Jocelyn Ramirez and Rachel Stagi contacted Lion Tales regarding a survey they gave out to students here at Lincoln. They wanted to spread awareness of Body Shaming, and try to prevent this at Lincoln. Two of Mr. Christian’s English classes took this anonymous survey and gave their honest opinion. Here are the anonymous responses from the survey.

I am a

In this chart you see that 23 respondents were female and 7 were male.

Have you yourself ever felt insecure about yourself?

In this chart, 24 respondents said yes to being insecure about themselves while 5 said no.

Have you ever been body shamed by your peers?

Has this affected your self-esteem?

In this chart 15 respondents said body shame has affected their self-esteem, while 11 said it had not.

Do you feel like body shaming is a problem at Lincoln?

Here, 12 respondents said body shaming is a problem at Lincoln, while 18 said it is not a problem.

Have you ever taken a stand for yourself or another person experiencing body shaming?

In this chart, 21 respondents have taken a stand for themselves or someone else, while 9 said no.

Do you know someone who has been body shamed?

Here 25 respondents said yes to knowing someone who had been body shamed, while 5 did not know someone.

Along with the survey, they were asked some free response questions. Here are a few of the responses.

Do you feel like body shaming has affected your dietary habits? How?

• Yes, it a main factor that contributes to anorexia
• I take into consideration at the moment that I should start working out or eating less but then it goes away and I no longer care. But it always comes and goes.
• Yes, I’ve decided to watch what I eat since you have to be skinny to be pretty and perfect
• Yes, because it results in girls or guys forcing themselves to throw up their food in order to become skinnier

Tell us about an experience where you or another person has been body shamed?

• When I was younger I was told I was fat by other kids and that I was really bad at sports, and kids at school now will randomly comment on my skin being bad or how tired I look all the time.
•  Many people have commented on how skinny I am which puts lots of pressure on me to STAY skinny. Also whenever I dress in like a crop top and high waisted pants some people like to comment how I’m dressed “slutty” which is really not okay at all. While it’s not a personal experience, one time my friend was wearing a low cut top and this guy started yelling at her and telling her how she should cover up and he was basically objectifying her and calling a slut just because of a shirt.
• Well last year I had dropped a lot of weight (I’m at a normal weight now but still pretty skinny) for unknown reasons and my uncle’s wife (who isn’t exactly the skinniest woman ever), kept telling me to eat and gain weight because I looked anorexic. I truthfully didn’t care but my dad stepped in and told her off and she had nothing to say.

Based on these 30 responses, we can say that 25  have been victims of body shame growing up, which is a huge problem. Remember that actions speak louder than words. If you see someone who is being rude and body shaming someone take a stand.

At Lincoln, students can text (408) 345-5051 to report harassment or bullying anytime they see it or experience it themselves.