Day By Day Fat shaming gets prevalent in India: Double XL

Recently, a minister in the southern Indian state of Kerala took to Facebook to complain about fat shaming.

In a post in Malayalam, Education Minister V Sivankutty gave an example of body shaming.

A few days ago, when he shared a photo of several students posing with him, one person said he needed to “lose belly fat.”

The minister responded to the comments by calling body shaming a “disgusting practice.”

“Body shaming is bad, no matter how you explain it. This happens at many levels in our society. Many of us are victims of body shaming and even suffer psychologically,” he said.

“We need to stop body shaming. Let’s be modern people,” he said.

Sivankutty said the incident made him think about how poisoning can happen and “the state government will create awareness among students and teachers and make it a part of the school curriculum.”

The minister’s speech and the latest Bollywood movie Double XL highlighted fat shaming in India, where people are routinely discriminated against because of their appearance.

“I saw people with great talent, and passion discriminated against because of their weight. This is completely unacceptable.”

Critics say India’s popular Indian film industry, which influences and shapes public opinion, is guilty of perpetuating the notion that high wages and highs are beautiful.

The most successful actresses are tall, slim, and fair, and a few years ago, Bollywood actress Kareena Kapoor was reduced to ‘size zero.’

“It’s fine if people want to be a size zero because they want to look a certain way, but that shouldn’t be done to others,” Ramani said.

Through his film, he says he wants to tell people to “embrace your beauty no matter your shape, size or skin color” and that you “don’t have to fit the size or frame to be successful.”.

Double XL, a typical Bollywood film with a song-and-dance routine, did not do well commercially. Still, Mr. Ramani said he was glad that “people are talking about body shaming, which is an important topic all over the world.”

“Body shaming is not always exaggerated and negative, and it often does not come from a bad place – for example, if your parents talk about your weight, it comes from a place of worry and fear. But fat shaming can often be a wonderful trick. . The contradictions often arise in real life”.

Harnaaz Kaur Sandhu was crowned as Miss Universe in 2021, revealing how she was also not spared from body shaming. In an interview with the magazine, Harnaaz told how this affected her and how it felt on her skin. She also said that she suffers from celiac disease.

“But receiving ‘unsolicited obesity advice’ and some ‘random ladies calling girls fat’ is not a real problem, ‘fat people are seen as rude and lazy and may face discrimination in the job market.’

Many conversations about obesity have been about shaming fat people, but it also has a medico-socio-political dimension.

Fat shame can have severe social and psychological effects. Facing stigma every day affects self-esteem and mental health. It can lead to eating disorders and force them to withdraw socially and become more isolated.”

There are more than 135 million overweight and obese people in India, and government and World Health Organization (WHO) data show the numbers are steadily rising, with doctors warning of an “obesity epidemic” in India.

“There is a correlation — the higher the weight, the higher the risk of developing diabetes,” said Dr. Selvan. “But weight is not necessarily the result of bad lifestyle choices – it can result from several factors, including very complex diseases, hormones, and stress.” – (Source from BBC)

According to her, doctors should not embarrass their patients.

“We don’t shame or blame obese patients, but when I spoke to a group of people with diabetes about their experience in clinical consultation, many said they were embarrassed, which was the main reason for them.

“A doctor with raised eyebrows and eyebrows can send a patient running to the therapist.”

Also, a study says that 94% of teenage girls are ashamed of their bodies.

Fat shaming should not be tolerated under any circumstances and is unacceptable.

Fat shaming can be harmful to health, according to participants and researchers presented at the Canadian Obesity Conference in Ottawa in June 2019.