‘Body shaming is a form of abuse’

For almost half of her teenage life, Ms Cynthia Ndlovu (25) of Nkulumane suburb endured negative comments about her appearance, leaving her embarrassed.

Men have verbally abused her through body shaming, making her feel guilty for her body features. Body shaming is subjecting someone to humiliation and critism for their body features.

Ms Ndlovu said living in Nkulumane suburb did not make her life any easier as she had to endure passing through groups of men sitting on bridges and standing at street corners who passed negative comments on her body features. She said they would call her names and make fun of her body calling her ‘magriza’ and ‘olady’.

According to Ms Ndlovu, this form form of abuse made her feel insecure and not comfortable about her body and subsequently lost self esteem.

It also affected her performance in school especially in extracurricular activities.

“Boys in street corners and at bridges would blow whistles and ask me to stop. Since l was now used to them l knew they were just making fun of me so l would not stop,” she said.

Ms Ndlovu said each time she ignored them they would start calling her names and mocking her because of her because of her body features.

Ms Ndlovu said some of her peers at school would go to an extent of snatching her food, claiming they were helping her lose weight.

“It’s sad how most people are not taught about verbal abuse and its impact. What’s more worrying is how people keep quiet about gender based violence during the year. It’s like the only time we talk about it I’d during the 16 days of activism,” she said.

Ms Ndlovu emphasized on the importance of people fighting against verbal abuse as it’s impact is more than that of physical abuse.

She also asked activists to talk about gbv during the whole year so that people can have knowledge about it