SIGH. I always have such mixed feelings about these sorts of pics. On the one hand, she’s fabulous and sexy and also delightfully full-figured. She’s fat and completely delicious. So that’s wonderful and it’s another little blow in the battle to de-stigmatize fat and help fat people feel like, you know, people who are allowed to be sexy and allowed to love themselves. So it’s good.
On the other hand… it’s yet another picture of a beautiful woman who is dressed absurdly for her outside location, posed absurdly while doing nothing whatsoever … basically, it’s an objectifying portrait of a woman which is just one funky soundtrack away from soft porn. So in that sense, it’s really old lamesauce. It’s not a victory so much as it is just flinging open the doors for a whole new category of women to be objectified more freely. Rejoice, thin girls! You need no longer bear the burden of the male gaze alone, for now your meatier sisters will also be fodder for that machine! Next year we’ll “empower” some other female people this way, perhaps amputees or maybe dwarves. Because why should anybody with a vagina be able to avoid being displayed for consumption?
But fairness compels me to add: it does seem that the future holds this fate not just for all vagina-sporting people, but also all penis-sporting types as well. If Tumblr is anything to go by, in the future we will ALL be objectified 1000% more than we are now. I imagine that even old wrinkly broads like myself will soon be splayed out on the lawn in curlers and a girdle.
SIGH.
I might be a bit cranky because I feel like absolute crap today, but pictures like this one piss me off. No one body type is better than another and anything that says so is a piece of garbage. Yes society pushes for the stick thin ideal, a and that’s disturbing. But so is the whole “bones are for dogs, real men like meat” thing. To all us bigger ladies, we hate being fat shamed, amiright? So let’s not thin shame. Love your body, no matter what.
Also, I gotta say this, because I saw other posts about this on my dash only minutes ago. This post is actually annoying in 2 different ways. First off, it’s stupid because it’s body-shaming toward thin people, just as op-bamf says. But it’s also really sort of shaming towards fat people too. Those “thick girls” in the picture just really aren’t all that thick. I mean, yeah, they aren’t stick-figure models. But they are pretty slim; a lot of people here on Tumblr would regard these ladies as their goal weight. I’d be a lot more impressed if this picture featured seriously fat chicks, ladies who would have trouble shopping anywhere but in a catalog, ladies with a real, visible roll of fat around their waist or their arms or their neck or maybe their ankles. Ladies who, like me, had to special-order their bras online. Sexy, fabulous ladies in cute outfits who had a genuinely large belly, maybe a belly that actually rolls over and takes up some room in the picture. I know those ladies are out there because I see pics of them on my dash every so often. Fierce, gorgeous ladies who also happen to quite fat, unmistakably fat, large, round, apple-bodied, how else could I say it — really, really fat ladies. I would love to see some fat appreciation fatspo that featured those ladies. Because I love those ladies even though I am not one of them any more. Because all ladies are beautiful, not just the ones whose bodies display the more socially-approved contours we see in the pic above.
Painful Honesty Reveals Your Stuff
I’m going to comment on this post. But before I add anything I will just say, wow, it is amazing when somebody has the courage to vomit it all out on the page like that. It’s not easy to do it. So intense.
But okay, on to the critique portion of this reblog. Read the post below, and while you read it, try to identify the false, self-limiting thought-forms which are trapping this poor lady.
There was this girl at crossfit yesterday who annoyed me. A lot. God, even thinking about her now annoys me so much. She was useless. And fat. And she couldn’t even do one skipping double under, out of the 200 that was expected. The 200 that everyone else could do. Including the new people.
And then on her last round she cried. So weak. Everyone had finished, and everyone was watching. And she broke down and cried. She didn’t want to finish. She couldn’t do any, and she knew how terrible, fat, useless she was, and so she cried. And cried. I suppose she didn’t know what else to do.
Eventually she finished and headed for the last part of the workout; the run. And a lonely run she ran. Still crying, of course. And it was on that run she felt her bad day consume her being. And she thought of the mean comments, the emails, the words she had read that day. And she kept crying. And crying.
And then she slowed to a walk and with people on the street blatantly seeing her red eyes and mascara stained cheeks, she felt like she was faking her life. Like she didn’t deserve anything. She didn’t earn anything. That she was a sh*tty writer/blogger, a lazy person, a fat, weak, slow, unfit person, that she had no career, money, or plan. That she had failed, at whatever it was she was doing.
—-
I cried all the way home yesterday. On the tram. On my walk. And then in the shower. And I felt the embarrassment sting hard from crossfit. And yesterday’s comments… they were mean, and it’s hard not to read them, especially when they came in over and over again and were confirming something I often wondered. I deleted nearly 150. 150 people who had taken the time to wear me down. And they did.
And it’s easy to say don’t let it get to you. Turn the other cheek. It means nothing… But it did. Yesterday was a hard day, but despite still feeling my puffy face sting, today is a new day, with a new start, and so I trudge on.
The thing that fairly springs to the eye is the association between being fat and being lazy, worthless or incompetent. This is a textbook example of internalized fat bigotry. It’s a completely false idea, one that is painfully self-damaging. It is just not true!! Physical strength and competence are often associated with leanness. But I can give you 4 outstanding examples just off the top of my head: Sarah Robles, Holly Mangold, Brian Shaw, Zydrunas Savickas. Those are are some seriously chunky athletes. Man, I ought to do a whole post just about fat athletes. That’d be some fun. Anyway… fat is not what is impeding you, honey. Forgive yourself for being fat!
I know I’m beating it to death a little bit but it can be good to just say it all out loud. So let me just go all the way. Your fatness (which, btw, I’ve seen your pics and you look totally cute to me) is just not the real issue. Your fatness has nothing to do with your career, your money, or your plan. Your fatness has very, very little to do with your abilities as a Crossfitter. Also your fat is not keeping you from being beautiful, or from being beloved and desired. Obviously it did not keep you from getting to Australia like a boss. Your fat is not keeping you from… riding in a hot air balloon, or on horseback… or going hiking, or balancing your checkbook, or climbing the bridge in Sydney Harbor… it is not keeping you from enjoying a facial, or going canoeing, or learning to salsa. Pretty much the only thing your fatness may be doing is making shopping for clothing an inconvenient experience, and possibly making it challenging to cross your legs.
So please. Let go of this horrible and completely false idea. Forgive yourself!! And I apologize for doing this all out in public, but I’m pretty sure there are a few people out there who could learn something from it.
HA BUT I AM NOT EVEN DONE!!! There’s one more really self-limiting idea in that post: the part where you “trudge on.” Heck no, you are not trudging on. You are a beautiful, strong, talented young lady in the prime of life who is living the dream in lovely Australia. There is no trudging in that picture! Okay, sure, you had a seriously shitty day. But please don’t let this bad idea colonize your mind, this idea that you are struggling onward. Heck no. You’re not trudging onward. You are… swimming the English Channel or hiking the Rockies. You are forging deeper into the Outback on your own personal walkabout. You are surfing some huge, gnarly waves. (That one is my own favorite. I use it a lot.) You are free-climbing Half Dome like that crazy man Honnold! My point is, do not allow yourself to imagine your life in a negative, sad way. That just drags you down mentally. You can apply any mental metaphor you want to your life, so make it a nice one. I am speaking from personal experience here. I realize it seems like I’m making a big deal out of a simple word choice, but I’m telling you: working on this issue made a huge difference in my life.
Ooooookay. Well, I have chased you around enough for one day, huh? I love your posts and I’m following your progress with great interest. I hope this helps you and gives you something to chew on. Also I meant what I said: you’re gorgeous and completely fabulous, so just brush off the haters. They aren’t even worthy of you.
THIS. Anything which persistently deforms one gender’s outline, smashing it into a predetermined one-size-fits-all, is really smashing and deforming both genders. Denying beauty to a particular group means that not only do those group members suffer under the stigma, but also everyone else is denied the happiness of enjoying that sort of beauty. Male and female are like the two halves of our pelvis. You can’t move one half of your pelvis without moving the other. Gender bigotry really hurts us all.
And do I even need to say it? Fat bigotry is the most astonishing bigotry of all. Such a generous segment of the population is affected by fatness that I can’t even believe how severely fat bigotry persists. Isn’t it close to 50% of the population now? And also, unlike, say, blackness or gayness, fatness is something that people can develop at various stages of their lives rather than simply having it all the darn time. Nearly anyone can get fat, sometimes with terrifying ease. I just don’t understand why fat bigotry persists, when it’s so obvious that fatness is something that happens to practically everyone.
![queenbliss:
Perspiration (sweating, transpiration, or diaphoresis) is the production of a fluid consisting primarily of water as well as various dissolved solids (chiefly chlorides), that is excreted by the sweat glands in the skin of mammals.[1] Sweat contains the chemicals or odorants 2-methylphenol (o-cresol) and 4-methylphenol (p-cresol), as well as a small amount of urea. Sweat itself is not the cause of body odor, but rather the bacteria on the skin which feed on the sweat.
-Wikipedia
Also, it occurs to me to say this: what is with this hostility toward fat, anyway? “Sweat is fat crying,” “I wear black when I work out because it’s like a funeral for my fat,” and so forth. Fat is not a bad thing, actually. It’s one of the many ways in which your body continually works to take care of you and make sure you stay alive, no matter how poorly you treat yourself. No matter how badly you behave, your body just goes on lovingly taking care of you. And fat is part of that work.
Now obviously I agree that this situation might get out of control and you might wind up with a bit too much of this excellent protective substance. But you should just gently work to persuade your body to be a little less over-protective, that’s all. But being alive and healthy is a good thing. And your fat is a part of what makes that possible. So no more fat hate.](http://25.media.tumblr.com/tumblr_m7mb6onXG51rb1mfmo1_500.jpg)
Perspiration (sweating, transpiration, or diaphoresis) is the production of a fluid consisting primarily of water as well as various dissolved solids (chiefly chlorides), that is excreted by the sweat glands in the skin of mammals.[1] Sweat contains the chemicals or odorants 2-methylphenol (o-cresol) and 4-methylphenol (p-cresol), as well as a small amount of urea. Sweat itself is not the cause of body odor, but rather the bacteria on the skin which feed on the sweat.
-Wikipedia
Also, it occurs to me to say this: what is with this hostility toward fat, anyway? “Sweat is fat crying,” “I wear black when I work out because it’s like a funeral for my fat,” and so forth. Fat is not a bad thing, actually. It’s one of the many ways in which your body continually works to take care of you and make sure you stay alive, no matter how poorly you treat yourself. No matter how badly you behave, your body just goes on lovingly taking care of you. And fat is part of that work.
Now obviously I agree that this situation might get out of control and you might wind up with a bit too much of this excellent protective substance. But you should just gently work to persuade your body to be a little less over-protective, that’s all. But being alive and healthy is a good thing. And your fat is a part of what makes that possible. So no more fat hate.
Um, WHAT? Wasn’t it only a moment ago that Mrs. Obama was all, “oh, childhood obesity, change our food supply, make our poor fat children lose weight, lifetime of ill health, diabetes, heart disease,” and all that noise? Oh, but somehow, as we pass through puberty it magically now becomes about “how we feel about ourselves?” Pick a story, lady! Pick a story and stick with it.
