Hannah Schau is a sophomore journalism major and writes "Hannah's Hot Topics" for the Daily News. Her views do not necessarily agree with those of the newspaper. Write to Hannah at hschau@bsu.edu.
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If you could change one thing about yourself what would it be? I bet you’re thinking something superficial. Maybe it’s your hair, eye color, height or the most common answer: your weight.
Our weight is a touchy subject and usually no matter how much we try it will never be good enough. A problem in the world today is “fat shaming,” criticizing those who might be a little bigger than us. This has been an issue for a long time, but it has gotten better. There are now stores dedicated to plus size people and there are even plus size models who are on covers of magazines proving that no matter what shape or size you are, you’re still beautiful.
This is great. There’s been such progress in accepting those who are overweight or "plus size"; however, what a lot of people don’t talk about it “skinny shaming.” Don’t get me wrong, teasing someone or making fun of someone because they’re overweight is wrong, but so is doing the same thing to someone who is underweight.
“You need to eat more.” “You need to put some meat on your bones!” “Do you ever eat?” These are just some of the things "skinny" people hear all the time. Everyone owns a mirror and knows what they look like. They don’t need to hear ignorant comments every time they eat a salad instead of a cheeseburger.
The worst thing about being smaller is that it’s a terrible event to have to go shopping. Most likely, things won’t fit right. They’ll be too big or not long enough. If you’re lucky, the store you might go into will carry an extra small. That’s one thing that truly infuriates me. Some stores have sizes up to triple extra-large, but don’t carry an extra small. Absurd.
Being tiny in middle school was so difficult for me. My peers would ask my friends if I was anorexic behind my back. Of course, I wasn’t, it was purely my genetics. The worst thing is there was nothing I did to lead them to believe this; I was just small.
Skinny shaming is something we need to talk about more. Being expected to look a certain way and get criticized if you don’t is a problem. Everyone should be accepted for who they are, no matter what their scale says when they step on it.
RELATED: Body shaming is not a competition
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