The practice and impact of body shaming is something that isn’t given as much importance as it should get. The fact that there are people who do not find anything wrong with it, is proof that there’s something very wrong with our society. This behaviour inculcates from the very beginning, when children are made to think that bullying or offensive “jokes” are funny.
Clearly it’s important to spread awareness about body shaming with all the sensitivity that it requires, across all age groups. Keeping that in mind, the Kerala Government announced that it will include awareness programmes and lessons against body shaming in school curriculum. The idea is to sensitize students about it, while also teaching them the impact of it, that is in fact serious.
The government also pointed out how our society needs a healthy discussion around the topic, which also includes children, given that they’re the future of the same society. Body shaming is often neglected as “funny remarks” or “casual bullying”, but it’s more than just that, and no matter the intent, nothing justifies shaming someone else for their size or the way their body looks.
This is definitely a step in the right direction, because the impact on victims is something that we often tend to ignore. Furthermore, children need to understand the line between funny and offensive, just like adults do. And schools are a good place to start with.
