The Tia Mowry Effect: The Easy Way Body Shaming Can End For Good

Tia Mowry has gotten tired of the question women everywhere are asked all the time: “Are you pregnant?”

And she’s not having it.

“I am not pregnant, I am just happy,” the actress eloquently stated.

Can I get an amen?

Mowry is one of many celebrities who has begun to speak out about body-shaming.

Yes, this question is a form of body shaming.

In the land of social media, every body is fair game.

There are commenters who troll the web for opportunities to shame someone for how they look and the size of their bodies.

Of course, women are targeted more frequently than men, simply because beauty standards for women have been so rigidly defined. The beauty myth has been further perpetuated with the advent of photoshop.

The quest to be perfect has led us down a dark road, to a place where women are attacked for being “too big” or “too small.”

Unfortunately, the perfect body concept is planted long before adulthood.

Statistics reveal 70 percent of American girls in grades 5 through 12 report images in magazines guided their idea of the perfect body shape.

We live in an age where seeing unedited versions of a women in magazines and advertisements is unheard of.

There's now a call for change is echoing through the stratosphere. Women everywhere are sharing pictures of themselves in their natural states, with no makeup and no filter. Hashtags promoting body-love are trending daily.

“Why can’t we just be us?” Tia Mowry asked.

The female body is diverse, it always has been. Women come in many different shapes and sizes.

Full figures are not new. The waif look is not a 21st-century anomaly. This is how it has always been.

And for the record, carrying extra weight does not mean that a woman is pregnant.

We grow, shift and change all the time.

Our body types are dictated by genetics, environment and circumstances. It is time we stop measuring ourselves against these fictitious yardsticks.

But how do we do this? Tia Mowry says:

We need to be more supportive with body images, especially with women, showing that all sizes are beautiful. And I’m talking about in magazines, advertisements, in regards to what’s sexy and not sexy. We all need to be a little more supportive of each other. I think if we start there, we’ll see a difference.

The focus on appearance is not going to go away anytime soon. But before we can begin to unravel the complicated web of body-shaming others, we must change the way we speak to ourselves.

There is not a body-shamer alive who actually feels good about his or herself. Because if he or she did, that person would not feel the need to shame someone else.

The most horrific body shaming campaign is not happening on the Internet, it’s happening in the mirror.

The most damaging body-shamer is you.

Unless we can stop picking apart at the person who stares back at us in the mirror, there is no hope of stopping the body shame epidemic from continuing to spread.

Self-acceptance is where it all begins.

The relationships we have with others is merely a reflection of the relationship we are having with ourselves. The conversation must shift internally first.

Start by showing your least favorite body part some love.

Give props to those juicy thighs that do an amazing job of propelling you forward each day.

Speak words of gratitude to your soft belly or your thin arms for sticking around when you have been less than kind.

You can share your body love pic on your favorite social media site using the #ThisIsSOMEBody hashtag.