The Glorification

I just read this article about Abercrombie, and the first thought running through my head was, "They are going to go out of business in no time."

The second thought was the dumb one.

Hm, I wonder what the comments will be like?

Seriously, never read the comments

So many people were actually lauding the CEO for his decision not to cater to people (women especially) above a size ten.

I'm not sure how many times I read the phrase "glorifying obesity."

Here's the thing that people don't understand when they throw that phrase out there: no one, not a single person, has stood up and encouraged people to be fat. Certainly not in the way that everyone is encouraged to be skinny. Not even the Fat Acceptance movement does this!

I'm just ridiculously tired of people crying out "glorifying obesity" like a protective spell anytime anyone, a company or a blogger or just a normal person, simply says that not everyone fits beauty standards. That's it. They don't say things like, "Fat isn't bad," even though they should, but that's much too controversial. No, they simply state the fact that fat people exist, and suddenly they're telling everyone to adopt "unhealthy lifestyles."

A couple of months ago, H&M put up size-12 mannequins (in Sweden, though, I'm not sure if that's happened in America), and that phrase came up again.

Really?

And then, even more recently, they used a plus size model in their beachwear campaign. Of course, for a plus size model, she's still quite slender, but she has a belly, and it's soft, and there are rolls, and oh goodness me, why did you put her in a bikini?

Seriously, though, people need to cool it with their "glorifying obesity" shrieks. No one is doing that, so just calm down and maybe drink some chamomile and take a breather. I think you need it.

Classy Lady

When I got to get my ears pierced so very long ago, Erika and I stopped to visit a friend. We got to talking about the store across from hers, and their plus-size section.

"It's so classy!" she said. "The other side is so skanky."

I've been in there, and, yeah, she's a little bit right.

"I should get fat," she laughed.

There was a beat, an uncomfortable moment as everyone realised that, whoops, there's a fat girl here. You don't say the F word, especially in front of a fat girl. She might notice.

I, of course, being the only-mildly-socially-unacceptable creature that I am, laughed. It was funny! I mean, come on, getting fat just to buy nice clothes? It's funny!

I said, "Yeah, the plus-size community is obviously very classy" and gestured to myself. That made them a bit more uncomfortable, but like I said, I'm not good with people.

The point of this is to say that, yeah, some (lots) of people get offended at the F word. I don't. Fat jokes don't offend me unless they're just not funny, and even then, it's because it's not funny! Nothing's worse than a joke that falls flat. If you tell a fat joke and it's funny I will laugh. I'm that person who finds 99% of things funny, and generally laughs at things that she really shouldn't be laughing at anyway.

Sometimes, people just have to chill.

(Also, I actually went and checked out the plus section. They have some really cute things, and I made that stripey dress mine.)

The F Word

What, exactly, is so toxic about the word fat? Why must we work so hard to "banish the belly" and go for a size two? Why do we allow ourselves to be guilted into hating our bodies?

Our bodies are something to loathe as they are. They're something to fix, something to improve, something that is quite obviously not your "Best Body Ever!" Anyone who decides that, hey, a burger sounds really good tonight is quite obviously unhealthy, doubly so if they're fat.

That's not to say that there aren't unhealthy fat people don't exist. Of course they do. But what people fail to realise is that healthy fat people do exist, just like unhealthy thin people. Several studies have been done to prove that size does not dictate health.

That terrible F word is not only dangerous as it stigmatizes fat people, but it wreaks havoc on the mental health of just about everyone. Yes, everyone, fat and skinny alike.

Eating disorders don't just affect skinny people, in the same way that they don't just affect women. But of course, once you reach a certain size, these dangerous behaviours—I mean physically dangerous—are applauded as an attempt to "Get your life back on track!" That's especially ambitious if you've kind of always been fat, or chubby, or simply Not Skinny.

Stigmatization against the word fat, not just fat on the body, but also fat in food, is detrimental. It makes something that occurs naturally, something that is actually vital for living, and makes it a dirty word. It manifests itself in such subtle ways as a girl like me, who's actually fairly confident, not owning any jeans because she doesn't like how they make her belly look. It manifests itself in my niece thinking that fat is the worst insult out there, on par with ugly, stupid, undesirable. It manifests itself in dangerous problems in people I love who are beautiful as they are.

Fat is a dirty word because accepting it means accepting your body, jiggly bits and all. In a world that is sort of run on body shaming, the person who actually accepts their body for what it is is revolutionary. The person who actually loves their body is radical!

I'm doing my best to teach my nieces and nephews, my friends, and myself that there are worse things in life than fat. I am not encouraging fatness, not by any means, but I am encouraging them to see that what they have is good, no matter what they're told.
And, if we're being honest, I'm doing the same for you and me both.

Waiting Game

While looking for inspiration for my pixie cut, I found a lot of comments along the lines of "Oh, I wish I could pull this off! I'm not pretty/thin/whatever enough! Woe is me!" Another common theme was, "I'll go do this once I lose all this weight!"

Okay, look. Self-control is a good thing. Otherwise, society wouldn't function. But come on guys, making excuses is just plain silly.

If you want a pixie cut, or a cute bathing suit, or a pair of jeans, go for it. Why make yourself wait for something you really, really want? Why attach an arbitrary amount of time to it, a hurdle you have to jump before you can reach the finish line and the bikini you've always wanted?

Having a reward system is good, but don't limit yourself! If you want a pixie cut, then go out and do some research and then chop it all off! The only thing stopping you should either be money (I know that feel) or just fear at having short hair. That's all good.

Whether you're skinny, fat, tall, short, purple, whatever, you can pull it off. No matter what it is.

No, go off my friends and cut your hair off like I did it's lonely over here enjoy your life!

Seriously.

On Bodies

Halloween 2011. Year of the Pokey-Pokey Stick.
Hideously enough.

Bear with me, this is a rant-type-thing that I wrote up when I should have been sleeping or doing homework. Note that when I say rant, I don't necessarily mean that I'm annoyed. It's just a long...discussion. Yeah, that's what we'll call it. A discussion.

I don't know.