Body shaming is the practice of making critical, potentially humiliating comments about a person’s body size or weight. It is often normalized in the mainstream media, with women’s bodies in particular being subjected to harsh criticism from critics. Fat shaming, skinny shaming – it doesn’t matter, they are all body shaming.
2015 was the year of the body positivity movement. Women were tired of their bodies being scrutinized. We started to celebrate what was amazing about the female body – in every shape, size, and type.
Here are some celebrities that had something to say about being proud of yourself and your body in all of its glory:
Amy Schumer: After internet trolls made body shaming comments about her weight, Amy Schumer hit back in typical witty style, saying: “I’m probably, like, 160 pounds right now and I can catch a d*ck whenever I want.” Awesome.
Gabourey Sidibe
Once called the most body-shamed actress in Hollywood, Gabourey Sidibe has had some remarkable clap-backs to the critics.
As well as this, her Empire sex scene made headlines when it was met with mean comments from critics on social media. She responded to Buzzfeed that critics “seemed more comfortable with the rape scene in Precious [Sidibe’s 2009 breakout film] than the love scene in Empire,” giving light to the kind of treatment society assumes women of a certain size should receive. In an interview with E!, she responded: “I, a plus sized, dark-skinned woman, had a love scene on primetime television. I had the most fun ever filming that scene even though I was nervous. But I felt sexy and beautiful and I felt like I was doing a good job.”
Ariel Winter
The 17-year old actress who is famous for playing Alex Dunphy on Modern Family made headlines last year when she revealed to Glamour that she had had a breast reduction after suffering crippling back pain. She said she was subject to critics who thought she dressed “innapropriate” for her age due to the size of her breasts. She said, “it’s something that I did to better my life and better my health and I think that that can benefit a lot of young girls. I have felt more happy with myself than I ever have.”
More recently, Ariel posted this picture (above) on Instagram, which was subjected to lewd comments about her “asking for it” and her bikini being “inappropriate.”
She hit back with this image, which included this quote in the caption: “You are not asking for anything because of what you are wearing — you are expressing yourself and don’t you ever think you deserve the negativity as the consequence to what you are wearing.”
Cheryl Fernandez Versini
The UK X-Factor judge had been subject to extreme criticism about her weight-loss, which included comments such as calling her a “bag of bones” and telling her to “eat a burger”. In a candid Instagram post, she stated that “there is so so so much more to life than having the ‘perfect body’.” Words to live by!
Sasha Pieterse
The 19-year old Pretty Little Liars actress candidly spoke about her health issues in an Instagram post, after her weight fluctuation caused critics to criticize and body shame her. “I have been facing a bad hormone imbalance that has thrown my body out of whack,” she wrote. “We live in such a judge mental [sic] society that puts every kind of flaw, including weight gain, in the same category. YOU and YOUR health are what matters, not anyone else’s opinions and assumptions of you.”
Ariana Grande
When an Instagram commenter stated that “curves are sexy sticks aren’t”, Grande hit back with this post, saying “tweets, comments, statement like this are not okay about anyone!!! We live in a day and age where people make it IMPOSSIBLE for women, men, anyone to embrace themselves exactly how they are. Diversity is sexy! Loving yourself is sexy!” She went on to say, “The things that make us different from one another make us BEAUTIFUL. BODY BOUNDARIES! LOVE LOVE LOVE ONLY.”
This week is Her Campus Western Ontario’s body image week! Check out some of the other articles that our amazing team has written. Think positive, love only! #WesternLoveYouself