Body-Shaming Is A Universal Issue, This Hashtag Hopes To Change That

'Muscles on women aren't attractive.'
valentinrussanov via Getty Images

Whether you’re fat, thin, tall, short or somewhere in between, if you’re a woman, it’s almost a given that at some point someone will body-shame you.

For decades, women have been told they must look a certain way thanks to the one dimensional (and often Photoshopped) idea of beauty perpetuated by the media.

As a result, friends, family and complete strangers feel the need to point out our “imperfections”, sometimes without even realising how hurtful their words are.

To highlight this, women have been sharing the unsolicited comments that others made about their bodies using the hashtag #TheySaid.

It was started by Sally Bergesen, who posted a body-shaming comment she received from her dad at the age of 12 and encouraged others to share their experiences.


It wasn’t long before hundreds of other women used the hashtag to show that, unfortunately, body-shaming is a universal experience.

But the #TheySaid movement isn’t just about airing comments from the past.

After her initial tweet went viral, Bergesen challenged women to tweet the messages they wish they’d given their body-shamers, to help “arm our girls” of the future.

Here are some of their awesome responses. We’ll be remembering these from now on 🙌

Serena Willliams

Our Body Image Heroes

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