Our media is full of biases when it comes to body representation. These prejudices are evident and noticeable as we grow older & as adults, we have the ability to call out these problematic behaviours and ignore them, but it's much harder for kids to do that. #COMN3517

Children's media often depict bigger body types in a negative light and describe bigger characters in a villainous fashion. #COMN3517

Most of the kids' media have fat-shaming content. This is harmful to kids considering their minds are at a stage where they will absorb anything shown to them w/o questioning it. Have you been confronted with weight biases in kids' media? How did you feel watching it? #COMN3517

According to Sara Leo (2016), by using negative attributes for fat characters, people in real life, kids in particular, will start attributing these negative traits to actual human beings. This often leads to bullying and alienation among kids. #COMN3517

These kids then grow up to be adults who will start reinforcing their fat-shaming ideologies onto their kids, hence becoming a never-ending cycle of biased teachings and learnings. #COMN3517

In a research conducted by Erica Goode (1999), it was discovered that a higher percentage of young girls started to develop eating disorders when media idolizing skinny people was presented to them. #COMN3517

Along with eating disorders, weight bias can also induce depression, anxiety, distress, low self-esteem, and body dissatisfaction. #COMN3517

In order to stop making children feel bad for their bodies, there needs to be proper representation for all body types. While some of the newer shows are body inclusive, we still have a long way to go to if we wish to make everyone feel accepted #COMN3517