“Boys like curves, not skeletons,” “Put some meat on those bones,” “What butt, I don’t see anything,” “You have the chest of your dad.” These are just a few examples of things people have said to me regarding my appearance. And yet people still believe that skinny shaming does not exist. “It’s just thin people asking for attention.” Our society has moved into a culture that shames so many body types that nobody’s really sure what the ideal one is.

For most of my life I was fine with my body. I knew I had always been slightly underweight, but I never saw anything wrong with it. Until I was 12, I liked my body. However, in the 7th grade, one of my supposed “friends” at the time told me that boys like curves, not skeletons.” That was the moment that started a fire that would slowly burn away my confidence. I began hearing more and more about how skinny girls weren’t beautiful, how I looked unhealthy, etc.

By the 8th grade I was longing to gain weight. I have never been able to break 100 pounds. If I even hit 100, it would be after weeks of bingeing on pizza and ice cream. I had no way to control my weight, just like everyone else. Yet for some reason people still seemed to target thin people. Songs like “Anaconda” and “All About that Base” started coming out, specifically saying that boys don’t like skinny girls, skinny girls aren’t as good, and so on. Yet people still said that skinny shaming wasn’t real.

People began labeling certain body types as “anorexic” and began forcing me to eat more. When I would take a small serving of food, people would scoff and force me to take more, only for me to throw it away later. The body I once loved was becoming the thing I hated the most.

Skinny shaming exists just as much as fat shaming. Society has evolved to pit girls against girls. No matter if you’re 300 pounds or 95, you’re still worth living and you do not deserve to hate your body. We need to start loving ourselves and stop listening to outside opinions.

If you’re happy with your body, good. Keep it that way. If you’re unhappy, change it. It’s your body, do what you want. In no way do you have to impress anyone. Just be yourself and love it.