“I’m so fat.”

“No you're not. We just had lunch, you’re just bloated. Now can you stop saying that. We’ve been over this for millions of times. I’m starting to go crazy.” I roll my eyes at her. She is already skinny.

“I am, though. Look. This is gonna change I will get skinnier. I mean look at this,” she hunches over, takes her hands to bunch her flesh together claiming it’s a heap-load of fat. “See?” She turns and enters the bathroom. I hear retching.

I hear these conversations every time I go to change in the locker room. One girl just complains to her friends that she’s fat. The friends deny this and reassure her that she’s not, but she still rags on about her weight. The worst part is that they aren’t fat at all, even if they were it doesn’t matter unless it affects their health. Kids need to be comfortable in their own skin.

This problem of self hate due to weight causes illnesses such as anorexia and bulimia. Anorexia is a horrible disease that causes the person to see themselves as fat no matter how much weight they lose. They continue to lose weight until you can see their bones protruding from their pale skin. Unless parents or guardians read the signs their children end up in the hospital near death because of malnutrition.
       

Bulimia is a whole other situation. This is when the person eats but after their meal they stick their finger in their mouth in desperation to remove the food they just ate so they don’t gain weight. Their finger touches their uvula making them puke out the food they just ate. This can cause dehydration, constipation, dental cavities, and depression. This is a serious illness which shouldn't be taken lightly. These are two illnesses that I would wish upon no one.

Children learn from a young age to think that skinny equals healthy and pretty. Of course people who are skinny are beautiful and healthy too but, spreading the idea that fat is bad is not ideal. These ideas are spread through tv shows, ads, magazines, YouTube videos, and sometimes children’s parents. There is a prime example of how entertainment spreads the idea that fat is bad by Nicole Arbour, a YouTuber that created a video named “Dear Fat People.” It consists of her ranting about how fat people should lose weight, how they have no excuses, are just lazy, and how fat shaming does not exist even though she is doing exactly that for the whole video. This can hurt anybody that sees it. Self-hate grows, teenagers get depressed, and we have to help them out of the hole that society put them in.

There is a quote by Marilyn Monroe that reads, “to all the girls that think you’re fat because you’re not a size zero, you’re the beautiful one, it’s society who’s ugly,” it is an amazing quote by one of the women that helped change the “ideal body” image for women. I completely agree with this idea of society causing people to look down upon fat people.

My opinion is that everyone is equal no matter what size clothes they wear. We all are humans meaning we all hurt so why cause pain to each other by pointing out are differences in the size of our bodies.