Both big humans and small humans have had to deal with fat shaming and skinny shaming, both of which are equally terrible things to do. Medium-sized are generally safe from any hostile body comments.

Sorry, not anymore.

“Skinny-fat” is a term that has gained popularity among average people, because apparently everyone needs to be self-deprecating, and actually appreciating one’s own body is just a thing of the past. A quick Google search of the term will provide hundreds of results with titles like “Overcoming skinny-fat: losing fat and gaining muscle” and “652 Things Only Skinny-Fat People Understand.”

There is a real problem beyond body-shaming associated with the term. Medically speaking, a skinny-fat person is someone whose diet consists mainly of pizza and cheeseburgers, never works out, but doesn’t seem to gain weight. These people still have the same cholesterol, blood pressure, and heart problems overweight people tend to have. This is a dangerous place to be because of thinness being associated with healthfulness.

For the purpose of this editorial, a skinny-fat person is someone who is not necessarily overweight, not underweight, and not toned. So really, it’s just an average person, solid size medium.

Skinny-fat is primarily directed toward males whose stomachs are not necessarily flat, washboard abs. Females generally avoid skinny-fat shaming because of the advent of the term “curvy,” which is now being widely embraced as positive. This is proof that women are not the only ones who have unrealistic aesthetic standards shoved upon them by societal constructions.

Why is it necessary to make people feel bad about themselves? Everyone is supposed to have a little bit of fat. It has a biological function. All bodies are good bodies. Yes, one should do everything necessary to be healthy, but everyone should appreciate himself or herself and how they look. This can be applied to things other than weight as well—from height to eyebrow shape.