Actress Melissa McCarthy recently told Redbook that she asked multiple designers to make her a dress two Oscar seasons ago . They all said no . She was disappointed . `` I do n't understand why if you 're a certain size , designers think your taste level goes down , '' she said in the interview . But then , frustrated by the lack of options , she took matters in her own hands , working with a designer on her own gowns . She will debut an original line of plus-sized clothing next spring . Body shaming is a part of American culture , at once abhorrent and everywhere . Women are shamed for being fat , skinny , tall , short , flat chested , busty , too plain , too sexy . But lately , there seems to be a different response , similar to McCarthy 's -- frustration followed by acceptance and moving on . Modern women are saying , sure , looks may matter . But they 're not that big of a deal , just one aspect of a complex person who can be described in a number of ways : my size is not all of who I am . One way women , particularly celebrity women , have stood up to fat shaming has been to disregard the comments and name calling , refusing to be called `` fat '' or stating a certain pride in their bodies . After designer Karl Lagerfeld called British singer Adele `` a little too fat , '' she told People magazine that she embraced her curves . `` I 've never wanted to look like models on the cover of magazines , '' she said . `` I represent the majority of women , and I 'm very proud of that . '' The public is also showing their appreciation . When Mekayla Diehl , Miss Indiana USA , showed off her bikini body , Twitter responded in praise of her `` normal '' body . And not all women are afraid of the word `` fat , '' or necessarily proud of how they look . That 's OK , too . In a recent episode of `` Louie , '' the character Vanessa , played by actress Sarah Baker , put it this way to the show 's titular character , played by comedian Louis C.K . : `` The meanest thing you can say to a fat girl ? It 's 'you 're not fat . ' `` Louis C.K . 's 'Fat Girl ' strikes a nerve . The line was part of a nearly seven-minute speech about society 's persistent fat shaming and the double standards that make it `` adorable '' for a man to admit he 's overweight , yet something closer to pathetic for a women to do the same . As Vanessa says , `` It 's too much for people . ... they call the suicide hotline on me . '' Being fat , after all , is still viewed as the most horrible , devastating thing a woman could be -- a date with a destiny comprised of a houseful of cats . Check your 'cat-lady ' preconceptions about childless women . As Vanessa tells Louie in that episode , being fat `` sucks , '' but it 's just one thing about her . She 's also funny , fun , smart and confident . She has a good job . She does n't need to call on euphemisms to describe how she looks . She 's not `` full-figured . '' She 's not curvy or plus-size . She 's fat . It might not be the best thing about her , but it 's also not the worst thing . And it might be the most important message women , and men , have heard so far . Women used to shy away from calling themselves overweight as a way to protest thin culture and rebel against society 's fixation on what women look like and what size jeans they wear . But the truth is that the focus on appearance is not going away , least of all for women . We live in a time when tabloids routinely question whether female celebrities are pregnant and dissect their bikini bodies . And yet a male celebrity can run around on the beach with a bit of a pooch and a girl 15 years his junior and no one talks about how liberated he is for `` embracing his flaws '' nor about his transformation when , months later , he loses the extra weight . Female celebrities , though , get covers and four-page features on the topic . So instead of ignoring their weight , pretending it does n't exist or does n't matter to them or to anyone else , McCarthy , Baker and other modern women are acknowledging and owning it -- then dismissing its significance . And that 's even more powerful .
Recent moments in pop culture show women taking a novel approach toward fat-shaming . Peggy Drexler notes that body shaming is a part of American culture . And she says it has become more common for men to be shamed about their weight than women.