{"id":18874,"date":"2021-04-20T11:19:26","date_gmt":"2021-04-20T03:19:26","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/varsity.com.cuhk.edu.hk\/?p=18874"},"modified":"2021-05-27T11:18:29","modified_gmt":"2021-05-27T03:18:29","slug":"from-body-shaming-to-body-positivity","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/varsity.com.cuhk.edu.hk\/index.php\/2021\/04\/from-body-shaming-to-body-positivity\/","title":{"rendered":"From Body Shaming to Body Positivity"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

Melissa Cheung Chin-sui shares her transformation from a body shamer to a body-positive advocate.<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

By Charmaine Choi<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

Cheung posts\nInstagram stories and posts daily to advocate for body positivity.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cEveryone should\nbe able to dress up in the way they want,\u201d the 27-year-old cartoonist says.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Cheung runs an Instagram cartoon page with 16,700 followers.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

 \u201cDrawings can be easily understood by everyone,\nand therefore my work can reach a larger audience (compared to texts),\u201d she adds. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Other than body positivity, Cheung also advocates for feminism and gender rights on her page. <\/p>\n\n\n\n


\u201cEveryone should have gender awareness. It is unfair that people are stereotyped because of their gender.\u201d<\/p><\/blockquote>\n\n\n\n

\u201cEveryone should\nhave gender awareness. It is unfair that people are stereotyped because of\ntheir gender,\u201d she says.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

As an active\nadvocate, Cheung receives comments and messages from haters. \u201cThe concept of\nfeminism is still new to Hong Kong. People always mix up misogyny with\nfeminism,\u201d she explains. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Cheung is not\nafraid to make her stance clear, she chooses to respond to them instead of\nshying away. She often posts screen capture of her clapping back at her haters\u2019\ncomments on her social media platform.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cI hope the public can make their own judgements regarding those hate comments. I guess people are not going to beat me up for that,\u201d she says with a laugh.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The Wakeup Call<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

LIHKG is a Hong Kong-based forum where hot topics are discussed among Hongkongers. The forum made Cheung famous four years ago.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Cheung relied on\nLIHKG to learn about the latest news in the city when she studied veterinary\nscience in Australia.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cLIHKG users\nalways judge and make fun of the appearance of female celebrities and even\nrandom girls they see on the streets,\u201d she says.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Cheung was not aware it was body-shaming at the time and even joined discussions about female body shapes.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

In July 2017, a\nmale Instagram follower of Cheung caught her attention. The male follower\nclaimed to be cool and good-looking in his bio. Out of curiosity, Cheung asked\nhim for pictures. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

After getting his picture, Cheung contacted him through private messages saying: \u201cYou look like a pervert who rapes woman\u201d and \u201cYour style is so outdated, change it up\u201d. She made negative comments on his appearance.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

She then posted\nthe conversation on LIHKG. Netizens started\nbombarding her with messages attacking her appearance saying she was fat and\nugly.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Her personal information such as her educational background and phone number was revealed online. Her confidence and body image dropped to a new low.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cI refused to take selfies at the time. I did not want to look at my body,\u201d she says.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Having experienced body-shaming herself, she realised how damaging it can be to one\u2019s self-perception. She then became interested in learning about gender issues and body image. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

She\nread books analysing the\nfeminist ideals, including one she referred to as the \u201cfundamental to feminism\u201d\n\u2014 Misogyny in Japan<\/em> by Chizuko Ueno.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

She also visited websites such as edX, a platform that provides free university-level courses to learn more about the power dynamics between genders. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Foreign\ncartoonists on Instagram such as @eloisemarseille and @cartoonshateher have\ntaught her to embrace and appreciate different body types.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cI learned that\neveryone should be loved and respected regardless of their appearance. As a person who has been down the road before, I hope to\nshare my thoughts and reflection,\u201d she says.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

This one-year\nlearning journey was crucial to her awakening. After the reconstruction of a\nbrand-new mindset, she felt that advocating gender rights and body positivity\nis the best way to make up for her wrongdoings.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

In 2018, Cheung decided to start an Instagram cartoon page dedicated to body positivity and other gender-related issues.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\"\"
Cartoons on Melissa Cheung\u2019s Instagram Page (@meltoo.edu.hk) feature various topics, including gender issues and body images.<\/figcaption><\/figure><\/div>\n\n\n\n

From a Cartoonist to an \u201cOnline Chick\u201d<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

After learning\nabout body positivity, Cheung thinks women should decide what they wish to do\nwith their bodies. She started creating sexual content on online platforms such\nas Patreon and OnlyFans as a symbol of bodily autonomy since 2020 for money.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cI enjoy\nexpressing sex by taking revealing pictures and sharing them with others. Isn\u2019t\nit nice that I can earn some pocket money while doing something that I love?\u201d\nshe says.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Patreon\nand OnlyFans are online platforms that allow content creators to gain monetary\nsupport from their fans by providing exclusive content. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

These platforms have attracted a number of sexual content providers like Cheung to earn money through providing pictures of her in lingerie and photos of her being topless.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\"\"
Patreon page of Melissa Cheung (Photo courtesy of Melissa Cheung)<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n

\u201cI do not see\nanything wrong with making money with one\u2019s body. I call myself an \u2018online chick\u2019. This is my take on reclaiming\n‘chick’,” she says.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Cheung also treats her topless photos as advocacy of \u201cFree the Nipple\u201d. \u201cMale nipples are equivalent to female nipples, why is it that only female nipples are censored?\u201d she questions. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

\"\"
OnlyFans page of Melissa Cheung (Photo courtesy of Melissa Cheung)<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n

Cheung disagrees with the idea that producing sexual content is materialising females. She thinks that sexual content provision is a way for females to be in control of their bodies.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cIt does not mean\nthat I am putting a price tag on myself. I am only putting a price tag on the\nphotos that I provide,\u201d she says.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

 \u201cThere are people who support me on Patreon and OnlyFans because they support my advocacy. It is not just about my body,\u201d she adds.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Moving on<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

Cheung hopes that Hong Kong people can learn to adopt a less gender-stereotypical view and recognise individuality. \u201cWe are all different in our own ways. It is over-simplifying to generalise our differences according to our genders,\u201d she says.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cI body-shamed others in the first place, so I deserve to be attacked by others in return,\u201d Cheung says recalling what happened in LIHKG four years ago.\u00a0 <\/p>\n\n\n\n

” Body-shaming should be stopped. More people should stand up against this toxic culture.”<\/p><\/blockquote>\n\n\n\n

\u201cBody-shaming should be stopped. More people should stand up against this toxic culture,\u201d she adds.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Edited by Sarah Ryou
Sub-edited by Alice Wang<\/em><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Melissa Cheung Chin-sui shares her transformation from a body shamer to a body-positive advocate. By Charmaine Choi Cheung posts Instagram stories and posts daily to advocate for body positivity. \u201cEveryone should be able to dress up in the way they want,\u201d the 27-year-old cartoonist says. Cheung runs an Instagram cartoon page with 16,700 followers.  \u201cDrawings can […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":5,"featured_media":18878,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[1770,79],"tags":[1704,511,1703,1630,154],"class_list":["post-18874","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-issue-159","category-people","tag-body-positivity","tag-body-image","tag-body-shame","tag-cartoonist","tag-social-media"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/varsity.com.cuhk.edu.hk\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/18874","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/varsity.com.cuhk.edu.hk\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/varsity.com.cuhk.edu.hk\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/varsity.com.cuhk.edu.hk\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/5"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/varsity.com.cuhk.edu.hk\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=18874"}],"version-history":[{"count":10,"href":"https:\/\/varsity.com.cuhk.edu.hk\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/18874\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":19183,"href":"https:\/\/varsity.com.cuhk.edu.hk\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/18874\/revisions\/19183"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/varsity.com.cuhk.edu.hk\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/18878"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/varsity.com.cuhk.edu.hk\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=18874"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/varsity.com.cuhk.edu.hk\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=18874"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/varsity.com.cuhk.edu.hk\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=18874"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}