big fat feminist

waketopolis:

I find posts like this irritating. As someone who is overweight and who grew up overweight, I never let it bring me down. I didn’t ask people out as a child or a teenager because /I/ wasn’t attracted to them. I didn’t and don’t care about fat jokes on TV. I was taught that how you see yourself is how other will see you. And I saw myself as a good person, a human being with faults and morals just like everyone else. That was and is how I conduct myself: As acting like the person /I/ see myself as. If people don’t want to appreciate that, I don’t want anything to do with them. And that’s how I’ve always been. 
People are far too obsessed with what others’ opinions are. Who gives two shits? Opinions are like asswholes. Everyone’s got ‘em. Put on your rubber boots and get ready to wade through some nasty shit. Don’t let other people pass judgement on you. 

What a coincidence! I find people like you irritating. 

Please understand that your lived experience speaks for no one else’s and that you are contributing to shame culture by essentially telling people who are the victims of systematic and rewarded bullying to suck it up. That is deplorable, and you should be ashamed of yourself.

graceyu:

Because I was horrified to discover that when you said “small government”, you meant “small enough to fit in your uterus.”

dianoetic:

I think people are scared of body positive people, especially fat women. It makes everything they’ve ever known and been taught about beauty a lie. If we didn’t shame fat women, how would we feel better about ourselves? What would we laugh at during romantic comedies or cartoon shows? How could we force them to have to buy more expensive clothes because straight sized stores don’t have anything over a size 12? How would diet companies make their money? What would we call other women we hate? How could we sleep at night without the “ideal goal” of bodily perfection on the horizon (if only I could stop eating carbs/count calories/go to the gym etc. etc.)?

We are taught to hate our bodies, mold them to “perfection”, be a cookie cutter size, shape, and weight. I see an endless cycle of mothers, sisters, aunts, and grandmothers who project this onto younger girls— “no one will marry you if you’re fat” “why can’t you be like your thin sister?” “you need to be on this diet to be pretty” and so forth. “Fat” is considered one of the worst things you can be called, as a woman. We are taught that fat =/= sexy and that lessens our worth as women. We are taught to cover rolls, hide fat arms, avoid this material, avoid that color, get rock hard abs before bikini season— why? Why?

Because loving ourselves makes other self conscious people uncomfortable. I have seen so many posts on tumblr of “I’m a little chubby myself and I worry about this obese person’s health. HAES is making people unhealthy!” No, it doesn’t. It gives women courage to love themselves, despite all the negativity we receive. If a person you don’t know has high blood pressure or diabetes, why does it matter to you? It doesn’t. Thin people can have these diseases, too (omg shock!!!) Self conscious people just want to shame fat people into losing weight without looking like assholes.

Well, guess what? We’re on to you. Your faux health concern does nothing to hide your scorn. “Healthy = beautiful” is ableist and gross and wrong. Before you pass judgment on someone— anyone— take a good look at yourself. Look deep inside. Maybe body positivity is something that will help you.

Compiled with help from Neil Gaiman and his bazillions of followers.

Please note I haven’t read all of these. I’m literally going off what a bunch of people on Twitter told me. I asked specifically for YA titles, so there are mostly those in this list. All age brackets open to interpretation, of course! Apparently, in some of these the characters lose weight, but I’ve weeded out the ones that were suggested and obviously weren’t (based on description) what I was looking for with this resource list.

Hope this helps, readers and parents out there. :)

CHILDREN’S (AGE 0-10)
Real Mermaids Don’t Wear Toe Rings by Hélène Boudreau
Mercy Watson to the Rescue by Kate DiCamillo
My Great Big Mamma by Olivier Ka

YOUNG ADULT (AGE 11-18)
The Lewis Barnavelt Series by John Bellairs and Brad Strickland
The Mystery Of… Series by Enid Blighton
Staying Fat For Sara Byrnes by Chris Crutcher 
Jennifer Murdley’s Toad by Bruce Coville 
The Neverending Story by Michael Ende
Half World by Hiromi Goto
Will Grayson, Will Grayson by John Green and David Levithan
An Abundance of Katherines by John Green
Fat Kid Rules the World by KL Goings
Wildside by Steven Gould 
Guardian of the Dead by Karen Healey 
The Three Investigators Series by Alfred Hitchcock 
The Earth, My Butt, and Other Big Round Things by Carolyn Mackler  
Winding Circle Series by Tamora Pierce *NOTE: Apparently a lot of Pierce’s stuff has positively-portrayed overweight characters! This is just the first one that was suggested.
Alan Mendehlson, the Boy From Mars by Daniel Pinkwater 
Enclave by Kit Reed
Demon Lexicon Series by Sarah Rees Brennan
Holes by Louis Sachar
The Fat Girl by Marilyn Sachs
Skim by Mariko Tamaki 

ADULT ADULT? I DON’T KNOW, BOOKS YOU WON’T FIND IN THE YA SECTION.
Size 12 Series by Meg Cabot
The Soldier Son Trilogy by Robin Hobb

Edit: Please know that this list is not intended to be a shortlist of books that will inspire teens to lose weight. At all. This is a list of books that will, hopefully, show them that they’re not less human just because they’re fat. We get little enough positive media exposure - books are a good place to start.

shakethecobwebs:

When it comes to feminism, I aim to acknowledge intersectionality and the fact that all people have lived experiences, even when they are privileged.

The trouble is, every now and then a thin person comes along and says “but one time someone told me to eat a sandwich and that’s totally just as bad as never being represented in the media, being told that you’re dirty, stupid, lazy, disgusting, unhealthy, and unworthy of love, being dismissed by doctors and lovers and friends as nothing more than a failed body project with no self discipline and being told on a daily basis that you take up too much space and the world would be better if you didn’t exist!”

The phrase that best describes my point of view when it comes to body-shaming and policing is the Health At Every Size (HAES) motto of “All bodies are good bodies.” Yet I find myself, time and time again, fighting for people of all body types, only to continue being dismissed for my body.

Oh, it’s inspiring for a “fat” girl to post a picture of herself half-naked, but actually letting her talk about the problems she faces on a daily basis, especially those perpetuated by thin people? HOW DARE YOU. (Pssst. I see you putting the word ‘fat’ in quotations because you think fat is an insult and you don’t feel comfortable with me calling myself that. I see you. Stop that.)

I remember the first time I saw a picture of a fat person, half-naked, that wasn’t meant to be some cruel joke or an example of how not-to-be. I was 18 years old. It took me that long to find a picture of Beth Ditto peering into a mirror, in nothing but her underwear - her manicured fingers seductively tracing her lips, while a male model faced the camera. I was enthralled. I was ashamed and empowered, curious and afraid. Who was this remarkable woman? How could she have done such a thing? She’s gorgeous, but god, isn’t she afraid? I would be.

Fast-forward a couple years. I’m active on Tumblr. I’m learning about body-politics. I’m in awe of fatshion bloggers. I buy Lessons from the Fat-O-Sphere and a shirt that says “Fat! So?” I’ve found something that speaks to me. I’ve found a space that makes me feel safe and accepted and normal. I’ve found a platform where I can share my ideas, hopes, dreams, and experiences with people who understand where I’m coming from. They know what it’s like to have to travel hours to be able to find a cute store that carries clothing in their size. They know what it’s like to be told that they don’t deserve love because they are fat. They know what it’s like to be abused physically and mentally and emotionally because someone doesn’t like their body. They know what it’s like to not be able to watch television for ten goddamned minutes without being told that their fat needs to be controlled! and eliminated! and melted! and blasted away!

There are things that I face, and have faced for years, on a daily basis, that a thin person will never have to think twice about.

• Is the chair attached to the desk? It is. Shit. I’ll sit in the back so no one notices how uncomfortable I am.
• My friends want to go shopping for prom dresses. I can go, but I’ll have to tell them that I already found one, so I don’t have to actually look for dresses in my size when I’m with them. (They’ll either be out of my size, or the dresses will be matronly.) 
• Go to a friend’s house for dinner. Mom says “Oh, it’s a diet drink. You’ve probably never heard of it.” 
• Friends want to take an impromptu road-trip in one car. Try to figure out how to choose the front seat every time without pissing everyone off. 
• School holds a health seminar in the gym. You have to go to every station. Spend the entire seminar worried for when you get to the weigh-in table, because you know they’re going to read the number out loud.

These are few and far between, though. I can’t see a movie with a person who looks like me. Or, if I do, their character is only based on their weight, and how horrible it must be to be fat. I’ve never seen porn with a woman who has a body like mine. I’ve never read a book with an awesome fat character. I don’t see fat people portrayed positively in magazines on a regular basis. 

My weight is seen as taboo. My weight is seen as something I need to compensate for. My weight is seen as a hindrance. If my body isn’t being criticized, it’s being fetishized. Even the men who are attracted to bodies like mine feel ashamed. They feel ashamed because they want to like “normal” girls. (Fuck you guys for that, by the way. I don’t have time for you.) Even my ex boyfriend, who became interested in fat politics because of me, has moments where he’s used people’s weight against them. He has thin privilege, and you better believe that made parts of our relationship tough as fuck. 

Now, all that being said, I want to tell you why I say things like “fuck you and your thin-privilege.” First off, I don’t care that it upsets you. Sometimes we need to get upset so we can ask ourselves why we’re upset in the first place. When I have discussions with thin people on why they think it’s “no big deal” that fat people are oppressed, but I bring up their body-size, they immediately turn to “OMG WHAT DOES MY BODY HAVE TO DO WITH ANYTHING.” This is because their body-size isn’t usually brought into the conversation when talking about their intelligence, motivations, success, and worth. But guess what? MINE IS. Every. Single. Time. You feel violated when I suggest that we take your thinness into account, but when I explain to you that my fat body is used against me in conversations on a daily basis, you write it off as “well everyone gets bullied so deal with it.” Or the ever-popular “well, if you just lost weight, it wouldn’t happen.”

Exactly. If I looked like you, it wouldn’t happen. If my body was more like yours, it wouldn’t happen. But I don’t look like you, my body isn’t like yours, and it keeps happening. 

I shouldn’t have to alter my body to be afforded basic respect. I shouldn’t have to alter my body for someone to listen to what I have to say. 

Telling you that combating my oppression is more important to me than your privilege does not make me prejudiced. It does not make me “mean.” It means that I’m standing up for myself.

It means that I’m saying I want you all to feel beautiful, but that fat people deserve to feel human first. 

This. This. This. This.

note-a-bear:

So there are groups that do this, they stay in highly policed areas on shifts and bring cameras and such, and record to make sure police brutality doesn’t escalate, and when it happens there’s evidence against it.

But that’s not the only way it can happen.

Every single person is entitled to watch an arrest go down as long as they are not obstructing or interfering. That means, if you see cops bumrush someone, even if that person is waving a gun, you are allowed, even legally permitted and encouraged to watch the events occur.

This is important white folks, because the cops work inyourservice. Oh sure, they’re supposedly in the service of “the common good” but we all know that means protecting white people.

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And now a story, when I was in high school, and my mom was working under a horrific principal, she was late to work one day because there was something going on in our neighborhood. Cops were gathered near our pharmacy and a guy was on the roof (it’s a little over one story, so he wasn’t a jumper or anything) and she stayed as long as she could and watched the scenario go down for a while. Not because she’s trifling. not because she’s nosy. But because she saw a POC and cops gathered and said to herself “I want to make sure this goes by the book.”

And that’s all it takes to be a cop watcher.

You acknowledge that you, as a white person, are in a relative position of safety and you watch. You bear witness, because your voice, unfortunately, carries more weight than ours in the criminal justice system.

Justice is not blind, nor should you be.

If there are cops, and they outnumber an individual, shit, even if it’s 1:1, it is your responsibility to keep an eye on the scenario and take down whatever information you can. And if it looks like something shady is going on, you areobligatedto call in to your local precinct and say “Listen, I saw X happen on Y, and it looked questionable.” And if you get a negative response, well, y’know what? You find out if there’s a civilian oversight committee. In NYC we have one, but they’re underfunded and continually being legislated against (currently there’s a statute of 18 months from the time of the event within which you have to file charges).

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If the prospect of keeping vigilant about cops scares you, imagine being a POC, and knowing that no matter what you do, you could be railroaded by a system that wants to not only disenfranchise you, but has no intentions of treating you as a human being.

Take your fears and shove ‘em down, because they’ll never be anything when compared to what we face on a daily basis.

• Bodies are hairy. No matter the gender, your face will have hair and that is more than okay.
• Your butthole is going to have some hair too. And maybe your nipples. And your tummy. And where ever else.
• Stretch marks. Those are a thing. Everyone gets ‘em. If you don’t, you probably don’t have skin.
• Vaginas smell. Every vagina has a scent. Don’t worry about it! (Unless something seems wrong, then go get it checked out! No need to feel embarrassed or ashamed.)
• Vaginas come in all different shapes, sizes, colors, flavors. All are beautiful.
• Penises come in all different shapes, sizes, colors, flavors. All are beautiful.
• You don’t need to shave anything if you don’t want to. It’s tooootally not mandatory. 
• Sometimes people get butt acne. 
• You can have a vagina and want short hair and think dresses are just the worst.
• You can have a penis and want long hair and think dresses are just the best. 
• You can wear whatever you want and style your hair however you want.
• You can even think whatever the hell you want.
• People might tell you that you are a girl because you have a vagina. People might tell you that you are a boy because you have a penis. People will tell you what your gender is. But in reality, you don’t have to be that gender. You don’t have to be either of those genders. 
• You are what you are and it’s just the worst thing if you try and hide that.

milkeemountainmama:

i am emotionally very very sick right now, and i can’t handle tumblr at this moment. but before i sign off for good (or at least continue on with “all korra all the time” tumblring—

i have to say the most compassionate thing i can muster at the moment.

white folks—please. for the love of god, *please*—make it your duty, your activist social justice duty, to remember, nourish, reclaim, and politicize your humanity. please. it is only through your humanity that you will learn to feel appalled at what is being done to us. it is only through your humanity that you won’t find chicken jokes funny in the face of a grieving mother.

please, please—fuck reclaiming words. fuck occupying your local city.

sit your ass in front of grief, and let it overwhelm you. let it destroy you. let it remind you. let it build your own damn bridge to other human beings. to your own humanity. to compassion. build your bridge with humanity. and compassion.

please for the love of god, please.

you’re destroying us all and pretty soon the only ones left to destroy will be you.

vaginawoolf:

A call to end police brutality against transgender women

clockworkesper:

Kuwaiti police have tortured and sexually abused transgender women using a discriminatory law, passed in 2007, which arbitrarily criminalizes “imitating the opposite sex,” Human Rights Watch said in a report released today. The government of Kuwait should repeal the law, article 198 as amended in 2007, and hold police officers accountable for misconduct.

The 63-page report, “‘They Hunt us Down for Fun’: Discrimination and Police Violence Against Transgender Women in Kuwait,” documents the physical, sexual, and emotional abuse and persecution that transgender women – individuals who are born male, but identify as female – have faced at the hands of police. The report also documents the discrimination that transgender women have faced on a daily basis – including by members of the public – as a result of the law, an amendment to penal code article 198. Based on interviews with 40 transgender women, as well as with ministry of interior officials, lawyers, doctors, and members of Kuwaiti civil society, the report found that the arbitrary, ill-defined provisions of the law has allowed for numerous abuses to take place.

why does this have no notes