The immediate reaction of a person when I call myself fat is, “You are not fat. Do not say that!” Well, let me break it down. The actual definition of fat is ‘having excess amounts of flesh on the body’. I think the reason why people tend to respond with that statement is because “fat people” are given the label of ugly by society. Nowhere in the dictionary or in any definition does it say, “being fat makes you ugly.” Society idealizes the “perfect” body to be slim or lean. From a young age, we see models that are tall and thin and beautiful. Therefore, this is ingrained in the minds of society that models or famous actors are the way humans are supposed to look, anything bigger could be considered ugly.

Unfortunately, kids and adults are shamed for how they look and this usually causes eating disorders. The “idealized body” makes people who are bigger feel like there is something is wrong with them or nobody will like them. There is no perfect body and there never will be.

So many people around the world struggle with their appearance of being fat or even being skinny. This shows that there can never be a “perfect” body type because no one is, in fact, perfect. People of our world have been brainwashed by the media to believe a socially acceptable body is thin.

Especially with women and girls, we are supposed to look a certain way. This creates a lot a pressure on young girl such as me. I have learned to accept my body the way it is, but I know that does not stand for many other girls. It is so sad to see young girls think that they are ugly because they cannot compare to the idealized body. Personally, I have seen girls attending my elementary school not eat lunch, causing the school to make sure every girl brought or bought a lunch. To see that from twelve and thirteen year olds is heartbreaking. The reality is: no one is perfect and every human on this earth is fallible. It’s time that humans stop idealizing perfect bodies and start accepting reality.