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It’s National Eating Disorders Awareness Week and YouBeauty is publishing articles to educate our readers on eating disorders and how to get help.
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Update 3/11/15 at 8:50am: Due to backlash and the petition created by the group Endangered Bodies (which gained over 10,000 signatures), Facebook has removed the “I Feel Fat” and “I Feel Ugly” status options, E! online reports. This change comes merely two weeks after the petition was created, and it’s safe to say we’re all thankful for the change.
Original Post:
Did you know that Facebook currently enables “ugly” and “fat” emoticons for your status updates? The social network has made it so easy to boldly announce to everyone that after throwing back a few too many Cosmos last night, you’re bloated and feeling badly about yourself. But did you really need to share that? Will putting this negative sentiment out on social media make you feel any better? No. All it really does is make it easier to chip away at your self-esteem — and maybe pass on some of that negativity to your friends.
Thankfully, two women who were disgusted by Facebook’s “I Feel Fat” and “I Feel Ugly” status options and emoticons recently started a petition to remove them. The pressure to be perfect is already amplified by how people portray their lives on social media (there’s no way she did all those Pinterest DIYs, right?!), so we don’t need these “fat” and “ugly” options to make it even easier to put ourselves down.
If you agree that this is simply another form of body-shaming that we really don’t need in our lives, join in asking Facebook to reconsider the emoticons and status updates by signing the petition here.
