American model Bella Hadid looked stunning on the red carpet at the REVOLVE fashion show in Los Angeles. And yet, beneath the photos of the event, online comments targeting her physique proliferated (skinny shaming). Just another episode of a well-documented, and still just as harmful, phenomenon.<\/p>\n
The words used by some internet users under Bella Hadid's photos at the REVOLVE fashion show are the same ones we've seen for years under models' posts: "too thin<\/em> , " "skeletal"<\/em> \u2014qualities that reduce a woman to her appearance in order to better devalue her. The mention of Ozempic\u2014a medication initially intended for diabetics, misused by some celebrities for weight loss\u2014adds to this as a further accusation. These comments, in any case, are completely unjustified.<\/p>\n Skinny shaming is the inverse of fatphobia: it refers to the stigmatization and hurtful remarks experienced by people deemed "too thin." It is less visible than fatphobia, which relies on well-documented structural and everyday discrimination\u2014in public spaces, the workplace, and on public transportation. However, it is no less harmful. It fuels anxiety and self-loathing in those affected and can exacerbate pre-existing eating disorders.<\/p>\n The experiences of women like Bella Hadid highlight a telling paradox: never being "too fat," never being "too thin" either\u2014under penalty of being labeled "anorexic," a term used as an insult even though it refers to a serious health condition. These contradictory demands perfectly illustrate what is known as body shaming in its broadest sense: society's constant "rating" of women's bodies according to unrealistic, ever-changing, and simultaneously impossible-to-meet standards. <\/p>\n Skinny shaming: the least discussed form of body shaming<\/h2>\n
Demands impossible to fulfill<\/h2>\n
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