Body shaming can cause lasting damage but Paul’s teachings offer us a better approach

Mental health campaigner Hope Virgo shares her perspective on body shaming after reports of toxic behaviour in ballet schools.

Imagine going to work or school and being ridiculed about your body. Being made to feel like a failure if you didn’t look a certain way. Imagine the uproar if you had one person in your job doing that to different people each week. Surely people wouldn’t stand around and watch. So why then, has it been accepted for decades that ballet schools across the UK can shame someone’s body?

Recently, it came to light, that across the manly ballet schools in the UK, ballerinas are getting body shamed. This isn’t new news but has been talked about every now again for the last decade. This toxic body shaming causes so many of them to feel wrong in themselves, to want to change their bodies, and to also start getting their self worth from their bodies. Over the last few years, we have seen an increase in the number of people being diagnosed with eating disorders.