TheySaid Hashtag Twitter Body Shaming Sally Bergesen

Photographed by Alexandra Gavillet.

It's your body. It's your summer. Enjoy them both. Check out more #TakeBackTheBeach, here.

Twitter's hashtags can be funny and touching, but the latest one to come to the social media platform is working to empower people who've been body shamed. People reports that Sally Bergesen, founder and CEO at Oiselle, a sportswear company, is encouraging everyone to share their first encounter with body shaming with the hashtag #theysaid. She's hoping that people will open up and create a dialogue about just how traumatic body shaming can be. She started off with a #theysaid story of her own — and couldn't have imagined just how far the hashtag would spread.

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Twitter users are sharing their experiences, which range from body shaming for being too heavy and too thin to criticism about nutrition and more. The stories are coming from men and women alike, with commenters saying that the unwelcome criticism was coming from friends, family, and even complete strangers. The different tweets aren't just revealing instances of awful body shaming, Twitter users are showing how the challenges that they've encountered have led to things like an unhealthy relationship with food and eating disorders.

Bergesen started the hashtag with her story, which involved her father criticizing her food choices when she was 12 years old.

"Keep eating like that and you're going to be a butterball." My Dad when I was 12. Pls RT and share a body shaming comment. #TheySaid
— Sally Bergesen (@oiselle_sally) May 25, 2017

Some people were simply grateful to have a forum to share their stories and others were in tears reading all the different accounts of body shaming.

#TheySaid is the best worst thing today. We need to change the convo abt women + their bodies; also brings back SO many painful memories
— Ally Feldman (@Pofeldy) May 25, 2017

In tears reading #theysaid. Much gratitude to @oiselle_sally for the reminder that we are each perfectly meant for our own miraculous body.
— Jen Hawley Price (@PhilanthropyInk) May 25, 2017

If you do nothing else with your day, read this thread. I'll do my part to stop the shaming and the negative self talk the follows #theySaid https://t.co/kPNXr6gUVj
— Carolyn (@weegngr) May 25, 2017

Women experienced situations similar to Bergesen's, coming from family and close friends.

My own family member (when I was a tween): "you have horse hips!" and that's the demon thats forever followed me. #theysaid https://t.co/4eloV2AvSB
— Kristiana Almeida (@MsKristiana) May 25, 2017

@oiselle_sally @oiselle "You're going to have to lose weight if you want to do fun things at school and be happy." - Mom, summer before I began jr. high. #TheySaid
— Tara (@runningreading1) May 25, 2017

@oiselle_sally "You'd be a knock-out if you lost 15 pounds". Spoken to me by my "boyfriend" who was about 30 pounds overweight.
— Cory Benson (@coryrbenson) May 25, 2017

"Oooooh you got fat!" - Aunt while visiting family overseas I hadn't seen in years. #TheySaid https://t.co/hrqWWZSChz
— Nita (@nitalyn) May 25, 2017

Some even shared stories involving doctors and other health professionals.

"All the girls throw up in the bathroom after lunch." -My doctor when I asked for help. #TheySaid https://t.co/9tSGRzWDgh
— Heather Mayer Irvine (@RunsOnFuel) May 25, 2017

@oiselle_sally Therapist to me after losing weight due to illness, "Enjoy it now because it's going to come right back." Found a new therapist... #theysaid
— Mary (@runrunmary) May 25, 2017

It wasn't just fat shaming. Other people described criticism for being too skinny or having an athletic build.

"You don't look like a runner" my colleague said disapprovingly, a few days after I ran my second ultra. https://t.co/MJSkxioID2
— Liza (@run_boston) May 25, 2017

"Not everyone can be effortlessly skinny like you." - Many people, to me, while I silently suffered from a severe eating disorder #theysaid https://t.co/dDJjSYv85l
— Krysta (@ktaninpdx) May 25, 2017

@oiselle_sally My family CONSTANTLY asking me "you train so much, how come you're not skinny?" Because sport determines body type, right? >< #theysaid
— AdjustedReality (@Quixotique) May 25, 2017

@oiselle_sally Body shaming can happen to skinny gals too: "You just wait until you're a teen; 20; 30; 40; menopause...you'll be fat." #theysaid #hurtful
— Naomi Nicholson (@nrnicholson) May 25, 2017

"You've gotten so much thicker since last year" ~ male athlete, after I had just crossed the finish line, winning a championship #TheySaid https://t.co/uuNORCCrlk
— Amelia Boone (@ameliaboone) May 25, 2017

Men are sharing their experiences, too, showing that body shaming isn't exclusive to women.

@oiselle_sally body shaming doesn't happen to women only. I'm constantly told "eat up, you could use it," even as I eat everything.
— Benjamin David (@rabbibpd) May 25, 2017

Bergen also shared a link to Aly Raisman's body-shaming story, which involved a TSA agent criticizing her for having biceps and a muscular build. It goes to show that nobody is immune to body shamers — gold medal or not.