is not always true. Body shape is strongly correlated with genetics, and sometimes there is not a lot someone can do to change it. If a person is genuinely nice, then who really cares? It’s not your body, so don’t judge it. And by the way, you really don’t have to check it out. No one is forcing you to stare at anyone’s cellulite. Even if they’re wearing short shorts, you can still look elsewhere, maybe into their eyes, where most people prefer you look anyway.
And if that isn’t enough to convince you, think of how the person talked about feels. He/she is probably already really self-conscious about themselves, and they don’t need you to rag on them even more. How would you feel if you overheard people criticize you for something as trivial as your body shape? Not so good, right?
It’s not even just preteen girls that do it. It’s guys, girls, men, women of all ages. It’s universal, but if you happen to be one of the few that refuse to participate in this superficial trend, then kudos to you.
In conclusion, next time you run out of topics to discuss, try talking about somthing that doesn’t make fun of someone else. There’s so much more variety in that category, and I’m sure you’ll find that they’re much more fun to discuss anyway.
-chelliejellie10