“Just Jokes?”: Body Shaming as a Form of Appearance-Based Bullying among University Students in Bangladesh

Body shaming is a common form of appearance-based bullying among university students, and it is linked to psychological distress and lower academic engagement. Yet few qualitative studies have examined it in South Asian universities, particularly in Bangladesh. This interpretive study explored how Bangladeshi university students experience body shaming, come to see it as normal, and cope with it. Sixteen undergraduate students at a private university in Rajshahi, recruited through snowball sampling, took part in in-depth interviews, which were analyzed using reflexive thematic analysis. Three themes were developed: (1) normalizing appearance-based comments in everyday life, in which remarks framed as jokes or care discouraged students from naming them as bullying; (2) gendered, skin-tone, and identity-based body shaming; and (3) psychological distress, academic disruption, and coping with limited institutional recognition. Remarks came from peers, teachers, family members, and social media, and some students fell silent in class or stopped attending. Support came mainly from friends, and no participant described a way to report body shaming to the university. Universities should treat body shaming as bullying even when it is framed as a joke. Their response should include culturally informed policies, teacher training, visible counseling services, and rules that cover social media.