I had never heard of Dani Mathers until she came into the news this summer for body shaming a woman at her gym, L.A. Fitness, by taking a snapchat of her changing with the caption: “If I can’t unsee this, then you can’t either.” Mathers put the photo on her snapchat story and immediately was slammed by the media.
Like most people, I take great offense to what Mathers did. We have many campaigns now against body shaming, and the majority of people know how wrong it is, but once we feel like progress is being made, this shit happens.
One thing I’d like to point out is: this woman was AT THE GYM. So while her body wasn’t beautiful in Mathers eyes, this woman was obviously trying to live a healthy lifestyle by going to workout. Regardless, no one deserves to be made fun of this way, especially not at the gym. People are already afraid to go to the gym in fear that they’ll be shamed for the way they look. How screwed up is that? We have people who feel like they can’t better themselves by going to the gym because they’re afraid they’ll get made fun of. What kind of sick world is this that we live in?
This woman who Mathers shamed, had every right to be at that gym. Mathers DID NOT have the right to take a picture of her without her knowledge and without clothes. She certaintly did not have the right to publish it online and shame her.
Dani Mathers, I get that you’re a Playboy Bunny, and you were probably born with a flat stomach (though I know you weren’t born with those big breasts) and that you probably don’t understand the struggles people face on a daily bases when it comes to their weight, so let me enlighten you:
I go to the gym or workout five days a week. I count my calories. I plan out my meals weeks in advance to ensure I’m eating correctly. I have to do all this to maintain the body I have now. I’ve not always looked this way, and it’s an everyday struggle to take care of my body. It’s hard for us. You don’t know what we go through. You’re not making it any easier by shaming people who don’t look “beautiful” in your eyes.
Not everyone goes to the gym to look “good” either. Some people go to the gym to feel good, to be active, to help with stress/anxiety, or to just be healthy. We’re allowed to be at the gym regardless of our reasoning, and we’re allowed to love our bodies regardless of how they look.
I don’t know what you were trying to accomplish by posting this photo, other than to be a mean person. You’re not helping the obesity epidemic in this country. You’re encouraging bullying.
This woman is 70 years old. She could be your mother or grandmother. How would you feel if this happened to her?
Mathers released an apology soon after the backlash she received, saying that she meant to only share it with a friend and not make it public. As if that makes it okay?
We’re not all innocent in this world. We all think ill thoughts at times. There is a moment in my life that still haunts me to this day. I was in line at a Subway. There was a woman in front of me who was overweight. She was asking for a lot of different toppings on her sandwich. I remember whispering to my friend, “This is probably why she’s so fat.” The woman heard me. I saw the hurt in her eyes, and I felt an immense amount of guilt. To this day, I still feel guilty for what I said, and I feel even guiltier for not apologizing or saying anything. I could shrug this off as me being a stupid teenage and being uncomfortable with the way I looked at the time, but I’m not going to list excuses. I know what I did was wrong.Â
This moment has stayed with me for a reason. I remember this moment a lot, and it comes to mind when I start to think ill thoughts about people. We’re all people. We all have feelings. It crushes me that I hurt this woman. So with this in mind, I try to remember that we’re all people, and we all have feelings.
I hope that this incident with Mathers changes her outlook, like my incident did for me. You can apologize all you want, Mathers, but do you feel remorseful?
Rumor has it, Mathers could face jail time for releasing this photo since the woman was in a vulnerable state and unaware she was being photographed. I certainly hope Mathers faces the consequences of her actions. We live in a world where children, yes children, are committing suicide because they’re being bullied. Children are starting to develop eating disorders at younger ages. We can’t let other people think it’s okay to bully and humiliate other people. We can’t let other people think it’s okay to make fun of how someone looks. We can’t let people think what Mathers did was okay.
The old saying is true: “treat others the way you want to be treated.” If more people followed this, we’d be living in a better world.
Â
Images:
http://shawglobalnews.files.wordpress.com/2016/07/dani-mathers-snapchat1…
http://www.huffingtonpost.ca/2016/07/15/dani-mathers-body-shaming_n_1101…
Â