# Body Shaming Body Shaming is the online practice of mocking someone for their body type, covering fat shaming, fit shaming, and thin shaming. It grew out of 4chan ridicule of overweight users in the late 2000s and became a mainstream debate topic by the mid-2010s, driven by flashpoints like the Protein World Tube ad and Reddit's ban of /r/FatPeopleHate. ## Overview Body Shaming describes the online practice of mocking someone for how their body looks. The label covers three flavors, fat shaming, fit shaming, and thin shaming, though fat shaming is by far the most discussed variant in meme circles[3]. Urban Dictionary users defined body shaming as 'the act of discriminating against other body types'[4]. The term picked up steam alongside the fat acceptance movement, which pushed back on internet mockery of overweight people[5]. That pushback triggered its own counter-reaction from lifting and fitness communities, who started complaining about 'fit shaming' aimed at muscular bodies. By the mid-2010s, every viral weight-loss ad or celebrity bikini photo drew the accusation from one direction or the other. ## How It Spread On May 17th, 2012, YouTuber Laci Green uploaded 'Fat Shame,' a video defending the HAES approach and criticizing the pejorative use of the word. In its first two years the upload passed 830,000 views and 6,500 comments[1]. That November, Redditor HughMerlin posted 'SwoleHate/Shaming on FB' to /r/swoleacceptance, sharing insults directed at a muscular couple and giving 'fit shaming' its first repeatable Reddit reference point[3]. Real-world flashpoints piled up fast: September 2012's 'Fit Mom' controversy over Maria Kang's 'What's your excuse?' Facebook photo, 4chan's January 2014 'Operation Bikini Bridge' campaign, and April 2015's Protein World 'Beach Body Ready' Tube ad in London, which anti-body-shaming activists defaced and reported[5]. March 2015 also produced #FindDancingMan, a Twitter search for Sean O'Brien after he was mocked on 4chan for dancing at a concert. The peak flashpoint came on June 10th, 2015, when Reddit banned /r/FatPeopleHate, a 150,000-subscriber subreddit built around mocking overweight users. Angry users spammed replacement subreddits, front-paged criticism of CEO Ellen Pao, and left over 28,600 comments on the ban announcement within 24 hours[2]. Two years later, South African plus-size model Lesego Legobane's flat 'I don't like you' reply to a viral 'girl I like vs. girls who like me' tweet drew more than 310,000 retweets. ## Frequently Asked Questions ### What is Body Shaming? Body Shaming is the practice of mocking or insulting someone for their body type, defined by Urban Dictionary as 'the act of discriminating against other body types'[4]. ### Where did Body Shaming come from? Online ridicule of overweight users started on 4chan around 2007, and the debate went mainstream once Laci Green's 2012 'Fat Shame' video crossed 830,000 views on YouTube[1]. ### What does Body Shaming mean? The term applies to any body-type mockery, whether the target is overweight, muscular, or thin, and it carries an implied criticism of that mockery[4]. ### How do you use Body Shaming? It's usually deployed as an accusation aimed at ads or forum content that mocks physiques. Reddit banned the /r/FatPeopleHate subreddit in June 2015 partly for that kind of harassment[2]. ### Is Body Shaming still popular? Discussion peaked in the mid-2010s around the June 2015 /r/FatPeopleHate ban that removed a 150,000-subscriber subreddit for harassment[2], and body-image debate is still a fixture of online discourse. ## References 1. [https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8XhTA4xOxCc]() 2. [https://www.reddit.com/r/announcements/comments/39bpam/removing_harassing_subreddits/]() 3. [https://knowyourmeme.com/memes/body-shaming]() 4. [https://www.urbandictionary.com/define.php?term=Body%20Shaming]() 5. [https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Body_shaming]() --- Source: https://meme.com/memes/body-shaming Published by meme.com — The Internet Meme Library