This is something that I’ve noticed just about an hour ago. I was over on the short subreddit and have noticed that the way people of all genders speak about women who have issues with their body image speak very differently about the men who have something similar. This is in regard to people who consider themselves left leaning. Obviously it’s not exactly the same way in right wing spaces.

Women who are skinny yet still have eating disorders are seen as victims of body image issues and are spoken about with care and empathy by these people. Men who are 5’9 and below who complain about not being tall enough are often seen as “whining” and told to just “suck it up.” This is not just done by “other men” but other people in general. Obviously this doesn’t mean that these same progressives tell these men to just “get taller.” They are still (not all of them) telling the men to accept themselves for who they are as people. The problem is that there seems to be more of a “tough love” rhetoric when it comes to men who see themselves as too short in comparison to women who see themselves as “too fat.”

It’s very common for women in social media to be open about them not wanting to date short guys and bring measuring tapes to dates but in the same spaces the opposite is frowned upon. Now some lurker might be thinking “that’s because these nimrods are being toxic WHILE they are whining.” I’m not ignoring that. However, should we speak about men like this in general? Isn’t that unfair to the men who are still insecure yet still manage to mind their own business? Would it then be okay for me to tell women to “suck it up” and “stop whining” simply because I generalized all struggling women by saying that the fat women always make fun of and shit on the skinny women? Of course not. Obviously that’s still an issue but it’s not cool to generalize insecure women like that. The same should go for men. If you’re reading this and call yourself a leftist, maybe you should reevaluate where your ethics lie.

Let me say this though. Women have a right to choose the same way men have a right to choose. In other words, women shouldn’t be forced to date short men and men shouldn’t be forced to date overweight women. However, if we’re going to have this body positivity movement for women and claim to be about “equality for everyone” then we need to watch how we speak to men when they are insecure about their bodies.