They made fun of her on the beach because she is overweight: "I was ashamed of wearing a bikini"
Do you know what is meant by "fat shaming"? With this term we are referring to a bullying practice for which we might tend to laugh, to make fun of or to demonize the bodies of people who are overweight compared to the accepted norm. We know very well that these individuals, either for physiological constitution or for sometimes psychological reasons, aren't necessarily happy in this condition, and for this reason continuous bullying against them can have very negative consequences.
Bullying in all its forms must be fought and defeated by any means necessary, even by the re-education of people towards sensitivity and empathy for those who apparently don't "respect" the standards of attractiveness of the society in which we live. A victim of fat shaming, named Shelly Proebstel, posted a very vehement piece on the Bald and Beautiful Facebook page, where she told of what happened to her on the beach and urged people, in a few words, to stop making fun of those with a few kilos more:
"To the guys who pointed and laughed at me when I took off my sarong today at Mt Maunganui Beach, revealing my body and my bikini to the world, I just want to say: get a life! Fat people are so incredibly insecure about their body image, it's because of people like you that women in particular don't feel safe showing themselves in a bikini at the beach, or in a short dress, or with their navel on display. "
Shelly continued, putting in their places those people who had made her feel uncomfortable with their words and urging parents around the world: "Parents, I urge you to teach your children that there is no perfect body shape, but instead that there is a rainbow of wonderful bodies. I urge you to teach them not to stare directly at a stomach larger than they might be used to seeing on TV or in society, but instead to look at a person's face and into their eyes. I urge you to teach them to be kind to all kinds of people, regardless of their outward appearance. I urge you to teach your children to accept people for exactly who they are on the inside. And I urge you to teach your children to to be role models for those who are not taught this, and to be the positive change we need to see in the world."
Shelley's words on Facebook have had extraordinary success, with hundreds of thousands of users from all over the world who have shared her photos on the beach, enthusiastically supporting the words of this woman who is no longer ashamed to show herself in front of anyone.
Keep it up, Shelly!
