She Gets Body Shamed, Too

Body shaming takes many forms, and this week E! News anchor Giuliana Rancic confessed that even she isn't immune. Rancic told HuffPost Live that she gets lots of “eat a sandwich” type comments online, with people saying that she’s too thin, that she clearly doesn’t eat and that she needs to gain weight,

“I’m lucky,” she says. “I have a faster metabolism.” And actually, she tells the interviewer, since surviving breast cancer she eats more food and less healthy food than ever because life is just too short to get lost in counting calories.

While Rancic’s casual attitude is absolutely great — she nonchalantly says that “[she] know[s] the truth” and “there are crazier things to be worried about” — the whole notion of a woman being bullied online about her weight, whether people think that weight is too heavy or too light, is still disturbing.

On the one hand, I tend to roll my eyes anytime thin people start talking about how the world discriminates against them. There are thin-specific issues thin people have to deal with, but there is not a system of discrimination in place. On the other hand, we definitely live in a world in which people feel entitled to talk about, criticize, and claim they know what’s best for women’s bodies. And that is not okay.

Why do people on the internet feel entitled to tell Rancic what her body needs? Why do they feel that this woman’s body is any of their business? And what in the world makes them think they know what would be best for her health?

Just as some people feel entitled to shame women for being overweight, others feel the right to shame women for being too thin. At the heart of the problem is the simple fact that we as a culture don't seem to get the idea that a woman's body is hers to do with as she likes. From abortion to slut-shaming to victim blaming to telling someone to hit the gym or eat a sandwich, we are all still fighting to convince the world that our bodies are our own, and no one has the right to tell any woman what to do with hers.