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A popular Disney influencer was recently overwhelmed with fatphobic comments after posting a viral TikTok showing off her outfit in the amusement park.
Sam Paige, or @sampaigeeee, has more than 3 million TikTok followers and often posts videos of her modeling or showing off her outfits. Recently, Sam posted a video defending her outfit choices and calling out viewers for body shaming her in a previous TikTok.
The video she referenced received over 1.6 million views since it was posted on November 11, but the comments section was flooded with negative comments about her white skort and pink corset top with off-the-shoulder sleeves.
Fatphobia in America
More than 40 percent of Americans report experiencing some form of weight stigma in their lifetime, with many saying it affected their mental and emotional well-being.
Connie Sobczak, the co-founder and executive director of The Body Positive, told Newsweek that this fatphobia starts to be internalized by young children before even entering kindergarten.
"Children who live in fat bodies really know and understand at an early age whether it's at home, from doctors, from their peers, that makes them feel that something is wrong with them," Sobczak said. "That can have lifelong effects."
Many individuals who have reported being stigmatized for their weight also said they had negative perceptions of themselves. Research has also shown that body shaming can increase an individual's risk of disordered eating.
Reclaiming The Word 'Fat'
As a result, many individuals are working toward reclaiming their self-love and accepting the size of their bodies. For many, reclaiming the word "fat" is a way to combat society's stigmas.
"Fat is just an adjective. You describe people as fat because they have fat on their bodies not because it's a negative thing," Paige told Newsweek. "The word fat has such a negative connotation to it but why?"
Paige added that by referring to herself as fat, she is taking away the negative connotation and reclaiming her body.
"I try to describe myself as a fat woman and that's not a bad thing," Paige said. "Society thinks that me calling myself fat means that I'm putting myself down. No, I am not. I am strictly describing myself as a fat girl."
Another way for people to learn body acceptance is to be aware of how their language can be harmful if used to negatively target others.
"Someone lives in a large or small body, but not larger because larger than what?" Sobczak said regarding language. "Bigger body, bigger than what? That creates some sort of hierarchy. Neutralizing the charge around the words is what we're going for."
Response to Body Shaming
In another recent TikTok, Sam acknowledged the comments about her outfit being "inappropriate."
"Look what big people have to go through just to exist," the caption of the video read.
Sam said the negative comments she received were "annoying" because she was simply wearing a sleeved top and a skort.
"You're deeming it inappropriate because it's a skirt...but it's on a big body it's bothering you," Sam said. "Skinny people wear shorter things, more revealing things at theme parks."
She added that people would not be bothered by her outfit if she wasn't fat and that she has seen much shorter shorts at Disney World. Paige also said that she received many compliments about her outfit from Disney cast members.
"People are so afraid of being fat," Paige said. "The fatphobia is so insane to me that that's the worst thing people could think of happening in their lives."
'It's Very Damaging'
Sobczak said that not only are the negative comments harmful to the TikToker but also children who watch her videos and see the comments might internalize fatphobia.
"We have to help people understand what they're seeing and reading and help them then process what they feel about it," she said. "For a child to absorb that without anybody there to help them process it, it's very damaging."
Sobczak said she focuses her education on children to help them process and unlearn internalized fatphobia. For her, body positivity and acceptance must be learned early in life to help children understand the importance of language on others' esteem.
"If everybody just paid attention to their own lives and focused on taking care of themselves and left other people alone, everybody would be in a better place," Sobczak said.
Update 11/17/22 4:57 p.m. ET: This article was updated with a new picture and comment from Sam Paige.
About the writer
Samantha Berlin is a Newsweek reporter based in New York. Her focus is reporting on trends and human-interest stories. Samantha ... Read more