Believe it or not, but once upon a time, having a little extra weight under your skin spoke of your economic wellbeing, a comfortable-enough status that let you pad your dinner table a little more each night. Your average queen would have a little flab, and your duke and duchess definitely wouldn’t be sporting six-packs.

But today, being overweight, even in the slightest, means being labeled “the fat kid.” In today’s world, being friends with the cool, popular kids — otherwise known as the tall and skinny girls or the aggressively masculine jocks — is a segue to becoming popular yourself. The fat kid isn’t in high demand, because for some reason weight seems to interfere with his or her ability to start a decent conversation, or feel the way everyone else does.

Ask yourself, if you’re the type to avoid and even sneer at “the fat kid,” why it’s acceptable for you to suddenly abandon all pretense of proper manner and conduct in speaking to him or her. I’m curious because I have been body-shamed before. People think it’s OK to say small things like, “Well, maybe if you lost some weight …” or, “Keep going and you’re going to be obese.” Even though I know most people don’t intend to hurt my feelings with these quips, it still hurts, and I can say for certain I’m not the only one who has this problem.

“If I can’t unsee this, then you can’t either.”

That’s what the caption read for the Snapchat that former Playboy model Dani Mathers sent to her friends. The Snapchat itself was of a nude 70-year-old woman, who later went on to press charges against Mathers. Mathers ended up with one count of invasion — just a misdemeanor, but a criminal charge nonetheless.

I’ll admit it: I was originally shocked that Mathers would face any legal repercussions for what she did, which didn’t seem to be one of the biggest crimes in the world.

Add that to the fact that she already got what she deserved, the hubbub over this huge scandal with (wait for it) an Oak Park alumna felt pointless at first. Yeah, we get it, her publicizing an indecent photo of an elderly woman was a no-good, very-bad thing; let’s move on.

But in that single Snapchat lay a lot of nasty societal implications. If you really think about it, Mathers showed disregard for not only another person’s privacy, but the emotions that inevitably arise after having your body made an object of ridicule. Having your personal life intruded upon like that is akin to stepping on broken glass: the perpetrator isn’t afraid to slice and dice its victim, the glass is swept away without a second thought, and you’re left cursing, bleeding and, ultimately, scarred.

What I’m trying to say is this: Mathers’ case set a precedent to all those who underestimate the pain that victims go through when they’re body-shamed. In the past, lawful consequences for invasions of privacy have only been for “peeping Toms” — but as you and I know all too well, times have changed, and that law serves a different purpose these days.

Technology brought cyber bullying to America, and with cyber bullying comes online photos of complete strangers, taken without their consent and posted to the web in a cheap attempt at humor derived from making fun of a surface-level appearance. Again, it might not seem like an extreme crime to a perpetrator or any like-minded sympathizers — but for the victim, the consequences in store are the only way justice will be administered.

The prosecution in Mathers’ case summed it up well:

“Body shaming is humiliating, with often painful, long-term consequences. It mocks and stigmatizes its victims, tearing down self-respect and perpetuating the harmful idea that our unique physical appearances should be compared to air-brushed notions of ‘perfect,’” prosecutor Mike Feuer said to the press.

In fact, April Lyons, a professional counselor who specializes in treatment for eating disorders, PTSD and child counseling identifies body shaming as a factor in eating disorders, poor health and social anxiety. It makes simple bodily functions like eating, sweating and (cover your ears) menstruation seem like embarrassing things that we must hide.

According to a survey conducted by Yahoo!, 94 percent of women have been body shamed, and 64 percent percent of men have experienced it as well. In the context of other social trends, the problem is worse for women because there are so many more beauty standards that we’re expected to meet.

Included in those percentages aren’t only unpopular kids at school or victims of crimes. Recently, even models whose livelihoods thrive upon fitting the image of an “ideal woman” are participating in photo shoots that won’t re-touch their appearances. “Once Upon a Time” and “How I Met Your Mother” actress Jennifer Morrison and many like her are featured in “Darling” Magazine, a “catalyst for positive change” that is resolute in its no-Photoshop policy.

Positive change indeed. It’s amazing that these people, whose salaries depend on looking like an unrealistic goal for everyone, have started to respond to this new culture of body shaming.

That’s important. With that culture, we have normalized “harmless” little comments like, “Did you gain a little weight?” or, “Dude, are you actually going to eat all of that?” when the amount of food another person consumes is actually nobody’s business. Hurt feelings aside, embarrassing people for their diet can even lead to eating disorders, such as bulimia and anorexia. And what is the point in the end, of trying to get people to conform to your ideals for beauty? The perfect body doesn’t even exist; unless we’re talking illness or disease, there is no “good” or “bad” body.

Everyday, more and more people try to conform to those pointless modern-day standards of beauty. We need to realize that beauty isn’t defined by how tan you are, how muscular you are, how thin you are, how long your eyelashes are, how thick your lips are or how many sets of abs you have. Beauty refers to the kind of human being you are — your character and what you’ve done — and, in the end, that is all that matters.