As Told By Simba

Belittling the size 0

According the NBC news, 69% of Americans over the age of 20 are overweight or obese. There are numerous articles out there promoting good body image. They focus on losing weight, being comfortable with the weight that you are currently at, promoting curves, and coping with eating disorders. And they're great! There are also many inspiring articles about being proud of your beautiful curves! All of those things are completely valid and I support them. Furthermore, I support accepting everyone for the body that they have, and loving everyone no matter what they look like!

Including the skinny people. With all the promotion of curvy bodies, somehow the skinny ones were roughly pushed into the gutter.

Today, I propose equality between all body types.

I am 21 years old, and I am naturally skinny. I'm 5-foot 3.5-inches, 108 pounds, putting me at a BMI of 19, and [somewhat unfortunately] also in the 31% of my age group that is not overweight or obese. Unfortunately for me and the rest of the 31% of people, there is a lot of negativity associated with being skinny.

Just recently, there was an article circulating around the internet about Cosmo's new plus sized model. There was a huge uproar about how "nobody is that skinny!" Well... I'm that skinny, maybe even more, and while I don't care who magazines used for their models at all, I do care that my existence is ignored and/or harassed by the general public. It's a little bit like when restaurants don't carry gluten-free food for the gluten-intolerant population, or when a store doesn't carry dark enough make up for your skin tone. There's a whole population of us skinny bodies out there but "nobody is that skinny..."

A lot of people think that there's something wrong with us. It starts with "You're so skinny!" and this is when I cringe like "Crap, somebody else noticed..." Then it goes on to "You're too skinny!" then "You need to eat more" and "Stop exercising so much" and finally the hushed, critical, "She probably has an eating disorder..."

Okay, first off:

Maybe these people don't realize that it's offensive to tell someone's they're too skinny, unless you are their doctor. Do you ever tell people that they're too fat? Probably not, that's taboo in our society. But criticize their skinniness? Oh sure! Because somehow criticizing others for having a different kind of body type is okay if they're only "too skinny."

Second off:

I love food. I love every kind of food. I eat food all the time. In fact, my hunger switch turns to "STARVING" every three hours. And then I eat! Then my metabolism burns it off before the day is over. I'm that person that has to make sure she buys extra food with high caloric content at the store if I start to work out, because otherwise I'll burn too many calories. Trust me, I have a very special relationship with all six meals I eat every day. So no, I'm definitely not anorexic, or bulimic, nor do I suffer from any other eating disorder. My "problem" here is a high metabolism. But I should not have to blame my high metabolism for being skinny. I like my body the way it is! I deserve to just be happy with my body, just like everyone else - whether they be in the 31% group or the 69% group.

Compare these two scenarios:

1) You go out to dinner. You order the delicious food that you want, and you're really excited to eat it. Then your friend points out that you probably should have ordered a salad, because that greasy avocado bacon burger is going to go straight to your hips, and you don't want that...

2) You go out to dinner. You order the delicious food that you want, and you're really excited to eat it. Then your friend points out that you should have ordered something larger because you need to eat more, and maybe you want to eat some of her pasta too, because obviously that greasy avocado bacon burger isn't going to be enough to put real meat on your skinny bones.

In both of these situations, it is implied that something is wrong with your body type, and unfortunately one of them happens more permissibly than the other.

In today's society, it's popular to complain about petty things, like how you look.

Your shape or weight or buying bigger clothes are hot topics during pity parties like this. Like Cady Heron, during these girly pity parties, I feel super out of place because I don't really have much to say about my body that would be a socially acceptable complaint. I can't complain about being too skinny without being insensitive or dramatic, and I can't help you feel better about your body without looking like a hypocrite. I know that you're thinking in your head "She doesn't know anything about having a bad body shape or going up a size, look how skinny she is and she's been that way her whole life!"

As a result of this continuous recusant attitude, I chronically feel awkward because I can't safely say anything in body pity parties; uncomfortable changing in the locker room or my dorm because someone will see how thin I am; shy going shopping with my girlfriends because I'll have to admit that I wear a size 0 in jeans; and guilty when someone notices that I shamelessly ate three pieces of cheesecake at that party, and so on. I feel like I have to keep my body type on the DL in the same way that self-conscious, curvier people do. It makes me feel like I am the source of everyone else's low self esteem, which in turn gives me low self esteem about my own body image. Which isn't fair to either of us.

I understand that the hating on skinny people probably isn't your fault. It's most likely the media's. They've spent millions of dollars conditioning every man, woman, and child into thinking that the skinny body is the desirable kind. Look at Rachel Frederickson, a winner of the popular show, The Biggest Loser. She lost 155 pounds on this show and got that skinny body. Good for her if that's what she wants! She can be what the media tells her she should be now! She can be the unashamed, bikini-ready, confident size 0 woman that everyone is supposed to secretly want to be! Except, if you read the tweets below the article, instead of being happy for her and just letting her be, many people are now criticizing her and telling her that she's suddenly too skinny.

The moral of the story is you can't win, no matter how much you weigh. Society has socialized everyone to simply being uncomfortable with their body, no matter what size you wear.

So why can't we all just be friends? We're all losers in the battle to have our body be accepted, no matter what side of the spectrum. Why can't we all just love each other for who we are, and the shapes we are, and the personalities we are, and get over it? We're different, but so what? We weren't made to be the same. But we are all people and deserve to be treated as such.

As John Fischer put it, "Let's assume that each person has an equal opportunity, not to become equal, but to become different. To realize whatever unique potential of body, mind, and spirit he or she possesses."

Now go eat that cupcake no matter what you look like. We all deserve one.

Once upon a time, you take PDBIO 220 at BYU, with the lab. When you sign up, you have maybe heard of its difficult and time-consuming content, but you're still not that worried about it. Whatever.

Just in case you want to be more prepared, here is a more accurate description of what anatomy class does to you:
This is your first day in lab:

After hours and hours and HOURS of open lab studying, you end up like this:

This is what studying so hard does to your personality:

Your reputation as a nerd increases significantly. Your friends just think you're smart because you can use big words.

The longer you're in class, the more you feel like a doctor.

And, by the end of the class, after ALL of this studying, and you are SO ready to ace this final... if you're like me, you just forget everything you ever knew.