Hating on fat people and worshipping unachievable body goals is nothing new to Western cultures, but it's a totally different ball game when it comes to east Asian families. And when Chinese New Year rolls around, most women know it's time to brace yourself for an emotional shitstorm of nasty weight comments.

For those who don't know, this annual holiday is the Asian equivalent of Christmas, where millions head home to spend time with their families and have multiple big banquets. It's meant to be our version of the most wonderful time of the year, but for many women, it's a time of familial weight heckling and an endless barrage of "why aren't you married yet?" questions.

I used to dread big family gatherings for fear of being ridiculed, and in some ways I still dread them. The closest members of my family would look me up and down to examine me and tell me that I'd gained a couple of pounds and that I definitely need to eat less rice. The sad fact is I know I'm not alone in this story.

Many other Asian girls have suffered the same taunts from their nearest and dearest. Selina Tan, a 22-year-old British Malaysian-Chinese production assistant, knows this all too well. "I would get teased a lot as opposed to hurtful comments and it was always from the females of the family. Say if I sat on someone's lap they would make exaggerated faces because of my weight."