Juggun Kazim opens up about being fat-shamed while pregnant
Can we please stop commenting on women's appearances all the time?
In a heartbreaking Instagram post, actor and host, Juggun Kazim opened up about her recent miscarriage and how she hadn't revealed her pregnancy due to her precarious pregnancies, which led to people assuming she had just gained weight and proceeded to fat-shame her.
"Until a few days ago, I was pregnant. For some reason, I gained a lot of weight really really quickly. What shocked me was how much I started getting fat-shamed. One lady said, 'Lagta hai Lahore ki hawa lag gaye tumhain.' Other women just told me bluntly that I had become a bit too "healthy"," she wrote.
"Till now, I wasn't ready to share that I was expecting a baby because my pregnancies have generally been precarious. Last week, I had a miscarriage. My doctor has now told me that that this time it was quite serious and that there had been a lot of internal bleeding. I took a day off to mourn but then went back to work because, well, what else can one do? And the day after I resumed work, someone again commented on how I was looking "extra healthy".
"We need to stop fat-shaming other people. People who are overweight know they are overweight. Their weight gain may be for any number of reasons, some desirable and some not. Yes, some people need to be encouraged to lead a more active lifestyle. But unless you are somebody's mother or sister, don't tell them what you think of their body."
She concluded her note with: "Life is short. Let's try and live ours with kindness."
Words to live by.
While the west is slowly growing sensitised to issues like fat shaming, it’s obvious that Pakistan has a lot of progress left to make. A woman's body goes through some drastic changes when she's pregnant. Gaining weight is normal and expected when you're growing a new life inside of you so why are they body shamed for it?
And even if they're not pregnant, we need to learn to keep our opinions to ourselves. It's not okay to comment on someone's weight in a snarky or condescending way ever, period.
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