Recently, I saw a performance by Sarah Millican, a female British stand-up comedian. When asked about her decision to pursue a career in comedy, she explained,"People were always making fun of me, so I thought, why not just charge them a bit of money." In response to the body shaming, she cleverly and wittily counters the vitriol by embracing those parts of herself that are not accepted by mainstream thought.
The shamed part is like a tiger tooth, it does stand out slightly in a kind of neatly aligned tooth. But it's not a bad seed, it's part of the tooth. Someone will rack their brains to straighten it. They will go to the best dentist they can find in order to adjust this tiny, insignificant tooth a little bit of degree so that it can sit side by side with the other teeth. Someone will let it grow because this tooth makes them different when they smile. It's a different kind of beauty, a gift from God when he created them. So, after countless days and nights, they gladly accept it and look at it, embrace it and appreciate it as a part of themselves.
Women never seem to escape being scrutinized, judged, and body-shamed because of various so-called "stereotypes". I'm an Asian girl and grow up in China. A child's sense of self-worth often begins to take shape around the age of 8 or 9.My classmates teased me because of my dark skin color, and they nicknamed me "Blackie". Gradually, more and more people I didn't know began to call me that, even my favorite teacher. So I lost myself in self-criticism over and over again, sinking into others' criticisms and comparing myself to others. Women's beauty is confined to other people's standards.As a kid, I had the misconception that a dark skin tone disqualified a person from being beautiful. I was not beautiful and never could be. I wasn't able to realize that it was humiliating, but took it for granted. So I chose to accept it in silence, and when people called me "Blackie," I said yes as a matter of course. My mother said that when she asked me if I was doing well in school, I would say yes, and that my classmates loved to joke around. Unbeknownst to me, these jokes subconsciously exacerbated my low self-esteem. When my peers were trying on beautiful clothes in bright colors, I would first think of clothes that could make my skin look brighter. I didn't dare to wear dresses, afraid of other people's stares, afraid of the camera that suddenly came up, afraid of showing myself. It seemed as if it wasn't the people who laughed at me who were at fault, but rather the fact that I was born with a skin color that was just a little bit darker than theirs. Even after removing myself from the people and place where I had spent my childhood, I was unable to silence the voices. They followed me, bound me so tightly I couldn't move. I tried to get away several times, but each time the voices kept me captive.Low self-esteem had taken root deep inside, and I never dared to look directly at the camera, not believing in the sincere compliments I received from others.
But when I started to read, to paint, to do what I loved, my mind would gradually relax. I would immerse myself in the moment and forget about the so-called voices. When I stepped into high school, stepped into the international department, all kinds of students, their talk, their self-confidence, subconsciously affect me. They also affected the inferiority of the little man in my heart. Regardless of fat or thin, regardless of skin color, black and white, tall or short, they are like blooming flowers, showing their own beauty, so that the place that was once broken in my heart, and sprouted a small bud. Wrapping the scars of my past, gently.
Similarly, there are even more people on social media platforms who are badmouthing women's bodies. Bard, a plus-size model with 2.3 million TikTok followers, recently declared in a video that she was going to quit documenting her health journey on the app due to a slew of netizens body-shaming her and commenting on how many pounds she's gained recently, etc. And these comments have been harmful to her mental health. Her original intention of sharing was just to make her diet healthier and monitor her exercise, but things went in an uncontrollable direction. In the face of humiliation, she stopped her sharing in time. Her health journey was now her own, and nobody else had any business commenting on it. I can't imagine the anticipation she felt when she worked up the courage to share her journey, and the disappointment of being shamed. She smiled at the Victoria's Secret World Tour, she shone so brightly, but she was also humiliated when Khloe Kardashian told her "You are perfection just as you are. Eactly as you come. In all phases, you are perfection. Never forget that your soul sparkles, you smile is magic and your heart is pure."
If I could go back in time and meet me when I was 7 or 8, I would give my younger self a big embrace and tell her she is lovely and born to be alive.
So don't worry about those tiny tiger teeth. Say no to body shaming, everyone is perfect and they were born with their own beauty. Embracing yourself and loving yourself is what life has been about for ages.