Yes, I'm fat. What about it?
Dec. 11th, 2010 02:24 am![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
jadedmusingsI did my holiday shopping today with Sam's mom and his youngest sister who is about 19. And what good is holiday shopping if you can't go to Cato and buy something for yourself too?
Anyway, while we're trying on clothes in our little dressing rooms, I made some sort of statement about myself and used the word fat. That's when Sam's sister piped up and said:
"You're not fat, you're pleasantly plump."
Now, growing up in the South, I've heard this phrase too many times to count growing up, and it bothered me then and it bothers me now. Also, I happen to know Sam's mom and sister are doing Weight Watchers and are constantly talking about how many points some food item is worth and they'll guiltily admit to "cheating" over Thanksgiving. These things just happened to strike a nerve.
So, from the dressing room while I'm putting my size 16W and 18W pants back on the hanger, I say, "No, honey, I'm fat and there's nothing wrong with being fat."
I mentioned how I thought I was huge in high school, and while I wasn't exactly a beanpole, I look back on my pictures now and I think, "Oh my god, I was so pretty. Why did I let everyone around me make me believe otherwise?" I'm bigger now than I was then. I said now that I'm about to turn 30, I've only got the one body and I may as well love it. So what if I'm fat? I've still got an amazing boyfriend who loves me as I am and who just so happens to use adjectives such as "sexy" and "attractive" to describe me. Other men have said it too as have one or two women who were so inclined. This body has been through a great deal, and this fat body still managed to produce a healthy baby who is now a happy, active, and healthy child.
I am a fat woman. F-A-T, fat. There's no way around it. I have no plans to go on any sort of diet, having been turned off them when it was suggested I try Weight Watchers when I was 12 years old, and what a horrible experience that was. My great-grandmother was fat. I even have a picture of her from the 1930s, you know, when there was that whole Great Depression thing happening. She has the double-chin and everything. My mother is fat and still goes on a different diet every other week. The women on my father's side of the family have always been described as "hippy," "curvy," and other words that are apparently politer than saying, "Yeah, they're fat."
And before there's a string of, "BUT WHAT ABOUT YOUR HEALTH???" stop. My health is my business and between me and a medical professional. Just because I'm fat doesn't mean I'm on the verge of death, nor am I dying some slow death from all this death fat.
And because this is related, here it is again:
Anyway, while we're trying on clothes in our little dressing rooms, I made some sort of statement about myself and used the word fat. That's when Sam's sister piped up and said:
"You're not fat, you're pleasantly plump."
Now, growing up in the South, I've heard this phrase too many times to count growing up, and it bothered me then and it bothers me now. Also, I happen to know Sam's mom and sister are doing Weight Watchers and are constantly talking about how many points some food item is worth and they'll guiltily admit to "cheating" over Thanksgiving. These things just happened to strike a nerve.
So, from the dressing room while I'm putting my size 16W and 18W pants back on the hanger, I say, "No, honey, I'm fat and there's nothing wrong with being fat."
I mentioned how I thought I was huge in high school, and while I wasn't exactly a beanpole, I look back on my pictures now and I think, "Oh my god, I was so pretty. Why did I let everyone around me make me believe otherwise?" I'm bigger now than I was then. I said now that I'm about to turn 30, I've only got the one body and I may as well love it. So what if I'm fat? I've still got an amazing boyfriend who loves me as I am and who just so happens to use adjectives such as "sexy" and "attractive" to describe me. Other men have said it too as have one or two women who were so inclined. This body has been through a great deal, and this fat body still managed to produce a healthy baby who is now a happy, active, and healthy child.
I am a fat woman. F-A-T, fat. There's no way around it. I have no plans to go on any sort of diet, having been turned off them when it was suggested I try Weight Watchers when I was 12 years old, and what a horrible experience that was. My great-grandmother was fat. I even have a picture of her from the 1930s, you know, when there was that whole Great Depression thing happening. She has the double-chin and everything. My mother is fat and still goes on a different diet every other week. The women on my father's side of the family have always been described as "hippy," "curvy," and other words that are apparently politer than saying, "Yeah, they're fat."
And before there's a string of, "BUT WHAT ABOUT YOUR HEALTH???" stop. My health is my business and between me and a medical professional. Just because I'm fat doesn't mean I'm on the verge of death, nor am I dying some slow death from all this death fat.
And because this is related, here it is again:
no subject
Date: 2010-12-12 07:13 am (UTC)I still support conscious self-labeling, though.
no subject
Date: 2010-12-12 06:32 pm (UTC)Or maybe I'm just getting old and crotchety. ;)