Opinion by: Hannah Williams
It’s no wonder girls have low self esteem in today’s world. With sites such as Skinnygossip.com, I assume that girls are at even lower esteem after looking at the website.
When I first saw these websites, I don’t remember what I was looking for. It was probably a Google search gone wrong. But either way, I started perusing the website and seeing people—mostly women—attack celebrities and anyone they could find who looked at a healthy or over-weight shape. These users, most anonymous, claim that “xylophones” (or the bones that make up your chest from your collarbone down) are “cute” and “sexy.”
The author of the site is a woman who supposedly is big in the fashion business and has a high-ranking job. Her name on the site is “Skinnygurl” and no other references to her identity are made on the website. Aside from some pictures of her “xylophone,” Skinnygurl remains anonymous.
Speaking of anonymous, and I am very happy to report this, the international internet hacking group, Anonymous, who are responsible for “bringing justice” to sites such as this, shut down Skinnygossip in 2011 because it was “harming the greater good,” according to a note by Skinnygurl explaining what had happened. Reportedly, Anonymous shut down the entire site and left Skinnygurl wondering if she should start it back up. Of course she did, but now on the website there is a note detailing on self-harm and how the website is not intended to hurt anyone.
Either way, I think it is just plain sick. The hashtags used on the site are malicious just in themselves. Things like “mommy arms” and “thunder thighs” are used to describe, according to the pictures posted, what seem to be healthy, beautiful celebrities by my standards. And the comments are even worse. Most of them are attacking the chosen person in various ways with words that would otherwise be censored.
There are a few users who stick up for the individual but in the end it’s mostly just a sad site, seeing women and men attack shapes and sizes that should be praised. Even though people may be overweight, that is no reason to judge them and it is the exact reason why I do not support these websites; people should be looking on the inside. Not on the outside where “thunder thighs” may take away from their appearance and obviously their heart.