A YouTube fitness star was blistered with negative comments about her looks and made this brilliant video response
Apr 22, 2015, 21:17 IST
YouTube star Cassey Ho reaches millions of people everyday with her short, fun fitness videos.
But the 28-year-old creator of the YouTube workout channel Blogilates keeps receiving vicious comments about her weight and appearance. Despite the fact that she knew they were coming from negative places, she says the mean comments affect her much more than the positive words from fans."It's something that's been eating away at me for a while now," she said in a video about body shaming and eating disorders last week. "The hatred and the mean comments that have been swirling around lately, I can't shake it off."Ho even admitted some of the hateful words had made her cry and feel like a piece of meat.
So she decided to fight back by making a poignant video about how it felt for her to see what she would look like with the "perfect" body.
So far, the video has been viewed by 1.2 million people, and many of her fans and commenters have praised Ho for sharing her body image struggle, calling her inspiring and telling her to ignore the haters.But it hasn't all been positive. To promote her video, Ho had shared an edited snapshot of a "perfect" body on her Instagram and was shocked to see many of the comments were either still extremely negative or else praising her for looking "amazing."
"I wanted to post again because there was a weird phenomenon that happened when I posted this Photoshopped picture," Ho said on her Instagram. "On the very same photo, I got some people praising me and others degrading me. What worries me is this: 1. That some people think this is real and that it should be 'goals.' 2. That some people still think it's not good enough."
"It's tough knowing what's real and what's not when magazine covers and music videos are Photoshopped (yes, music videos), Instagram pics are Photoshopped, and so many women are getting surgery," she continued. "How are we to know what kind of beauty can be naturally achieved when everything around us is so deceiving?"
But of the nearly 6,000 comments on the YouTube video, the vast majority are people thanking the Blogilates creator for her honesty."This is actually pretty amazing," said one commenter. "There are lots of things I would change. But it took me years to know the changes I want to make are based on health, self respect, and self love. I don't want perfection. Nor do I want the societal standard of beauty. I just want to be healthy. I already love myself."
But the 28-year-old creator of the YouTube workout channel Blogilates keeps receiving vicious comments about her weight and appearance. Despite the fact that she knew they were coming from negative places, she says the mean comments affect her much more than the positive words from fans."It's something that's been eating away at me for a while now," she said in a video about body shaming and eating disorders last week. "The hatred and the mean comments that have been swirling around lately, I can't shake it off."Ho even admitted some of the hateful words had made her cry and feel like a piece of meat.
So she decided to fight back by making a poignant video about how it felt for her to see what she would look like with the "perfect" body.
So far, the video has been viewed by 1.2 million people, and many of her fans and commenters have praised Ho for sharing her body image struggle, calling her inspiring and telling her to ignore the haters.But it hasn't all been positive. To promote her video, Ho had shared an edited snapshot of a "perfect" body on her Instagram and was shocked to see many of the comments were either still extremely negative or else praising her for looking "amazing."
"I wanted to post again because there was a weird phenomenon that happened when I posted this Photoshopped picture," Ho said on her Instagram. "On the very same photo, I got some people praising me and others degrading me. What worries me is this: 1. That some people think this is real and that it should be 'goals.' 2. That some people still think it's not good enough."
"It's tough knowing what's real and what's not when magazine covers and music videos are Photoshopped (yes, music videos), Instagram pics are Photoshopped, and so many women are getting surgery," she continued. "How are we to know what kind of beauty can be naturally achieved when everything around us is so deceiving?"
But of the nearly 6,000 comments on the YouTube video, the vast majority are people thanking the Blogilates creator for her honesty."This is actually pretty amazing," said one commenter. "There are lots of things I would change. But it took me years to know the changes I want to make are based on health, self respect, and self love. I don't want perfection. Nor do I want the societal standard of beauty. I just want to be healthy. I already love myself."