It's hard to realize that, by normalizing stigmatization, body-shaming et al. hurt more than the person being targeted, but I fall in the camp of those who think it does.
Here's the essay (sort of a review article), "Stigma," that made me take the plunge.
https://scholar.harvard.edu/files/matth ... ldraft.pdf
Stigma is an attribute that conveys devalued stereotypes. Erving Goffman (1963, 3)classically defined stigma as an “attribute that is deeply discrediting.”A discredited attribute could be readily discernable, such as one’s skin color or body size, or could be hidden but nonetheless discreditable if revealed, such as one’s criminal record or struggles with mental illness.
Most people, Goffman(1963, 138)argued,experience the role of being stigmatized“at least in some connections and in some phases of life.”Indeed, Goffman’s broad definition of stigma incorporates many contemporary discredited attributes, including what he defined as “tribal stigmas” (e.g., race, ethnicity, and religion), “physical deformities” (e.g., deafness, blindness, and leprosy), and “blemishes of character” (e.g., homosexuality, addiction, and mental illness).
Drawing on Goffman but incorporating a broader concern for the operation of power in society, Link and Phelan define stigma as the co-occurrence of four processes: (1) labeling human differences; (2) stereotyping such differences; (3) separating those labeled from “us”; and (4) status loss and discrimination against those labeled.
Future research should bridge levels of analysis, compare the micro-and macro-level causes and consequences of stigma among different social groups, and identify the conditions that foster destigmatization.