How bad is body shaming?
There's something I feel strongly about, and that is shaming or ridiculing someone for their looks/ weight/ height/ colour of skin/ age/ social standing/ English speaking abilities and sundry other reasons. I have faced weight shaming in my adolescence, and it has left quite a mark on me. I was called moti, or plump, and wasn't included in hip circles. In college, I used to dress in salwar kameez, so I was labelled a behenji. When I donned skirt and top for a role in a college play, the girls went wow at my open hair, hip look. What a transformation, they said. Why don't you always dress like this? Because I value comfort over looks, I wanted to say. Because my mother only buys me traditional clothes. Because I travel to college in a DTC bus where leers and sundry "touching" were the normal routine. And even after covering up so much, I feel so exposed. But I couldn't say all this, and just kept quiet, gloating in the praise and acceptance of my trendy class