I was scrolling through my Facebook feed this past Monday while working-- as one does-- when I saw that one of my friends had shared a post that made me want to back away from society completely.
Ew.
I am not the biggest fan of the Kardashian Machine. It's not that I dislike them so much as I just feel overwhelmed by how much I see them all over the media. It's the same reason I didn't like the Dave Matthews Band when I was younger. They were everywhere. (I do kind of like DMB now that I'm older, so no hate mail, please.)
But for this post to come out within a week of Kim opening up about why she doesn't smile anymore-- spoiler alert! it had to do with body shaming-- made me really uncomfortable. The fact that this is seemingly commenting on a pregnant woman's body made it even more disgusting.
But what really struck a nerve in me was that the people sharing this post were women. Women who have children or have made it clear that they wish to have children in the future. If you were pregnant, would you want people publicly commenting on your size, your clothing and the way you wear it? If you have a daughter, or want a daughter one day, would you want someone commenting on their appearance like this?
The truth is, people shouldn't have to consider these hypothetical situations in order to see that body shaming is wrong. There is enough stuff in this world that is stressful-- from a societal standpoint to an individual one. Why add to that? What we need is support from the women around us.
That doesn't mean we can't call out fellow women when they do something problematic. That Nicki and Taylor feud from a couple of months ago? It needed to happen. Nicki was pointing out a flaw in a system. When Taylor realized that, she apologized for taking it personally just like she should have. And the backlash against the way Nicki was portrayed in the press? Also necessary. We have to call shit out if we ever want it to change.
Ew.
I am not the biggest fan of the Kardashian Machine. It's not that I dislike them so much as I just feel overwhelmed by how much I see them all over the media. It's the same reason I didn't like the Dave Matthews Band when I was younger. They were everywhere. (I do kind of like DMB now that I'm older, so no hate mail, please.)
But for this post to come out within a week of Kim opening up about why she doesn't smile anymore-- spoiler alert! it had to do with body shaming-- made me really uncomfortable. The fact that this is seemingly commenting on a pregnant woman's body made it even more disgusting.
But what really struck a nerve in me was that the people sharing this post were women. Women who have children or have made it clear that they wish to have children in the future. If you were pregnant, would you want people publicly commenting on your size, your clothing and the way you wear it? If you have a daughter, or want a daughter one day, would you want someone commenting on their appearance like this?
The truth is, people shouldn't have to consider these hypothetical situations in order to see that body shaming is wrong. There is enough stuff in this world that is stressful-- from a societal standpoint to an individual one. Why add to that? What we need is support from the women around us.
That doesn't mean we can't call out fellow women when they do something problematic. That Nicki and Taylor feud from a couple of months ago? It needed to happen. Nicki was pointing out a flaw in a system. When Taylor realized that, she apologized for taking it personally just like she should have. And the backlash against the way Nicki was portrayed in the press? Also necessary. We have to call shit out if we ever want it to change.
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