On how Being a Fat Girl > Being an Idiot
There's a great outrage spinning around the internet this week over a blog on the Marie Claire site. I'm not going to link to it, because I think, as always, the outrage has drawn more hits to the site than any blog would get for the magazine itself.
Like, am I the only one who didn't know this magazine was still being published before yesterday?
But suffice it to say that the blog in question was "written" by a self-proclaimed anorexic who equated being fat to being an alcoholic or heroine addict. She literally said that a fat person walking across the room disturbed her in the same way as watching a drunk stumble across a bar or a heroin addict slump in a chair.
Don't you just love her already?
The blog was written ("written") poorly, was strikingly unedited, and carried a Mean-Girls-esque tone SO mock worthy, that out of 1000 replies, probably 80% of them were sarcasm deluxe.
But all of that aside, here's the thing...
Somewhere along the way we lost track of reality. I couldn't tell you when it happened or why, but during the last few decades and up to this very day, both women and men are expected to allow their self image to be determined by their body image. This is so not okay.
Look, I've been a fat girl most of my life. The fact is that I love food and I don't like to move. There are other reasons, such has hormone levels, genetics, thyroid issues and blah blah blah. But the fact remains that all of my favorite activities are sedentary, and all the activities that count as exercise (except for maybe yoga) are not fun for me. As I gained weight it got worse. If you can imagine how hard it is to hike up a mountain, now imagine it with an extra 50-100+ pounds strapped to your body.
Some people look at me and think I'm lazy. Some look at my shopping cart or dinner plate and judge how much or what I'm eating. I've learned to live with that. But the truth is, the majority of the people who see me dismiss me entirely--as I do to them. Why? Because they don't know me, and it just doesn't matter.
My body has very little to do with who I am.
Sure, sometimes it's a little embarrassing (like when I'm gasping my way up three flights of stairs) or there's something I want to do that I can't. It's also really frustrating to find clothes, and carrying this weight is really hard on my body health-wise. But none of that is me.
My body does not define me.
It took me a REALLY LONG TIME to come to that, but it's the truth. And most people who know me in person and who have hung out with me in real life love me.
Why?
Because I'm awesome. And me being awesome has nothing at all to do with the shape of my body. That comes from my brain, and the stunning beauty that is me being fully and completely me.
So, if I were to write a letter to Marie Claire, it would look something like this:
Dear MC,
The one thing worse than being a fat girl is being a mean, spiteful, soulless bully. Because I can always lose the weight, but you'll be an idiot forever.
Yours in going back to ignoring your existence,
Me.
Like, am I the only one who didn't know this magazine was still being published before yesterday?
But suffice it to say that the blog in question was "written" by a self-proclaimed anorexic who equated being fat to being an alcoholic or heroine addict. She literally said that a fat person walking across the room disturbed her in the same way as watching a drunk stumble across a bar or a heroin addict slump in a chair.
Don't you just love her already?
The blog was written ("written") poorly, was strikingly unedited, and carried a Mean-Girls-esque tone SO mock worthy, that out of 1000 replies, probably 80% of them were sarcasm deluxe.
But all of that aside, here's the thing...
Somewhere along the way we lost track of reality. I couldn't tell you when it happened or why, but during the last few decades and up to this very day, both women and men are expected to allow their self image to be determined by their body image. This is so not okay.
Look, I've been a fat girl most of my life. The fact is that I love food and I don't like to move. There are other reasons, such has hormone levels, genetics, thyroid issues and blah blah blah. But the fact remains that all of my favorite activities are sedentary, and all the activities that count as exercise (except for maybe yoga) are not fun for me. As I gained weight it got worse. If you can imagine how hard it is to hike up a mountain, now imagine it with an extra 50-100+ pounds strapped to your body.
Some people look at me and think I'm lazy. Some look at my shopping cart or dinner plate and judge how much or what I'm eating. I've learned to live with that. But the truth is, the majority of the people who see me dismiss me entirely--as I do to them. Why? Because they don't know me, and it just doesn't matter.
My body has very little to do with who I am.
Sure, sometimes it's a little embarrassing (like when I'm gasping my way up three flights of stairs) or there's something I want to do that I can't. It's also really frustrating to find clothes, and carrying this weight is really hard on my body health-wise. But none of that is me.
My body does not define me.
It took me a REALLY LONG TIME to come to that, but it's the truth. And most people who know me in person and who have hung out with me in real life love me.
Why?
Because I'm awesome. And me being awesome has nothing at all to do with the shape of my body. That comes from my brain, and the stunning beauty that is me being fully and completely me.
So, if I were to write a letter to Marie Claire, it would look something like this:
Dear MC,
The one thing worse than being a fat girl is being a mean, spiteful, soulless bully. Because I can always lose the weight, but you'll be an idiot forever.
Yours in going back to ignoring your existence,
Me.