Body shaming and insulting students’ appearances can negatively affect students. Insulting students’ appearances is usually swept under the rug as jokes. However, these “jokes” can affect a person’s mental well-being.

“I have been body-shamed in school both by a teacher and students and it makes you feel unwelcome in your school environment and may cause somebody to try to change their appearance in order to appease others,” Sophomore Mia Bayarena stated.

Stories like Bayarena’s show how body-shaming and judging students based on looks and appearances can make them feel unwelcome and ashamed. Comments like these have the potential to make students feel upset or ashamed, which is why some students believe derogatory comments should be left out of school. Furthermore, these comments can influence students’ mental health and cause issues for students down the line such as depression, anxiety, and other mental disorders.

“I think body-shaming is wrong because it can affect students’ mental health and lead to eating disorders,” Freshman Jazzelle Dominguez stated.

Many students like Dominguez agree that body-shaming is wrong because of how it can make students feel. Other students, however, disagree because they believe that body shaming and insulting is just a joke.

“I personally think body-shaming is taken too seriously. It should not matter what others think of you. It should not bother you because you are your own person. So therefore, you should just not listen to them,” Freshman Keshav Harpal stated.

Some students say that body-shaming is taken too seriously sometimes. Most of the students who agree with this sentiment are not as emotionally wounded by body-shaming as others are. To these students, insults can be easily brushed off without being thought about too much. To other students, however, it is not as simple as just ignoring these comments.

“Body-shaming goes for everyone, I do not think overweight people are the only ones who face that discrimination,” Freshman Lauren Jorda stated.

While body-shaming towards underweight people is addressed, there is no denying that it is taken less seriously in comparison to body-shaming directed at overweight people. This is ironic however, because body-shaming has the same effect on an underweight person as it does on an overweight person. Body-shaming anyone is mentally anguishing to students.

“Body-shaming can really shape how we see ourselves and the impact can be long lasting,” Jorda stated.