Back in middle school, one of my nicknames was “Mrs. Fatty”. I had to live with that nickname for two years, and nobody ever cared that this might hurt me in any way.

As I am familiar with both western and Taiwanese media, something that bothers me is that western countries seem to pay more attention to body dysmorphia, while Taiwanese people are generally unaware of it or just don’t care.

Body dysmorphia is when you view your own physical appearance unfairly. Anyone can have body dysmorphia. From my experience with both myself and others, I’ve come to realize that Taiwan doesn’t talk about body dysmorphia enough. We should talk about it more.

My personal experience with body dysmorphia

My motivation for writing this article is primarily my own body dysmorphia. Back in middle school, I earned multiple nicknames, not just the one I mentioned previously. They all meant the same thing—that I was fat. At the time, I weighed around 45 kilograms (and was 155 centimeters tall), and I was not medically overweight at all. That didn’t stop them from coming up with my nicknames.

I don’t understand why I got these nicknames, but it was my friends who came up with them. I once confronted them and said those nicknames made me uncomfortable; in response, they said, “well, then stop looking like you weigh over 50 kilograms”.

As more people began to call me by those nicknames, I started to develop body dysmorphia. I could not see myself without seeing how “fat” I looked. Every time I complained to my friends and family that I looked too fat, they always told me that I didn’t, that I looked fine, that I was very slim, and that I should stop seeing myself as overweight.

The problem is, even to this day, I still can’t look in the mirror without resenting my body, even just a little bit. I still cannot see myself as “fit”. I try to act like I am confident, but deep down in my heart, I’m not confident in how I look.

All of this happened because some boys in seventh grade decided it would be fun to call me names. If you ask me, I’d say they definitely don’t know what body dysmorphia is.

Taiwanese people don’t take body dysmorphia seriously

Body dysmorphia exists everywhere; I’m not saying this is only a problem in Taiwan, because that is far from true. However, a certain pattern that I have come to see is that in western countries, people are better at raising awareness about body dysmorphia. For instance, more organizations and websites are devoted to addressing this topic.

Yet, in Taiwan, I have never seen people properly recognize the dangers of body dysmorphia. In fact, many Taiwanese people don’t even have a concept of what body dysmorphia really is.

In eighth grade, as I was struggling with my appearance, I decided to reach out to a teacher that I trusted. I hoped that she could offer me advice or comfort.

However, she did not see a problem with me being called these names. She told me that I should take these comments as motivation for me to work harder in order to look better. She said that people making fun of me is a normal process, and that I should stop complaining and look better to prevent future comments instead.

Body dysmorphia among teens is accepted as normal in Taiwan

Obviously, this isn’t a problem just for me. I decided to interview a friend who also suffers from body dysmorphia. She decided to remain anonymous, so I will call her Penny.

When I asked Penny when she started to feel uncomfortable with her body, meaning when her body dysmorphia started to manifest, she shared that it started during seventh grade. “Boys in our class started to call me names, names I don’t even want to think of right now. I wasn’t technically overweight [according to her BMI], but I might have physically looked a bit chubbier, so I got nicknames that still follow me to this day.”

She later shared how she had to deal with this situation. “At first, I cried at home every day. The things people would say to me were just absolutely disgusting, but I also think they didn’t mean it. Like, they just thought it was funny and didn’t think more of it. Although I certainly don’t think that’s an excuse for them to say awful things to me, I think it also probably has something to do with our culture.”

What she said is true. In Taiwan, it’s common for people to point out other people’s supposed physical flaws. I’m sure most people don’t want to inflict pain when they make such comments, but these words will scar the person on the receiving end for a long time.

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Taiwan needs to talk about body dysmorphia. Body dysmorphia isn’t taken seriously here at all, and that’s a problem.

How can we improve this situation? The most straightforward answer is education—not just for students or children, but adults, teachers, and professionals alike.

It’s not that people in Taiwan are just meaner and think commenting on other people’s body and appearance is okay; rather, I think people in Taiwan are generally not educated well enough about body dysmorphia and its consequences.

Taiwan needs to properly address body dysmorphia. I have seen too many people, including myself, fall victim to other people’s words regarding their bodies and appearance.