Body and Health
Skinny Shaming: Words to Avoid
If you don’t want to be a dick
I mean, maybe you do want to be a dick, in which case you can ignore this. But if you’re invested in not inadvertently body-shaming people, here are some words and phrases commonly used to describe thin people that aren’t as innocuous as they seem.
Stick/rail thin
I’m not a stick. Or a rail, for that matter. I’m a person. Does anyone enjoy being compared to an inanimate object? It’s dehumanising. If you wouldn’t call someone “dump truck fat”, don’t call anyone “stick thin”.
Boyish
No offence to anyone who doesn’t identify with the gender they were assigned at birth, but I do. I’m a woman, so I’ll thank you for not calling me otherwise.
Besides, it’s never “mannish” is it? Not that it would be much better, but “boyish” is just a more tactful version of that old chestnut, “she has the body of a teenage boy”.
There’s a hint of homophobia to it too — people who trot out the tired line that models are so slim because “designers are all gay men who prefer teenage boys” can get in the bin. So not only are you saying that gay men are so unprofessional they can’t separate their personal preferences from their job, but you’re implying…
