Polemics of Body Shaming: A Legal Perspective

Abstract

The polemics of body shaming among our society is not a new or isolated issue nowadays. There is various modus operandi adopted by some irresponsible individuals in committing these crimes; including through the increasingly prevalent social media without guilt. In this context, the victim will undergo various negative effects in terms of mental and psychological problems including depression, vindictiveness, irritability, loss of self -confidence, eating disorders and others which in turn can lead to death (because of suicide). Therefore, this study will discuss on the polemics of body shaming in terms of the Malaysian legislative framework from various existing laws which are relevant to be considered to curb this crime from continuing to spread; together with the issues arisen. This is because, there are a handful of people who are less knowledgeable related to this crime of bullying. A qualitative method based on the Document Analysis Method is applied for the research methodology of this study. It is hoped that the findings of the study shall have a contribution for overall benefits of the people towards achieving the 17 Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) respectively.

Speech of Body Shaming, Insult and Defamation in Social Media in the Jurisdiction

“…However, if the speech is rejected by the speech partner, a reaction will take place that may make the speaker feel humiliated and constitute bullying. Bullying is unwelcome behaviour that can take place in person or online and can be verbal, physical, or social (Shah et al, 2022;Anjani et al, 2020). Bullying also causes a person to feel uneasy, hurt, and under pressure from others, either individually or collectively (PS et al, 2022).…”