• Nobody was born perfect, but embrace your imperfections and love yourself for who you are, don't allow body shaming to kill your dreams.
• No further lives have to be lost for the matter to be taken seriously, but most importantly love yourself so hard.
Body shaming has become very rampant in our day-to-day lives.
People discuss our looks, criticise us for how we look, give us nicknames by our appearances, making us laughing stocks, forgetting that these cruel acts have serious consequences.
An instance is a student who is overweight due to one reason or the other. You find that classmates nickname their fellow student fatty and it's never by choice that one becomes who they are as there are situations that nature can change.
Such kind of student may be demoralised, start missing classes for fear of being a laughing stock, hence poor performance.
Another student may decide to drop out of school, especially when they have no friends and people to talk to because they are sidelined because of how they look, hence dropping out of school.
Some try to fit in by trying to reduce their weight, they do vigorous exercises, they even miss meals and when the results are not forthcoming, depression kicks in, some may develop mental illness.
I believe that body shaming starts from within, many people body shame themselves without even knowing it, that moment you are not comfortable in your skin, height, weight and your looks you are body shaming yourself.
Others are criticised and even bullied because of their skin tone, everyone has a right to be comfortable in their own skin without fear of being judged or looked down upon.
An instance is a South African girl, Lufuno, who committed suicide after being beaten up by her schoolmate who felt that she was ugly in her dark skin, a life was lost just because she chose to be happy and contented by who she was.
Charity begins at home, some of the parents are ashamed of how their children look because they did not turn up as expected.
This pushes many children away from their parents as they lack the unconditional love, protection and support needed, hence they seek it somewhere else.
For a girl, she may end up getting married to any man who tries to show her attention and affection, and for the boy, he ends up using drugs to feel high or even join gangs to feel that sense of belonging.
Parents need to accept their children the way they are, know how to live with them and not make situations more difficult for them.
At workplaces, you find some workers will sideline their colleagues just maybe because they are slender, too tall, or maybe too short, making most of them perform poorly hence unable to deliver because they can’t focus and concentrate well
I believe that body shaming starts from within, many people body shame themselves without even knowing it, that moment you are not comfortable in your skin, height, weight and your looks you are body shaming yourself.
The moment a person is comfortable with how they were created and love themselves the way they are and for who they are, body shaming will have no meaning in our history, because if the person is contented by how they were created, then another person’s opinion will not matter.
It all starts with us, self-love, and contentment.
Nobody was born perfect, but embrace your imperfections and love yourself for who you are, don't allow body shaming to kill your dreams.
Some people bring others down just because they are suffering from self-esteem issues and such gives them some kind of closure, they are the problem and not you.
Therefore, the government should put aside facilities with experienced people who have to create awareness, offer guidance and counselling on body shaming and educate this generation to accept themselves and others for who they are for a peaceful co-existence.
No further lives have to be lost for the matter to be taken seriously, but most importantly love yourself so hard.
Edited by Kiilu Damaris