DEAR MISS MANNERS: An annoyance that I have run into consistently since I was in high school is how to respond to comments made about my body and face. (I am fluent in sarcasm, but attempt to keep those comments to myself.)
These comments are insufferable. “Skinny-shaming” is just as prevalent as fat-shaming, and while I lead a healthy lifestyle and have no body image issues whatsoever, I am tired of hearing that I am the “skinny one” or that I need to “eat a cheeseburger.”
I eat many cheeseburgers, thank you very much, and to have the hard work I put in to keep myself fit denigrated is extremely annoying. My body mass is nobody’s business but my own, but I am constantly subjected to other opinions anyway.
GENTLE READER: Youth and slimness are unduly valued in Western society, and annoying as they may be, comments to that effect are meant as high praise.
Take them for how they are kindly, if awkwardly, intended. A curt, weak, tight-lipped smile is all that is needed in response.
Miss Manners has decreed over and over again that one must refrain from commenting on others’ personal appearance, especially the relative size of the human form, but to little avail. She will continue the fight, if you will promise not to fuel the battle.