Calum Greenhill from Edinburgh was driven to stand up for his body shape after a lifetime of negative comments and being made to ‘doubt’ his body in a culture obsessed with a preconceived notion of perfection.
Read the inspiring post HEREand below.
He writes:
"I barely ever blog, yet I have something I absolutely need to get off my chest. I have always struggled to feel comfortable with my body. For as long as I can remember, I have been told that I am too skinny and that I need to put weight on. Growing up in a culture obsessed with the human body is difficult, especially with the amount of advertising of the “Perfect body” in the media. If you’re a girl, you need to be tall, skinny and fair. For men you should be tall, muscly and dark. These are the images that dominate the media. Yet unfortunately, there is a certain level of acceptance of this. Personally I do not think that it should be accepted. Even the backlash against some of these images and stereotypes is negative in nature. It’s almost turned into a culture of skinny shaming. So I ask the question, “As a guy, what is wrong with being skinny?”
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"I remember weighing myself (I think people should know their own weight) in a “Boots” store when I was 17. I was asked whether I was getting the help I needed for my weight issue by two elderly women (They didn’t work for the store, they were customers like myself). It made me feel terrible about myself, it made me doubt my own body. I felt as if there was something wrong with me, because I basically don’t put on weight easily (despite how much I can eat… just ask anyone who has had to sit through lunch with me).
"I have never been to a gym; it has never been something that has really appealed to me. I also (despite the fact that I was forced into it by my parents and the education system) could not care about being involved in sport. My interests have always been elsewhere. Despite this being a completely valid reason for not taking part in these activities, I do feel like I am made to feel a lesser person because of it.
"It has bothered me far more than I would like to admit. I got to the point that I would absolutely hate showing my body to other people, especially guys. I felt as if I was being judged because I didn’t strive to achieve the images that sport stars provide us. And on some level I probably was. I felt as if I was judged for not taking part in sport, that my lack of participation diminished my masculinity. And there are probably guys out there who believe this to be true. Even when it comes to attending the gym (which as I mentioned I do not attend) I am made to feel as if I don’t care about my health. I am also asked to whether I eat or not, whether I have an eating disorder. The people who think this are entitled to their opinion. They are entitled to continue to make the choices that they do in life. Most importantly- they are entitled to feel comfortable in their bodies, as no one deserves to feel as if they are not good enough.
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"The human body is the ultimate display of sex. My issue is that I am never going to achieve these images that are forced on us by the media. The bigger issue is that these images are so far removed from the realities of many bodies that all they are going to do is create self-esteem issues. Fortunately I have finally been able to accept what I have been given and I no longer feel embarrassment about myself. I am likely to always have a skinny body; it just seems to be the way I am built. I now refuse to allow others to make me feel bad about that. I should not feel bad about something that is completely natural for me.
"The problem actually isn't my weight, or my body shape. The problem is how every single person who has mentioned this has made me (and others) feel. The problem is that people think that only a few shapes of the human body should be tolerated by society. The problem is the lack of diversity of body shapes in the media."
Have you had similar experiences to Calum? Share with us in the comments box below.