big fat feminist

Scroll to Info & Navigation

love is for children.: I'm gonna make a game where thin people have to go a store and find an outfit for someone who is a size 26/28.»

shakethecobwebs:

tall-thin-and-gorgeous:

shakethecobwebs:

Rules:

  • It has to be cute, trendy, current
  • It has to be under $50
  • I’m talking a shirt, pants, and shoes, but accessories are optional
  • And you can’t go to the clearance section, ‘cause that’s cheating. (You can find a full-priced outfit at Forever 21 including shoes and accessories for under $50 as a straight-sized person, for instance.)

And because the average US woman is a size 14 or above (aka plus sized) this shouldn’t be a problem, right?

Do the same for me.
Go to Goodwill, because that’s where I shop. 
Find jeans that are long enough and that are size 1 that fit over my hips. Skinny or boot cut, doesn’t necessarily have to be “trendy and new” because hey it’s a thrift store. 
Find me shoes that fit me, but good luck with that because I have averaged sized feet and at a thrift store those average sizes are hard to find.

Good luck finding size 1 jeans there too, because most of America is much larger than a size 1.

This shouldn’t be a problem, right? 

Oh, okay. You wanna talk Goodwill? Let’s fucking talk Goodwill. 

Goodwill: The place where Plus Sizes and Maternity clothes are all lumped together. ‘Cause you can’t be fat unless you’re pregnant, right? 

Or maybe it’s because Plus Sizes are arbitrary and confusing, and they don’t want to force their workers to have to understand the difference between all the different X’s. You know, how XXL isn’t the same as a 2X. Or how, for some reason, thin people get numbers but at a certain point, fat people have to use letters, because they really want to hammer that idea home that we are “extra.” That we exist outside the lines. That we don’t fit inside what they are calling “normal.” 

Finally, when you choose to swallow your dignity (because they figure you’re swallowing everything else, so why not have to force that down too?) you walk over to the one rack, the one section for Fat and Pregnant people. The rest of the store? Rows upon rows upon rows of clothes. The fat section? You’re lucky if you get more than two racks. 

Maybe that’s because a lot of fat people are conditioned to hate shopping. Maybe that’s because clothes literally aren’t made for us, and if we give up the ones we have - even if they’re too old, or no longer trendy, or they don’t quite fit like they used to, we’ll be forced to go shopping again - because, uh, people have to wear clothes. And we know we’ll have to go spend $40 fucking dollars on a shitty t-shirt with a picture of butterflies bedazzled onto the left side. 

The difference between your shitty attempt at trying to ~*prove the fat girl wrong~* is this: You. Can. Find. An. Outfit. Anywhere. Clothes are made to fit bodies like yours. You can walk into any store in the mall and find SOMETHING that will fit you, whether you particularly like it or not. Fat people CANNOT DO THAT. I’m not saying they have to fit you perfectly. I’m not saying that you can find the perfect pair of jeans every time. BUT. IT. WILL. FIT. YOUR. BODY. At a certain point (and a small one, considering the average sizes of people in the US) clothing manufacturers stop making clothes for certain sizes, the sizes they *do* make are never the same size across companies and brands, and they are overpriced as fuck - not because it takes more material and labor, but because they know that they are fulfilling a “special need” and that they can hike up the prices and have people pay them. 

Now - let me ask you this. At the end of the day, after not being able to find clothes you like, what kinds of girls are pictured on magazines? In movies? On runways? In music videos? In books? On television? Is it fat women? And I’m not talkin’ size 14 women. I’m talkin’ size 28, fat ass, big belly, double-triple chin fat women? Hell fucking no. And you know what? It’s not the size 14 women either. Talking about “average sizes” size 16 is the size of the average woman in the us. I cannot think of a SINGLE SHOW (not meant to dehumanize and degrade fat people, or is specifically about fat people) that has a cast of nearly all women who are a size 16 and up. Not one show. 

When you go home from a hard day of shopping at Goodwill (laughing so hard that I can barely type that sentence) you are fucking met with encouragement from every media source that EXISTS saying that YOUR BODY is the ideal body, that people should strive to look like YOU, that your body is the embodiment of BEAUTY. And you really wanna sit there and tell me that our experiences are comparable in any way? 

That you not being able to find some shoes at Goodwill is the same as me not being able to find clothes that will fit my body AT ALL? You really wanna sit there and say that a mall full of HUNDREDS OF STORES only having one or two (IF WE’RE LUCKY) that are specifically for fat people is the same as your special snowflake ass not being able to find SHOES at GOODWILL?

Just, bye.

Go away.

Sit in a corner.

Think about your life.

red3blog:

Let us be clear about something. Medical equipment that cannot accommodate fat bodies does not have to be that way. Fat bodies are not some divine mystery that human science cannot fathom. If the health care establishment cared to accommodate fat bodies, then fat bodies would be accommodated. It really is that simple. An medical industrial complex that denies access to fat bodies is not a natural phenomenon. It is a choice. And we should damn well respond to as such. A lot of oppression and marginalization tries to pass itself off as just how things are. Just something we have to accept. Bullshit. These things are choices. They are decisions. They are priorities revealed.

Case in point? Once it was “understood” that fat people cannot be anesthetized. Hell, a lot of doctors still think that today and I gather a lot of anesthesiologists are still allowed to not know how to treat fat patients. But when the health care establishment thought up the various organ mutilation and amputations marketed as weight loss surgery, you will not be surprised they figured out how to put a fat person under very quickly. Because it was never impossible. Just something they didn’t care to learn. Same as why they direct most research to be performed on white male patients. Because they don’t care to learn how things might effect women or people of color differently. They made the choice. Don’t let them pretend they didn’t.

Pay attention to this, it’s important.

The medical world isn’t in stasis, ever. In fact, if you can’t keep up with how it changes, you will never be more than a mediocre doctor — and a dangerously mediocre one at that. Research is being done constantly, new perspectives and points of view are being brought in, and breakthroughs are being made — constantly. This is true in human medicine and in veterinary medicine.

Medical professionals and, more importantly, the companies that sponsor conferences and manufacture equipment, medication*, textbooks, and medical literature have agendas. The people working for them have agendas. They have biases. They have privileges. 

Case in point: symptoms of heart attack in women are often drastically different than those in men, but because we’ve all learned the symptoms of heart attack in men, many women don’t recognize when they’re having one. That shit is dangerous. 

If you are aware that history books don’t tell the whole story because they have been traditionally written by white heterosexual men, you should be aware of the way that same lens has affected the medical world. Mind you, I am by no means suggesting you shouldn’t seek medical help if you need it, or that the medical world is a load of bullshit (it’s not). But it puts you in good standing to be open-minded about the information you’re absorbing.

*If anyone turns this into a “NO MEDICATION EVER THE PHARMACEUTICAL COMPANIES ARE BRAINWASHING AND HURTING US ALL!!” thing, I will find you. The system of pharmaceutical medicine is totally broken, but please don’t act like people with serious medical or mental disorders don’t need medication. Like, for real. Knock it off.

(via redefiningbodyimage)

OKAY I THINK EVERYONE ON THIS SITE NEEDS TO REPEAT AFTER ME:

bapgeek:

thebeginningofhealthy:

strider-sister:

  • the solution to misogyny IS NOT misandry
  • the solution to negative body images IS NOT calling thin girls “ugly”
  • the solution to racism IS NOT targeting white people
  • the solution to homophobia IS NOT hating straight people
  • the solution to transphobia IS NOT hating cisgendered people
  • THE SOLUTION TO OPPRESSION IS NOT BY OPPRESSING MORE PEOPLE

THANK YOU.

Sorry, but no. All of the people you are saying are part of the “oppressing more people” group are NOT being oppressed. They are the oppressors.  They are the majority.  Women cannot oppress men. POCs cannot oppress White people. Queer people cannot oppress straight people. Fat people cannot oppress thin people.  Men, white people, thin people, cis people, straight people, and any combination of the above ALL have culpability in the oppression of marginalized groups, be it directly or indirectly.  We all live with the negative effects of euro-centric, puritanical colonialism, and no amount of “we all bleed red” whinging will change that.

And I say this as a cis, straight, able-bodied, Black woman: if queer or trans or disabled folks want to throw a little shade my way, I can handle it. They have every right to say “i cant stand straight people!” or “stfu cis folks!”  Why? Because those words are usually spoken in frustration and anger of having to deal with day-to-day, moment-by-moment oppression.  I don’t get my panties in a bunch when a disabled person vents about some bullshit an able-bodied person put them thru. I don’t chime in with “but not all able-bodied people are like that!”  Because I know it’s not about ME per se, it’s about the system that marginalizes and oppresses them on the daily. A system from which I benefit in many ways.

Oppression is privilege + power, so these marginalized groups have little to no power to actually oppress majority groups.  I have privilege + power compared to a queer person. I have privilege + power compared to a trans person. I have privilege + power compared to a disabled person. It doesn’t make me a bad person or evil.  It just makes me privileged.

Pointing out that you have privilege doesn’t mean you are being oppressed. it means you are being asked to examine how —despite whatever struggles you have had in life— how much more difficult your life would be if you were also a person of color, and/or queer and/or disabled and/or fat and/or trans and/or poor. It’s called intersectionality.  Google it.

It is not my place to tell anyone who is part of a marginalized group how to deal with their oppression, and neither is it yours. It IS my job to shut the fuck up and listen to what they have to say.

Preach.

You know, I’m actually not. Apologism is justifying or excusing the problematic or hurtful things that people do as if the good things that they do cancel them out. I don’t do that. I don’t think that Jennifer Lawrence, for instance, should be excused for the transphobic things she’s said. I don’t think that Taylor Swift’s slut-shaming and sex negativity should be glossed over or never talked about. I don’t think that Daniel Tosh and Seth Macfarlane and The Onion should be excused because “it’s humor” and humor is different, or whatever. I don’t think that Lena Dunham’s or Caitlin Moran’s racist comments should be ignored, nor Amy Poehler’s repeated fatphobia in her writing on Parks and Rec, nor that the domestic abuse that celebrity men in Hollywood have committed should be ignored. I think all of these should be talked about and hashed through and that people are responsible for their actions, period. (I also think women are often targeted more harshly than men, but that’s another conversation entirely). The discourse Tumblr prefers simplifies people to “good” and “bad” and has a tendency to demonize. There’s certainly no room for nuance or subjectivity or empathy in that discourse (and in some situations — rape, abuse, hate crimes or hate speech — there shouldn’t be). And, frankly, I don’t like it. I think it stymies learning and alienates those that need the help the most — and by that I don’t mean allies, but people who need movements and are just starting their journey into them. Not everyone starts a Tumblog with a textbook expertise of privilege theory and what it means. What about the queer teenager who has just figured out they’re trans* and loves Jennifer Lawrence? What about the kids that the It Gets Better project have actually helped? What about the countless girls who need to hear messages that skinny isn’t the only thing they can be, and isn’t the most important thing they have to be? If they get those messages from Lena Dunham or Jennifer Lawrence, does that make those messages less valuable? Hell, if you finally internalize that you’re good enough, and the person who made you believe that was Dan Savage or Lady Gaga, does that mean that belief about yourself is invalid or less valuable because it came from a hugely problematic source? I dunno, I don’t think it does. The vast majority of people aren’t just good or bad. They’re a mix of the good and the bad. I’ve done shit I am not proud of. Everyone I know has done shit they’re not proud of, that has hurt other people or perpetuated harmful beliefs or supported a part of our culture that oppresses someone else. And everybody — everybody — has privilege of a kind. Privilege in and of itself doesn’t make people scum. And those who are the most privileged (and many celebrities are hitting the top rungs, there) have the most work to do to unpack that privilege. It’s a learning curve that not all of them are capable of. Frankly (and I think people forget this) it’s a learning curve that many people aren’t exposed to in this framework.  The social justice parts of Tumblr are a unique place because they provide a framework for privilege education that simply doesn’t exist in many other places. TL;DR: I think it’s important to task people — celebrities included — to do the work to be more empathetic citizens of the world (which is, actually, a phrase that I get a ton of secondhand embarrassment from, but I can’t think of a better one at the moment). I don’t think it’s worthwhile, useful, or fair to pretend that people exist only as “good” or “bad.” And, to state the painfully obvious explicitly, if anyone ever tries to justify a rape or domestic abuse to me, I will break your nose. 

You know, I’m actually not.

Apologism is justifying or excusing the problematic or hurtful things that people do as if the good things that they do cancel them out. I don’t do that. I don’t think that Jennifer Lawrence, for instance, should be excused for the transphobic things she’s said. I don’t think that Taylor Swift’s slut-shaming and sex negativity should be glossed over or never talked about. I don’t think that Daniel Tosh and Seth Macfarlane and The Onion should be excused because “it’s humor” and humor is different, or whatever. I don’t think that Lena Dunham’s or Caitlin Moran’s racist comments should be ignored, nor Amy Poehler’s repeated fatphobia in her writing on Parks and Rec, nor that the domestic abuse that celebrity men in Hollywood have committed should be ignored.

I think all of these should be talked about and hashed through and that people are responsible for their actions, period. (I also think women are often targeted more harshly than men, but that’s another conversation entirely).

The discourse Tumblr prefers simplifies people to “good” and “bad” and has a tendency to demonize. There’s certainly no room for nuance or subjectivity or empathy in that discourse (and in some situations — rape, abuse, hate crimes or hate speech — there shouldn’t be). And, frankly, I don’t like it. I think it stymies learning and alienates those that need the help the most — and by that I don’t mean allies, but people who need movements and are just starting their journey into them. Not everyone starts a Tumblog with a textbook expertise of privilege theory and what it means. What about the queer teenager who has just figured out they’re trans* and loves Jennifer Lawrence? What about the kids that the It Gets Better project have actually helped? What about the countless girls who need to hear messages that skinny isn’t the only thing they can be, and isn’t the most important thing they have to be? If they get those messages from Lena Dunham or Jennifer Lawrence, does that make those messages less valuable? Hell, if you finally internalize that you’re good enough, and the person who made you believe that was Dan Savage or Lady Gaga, does that mean that belief about yourself is invalid or less valuable because it came from a hugely problematic source?

I dunno, I don’t think it does.

The vast majority of people aren’t just good or bad. They’re a mix of the good and the bad. I’ve done shit I am not proud of. Everyone I know has done shit they’re not proud of, that has hurt other people or perpetuated harmful beliefs or supported a part of our culture that oppresses someone else. And everybody — everybody — has privilege of a kind. Privilege in and of itself doesn’t make people scum. And those who are the most privileged (and many celebrities are hitting the top rungs, there) have the most work to do to unpack that privilege. It’s a learning curve that not all of them are capable of. Frankly (and I think people forget this) it’s a learning curve that many people aren’t exposed to in this framework. 

The social justice parts of Tumblr are a unique place because they provide a framework for privilege education that simply doesn’t exist in many other places.

TL;DR: I think it’s important to task people — celebrities included — to do the work to be more empathetic citizens of the world (which is, actually, a phrase that I get a ton of secondhand embarrassment from, but I can’t think of a better one at the moment). I don’t think it’s worthwhile, useful, or fair to pretend that people exist only as “good” or “bad.”

And, to state the painfully obvious explicitly, if anyone ever tries to justify a rape or domestic abuse to me, I will break your nose. 

I will never be Adam Lanza and also this titular meme is silly

pedertastic:

People are talking about how the rate of violent crimes in this country means we need to pay more attention to mental health. Studies show that in almost all cases of random shootings, the shooter was mentally ill.

These are not statements implying that most mentally ill people are violent, homicidal monsters. These are statements implying that most violent, homicidal “monsters” are mentally ill. There is a huge, inherent difference between those statements, a difference consisting of millions of people. It is the same as the difference between saying “most horses have four legs” and “most things with four legs are horses”.  The articles on this subject, such as “I Am Adam Lanza’s Mother”, have not noted that difference because it is OBVIOUS. 

I am a person who has experienced non-violent mental illness in the form of depression, anxiety, and PTSD. I am also a person who has experienced homicidal urges and fantasies, and I am allowed to categorize those thoughts as symptoms of mental illness. In fact, categorizing them as mental illness was essential to preventing and then recovering from them.

I do not appreciate that a community of people who claim to represent the rights of the mentally ill are “offended” that mental illness is being brought up in connection with violence, or think that publicly discussing my mental illness “dehumanizes” the rest of the community. I’m glad you think of me as less than human. Thank you. 

Instead of whining about how my visible status as a mentally ill person increases the “stigma” surrounding mental illness, why don’t you confront that stigma itself and its inherent fallacy, as it relates to all of us? 

As a chronic depressive, this is 100% how I feel.

“

“Excellent observations, Baronness. Veganism reminds me of a quote from H. L. Mencken: “For every complex problem there is an answer that is clear, simple, and wrong.”

It never ceases to amaze me how vegans can happily dig into a salad of totally unsustainable lettuce from Arizona, the production of which is depleting our precious aquifers, croutons made from totally unsustainable monocrop frankenwheat, and tomatoes grown in the fields of southwest Florida that federal prosecutors have referred to as “ground-zero for modern day slavery”, and then have the nerve to turn around and criticize even the most humanely and sustainably produced fully pastured meat because of “environmental and ethical concerns”.

Needless to say, I’m not exactly a fan of “factory farming”. But I honestly don’t see how you’re being any kinder or more environmentally responsible by choosing a salad from the average buffet or grocery store salad bar than you are by picking up a Tyson chicken from the meat case, vegan propaganda notwithstanding.”

”

http://www.huffingtonpost.com/social/honeybear64/vegan-bill-lou_b_2128952_207954633.html (via sabelmouse)

(via ceepers)

thisisthinprivilege:

Thin privilege is going to the hairdresser for a trim and not having your hair cut off because “fat girls never suit long hair”.

Before I found my current AMAZING hairdresser, I was often told that I shouldn’t cut my hair short because it would make my face look fatter/rounder.

Intersectionality moment: thin privilege is not being told your hair will affect how your weight appears to others; male privilege is not being told any of this shit; white privilege is being able to go into any salon and assume they know how to do your hair.