We all have our own ways of fighting back against body shaming. It’s important to be reminded that you’re worth more than what you weigh or how you physically look, and celebrities like Demi Lovato, Camila Mendes, and recently, The Good Place star Jameela Jamil have all called out unrealistic and harmful beauty standards. In fact, Jameela has been going full speed ahead for the last month, calling out body and weight shaming left and right.
In February, Jameela took a stand against messaging that people are only worth as much as their weight. After seeing an Instagram post (which has since been taken down) featuring a group photo of all the Kardashian-Jenner women with the amount each woman apparently weighs written alongside them with an awful caption, Jameela made a point of calling out that negative behavior.
In an Instagram story, Jameela expressed her outrage and disgust, asking, "Who gives a F*CK what weight you are?" and "What is this toxic bullsh*t?" After her rant on the issue, Jameela posted another story where she uploaded a mirror selfie and listed all of the positive ways she measures her worth that have nothing to do with her weight. "I weigh: Lovely relationship. Great friends. I laugh every day. I love my job. I make an honest living. I'm financially independent. I speak out for women's rights. I like my bingo wings. I like myself in spite of EVERYTHING I've been taught by the media to hate myself about. F*cking KG," the story read. Her Instagram rant was accompanied by a Tweet where she said, “I’m on the war path.”
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After inspiring others to share how they positively measure their worth in things besides weight, Jameela began her own Instagram account to pay tribute to those responses. The account, called “I Weigh,” is full of pictures of people from all backgrounds with words on their pictures that describe how they “measure” themselves.
According to the bio on the Instagram story, Jameela’s movement is “for women to feel valuable and see how amazing they are, and look beyond the flesh on their bones.” In one of the posts that features the actress herself, Jameela wrote in the caption, “I am just done with women not seeing how amazing they are because they don’t meet society’s beauty standards.”
[#instagram: https://www.instagram.com/p/BgY9LnKjUJ8/?taken-by=i_weigh ]
And Jameela definitely has the right idea. In the U.S., approximately 20 million women suffer from an eating disorder at some point in their lives, according to the National Eating Disorders Association (NEDA). Many people don’t even seek treatment for many reasons, including shame and stigma, which makes Jameela’s quest to show people there are so many ways to love yourself even more important. Jameela’s new Instagram account serves as a much-needed reminder for people of all ages, sizes, and backgrounds that they are worth more than the number on the scale.
If you are struggling with an eating disorder and are in need of support, please call the National Eating Disorders Association Helpline at 1-800-931-2237. For a 24-hour crisis line, text “NEDA” to 741741.
Related: More Than Half of LGBTQ Youth Have an Eating Disorder, Survey Shows
