If People Were Honest About Women's Bodies

It's an unfortunate truth about the world that people feel justified in talking about other people's bodies a lot, especially when the "other people" in question are women. But now Buzzfeed has a video mocking our obsession with ridiculous beauty standards by showing us what it would sound like if people were actually honest when they engaged in this type of behavior. Spoiler: They sound ridiculous.

We're living a time when plenty of people are pushing back against unrealistic beauty standards — as well they should; when "plus size" mannequins are still smaller than the average American woman, something seriously has to give. And yet, for all that lots of people are talking about how ridiculous our ideas about appearance and body size are, these ideas are still embedded deep in our culture and our psyches. Which I guess is why body policing behavior is still so prevalent.

There are, of course, extreme examples of this, like writers who use their platform for fat shaming, even though plenty of studies show that fat shaming is counterproductive and cruel. But there are also many more mundane instances — the people who give you a "compliment" on your weight that just make you feel awkward, the friend who asks if you've considered dieting, your mother's pointed questions about your eating habits, the acquaintance who always asks if you've lost weight.

Thankfully, Buzzfeed is here to remind us what those people are really saying when they talk to us about our bodies. Because when you think about it, all those comments are pretty twisted and messed up.