BIG GIRLS DON’T CRY
Oct. 15th, 2010 08:49 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
defrogIt’s no secret here at Team Def that I have been having a torrid and steamy affair with Ashley Graham for the past six months in my head. So this post might be a little biased, but why not? As Iron Bill Burroughs used to say, “I’m not running for office and I don’t have to respect anyone’s stupid opinions.”
Anyway ...
I’ve been enjoying the hell out of this article (glommed from![[livejournal.com profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/external/lj-userinfo.gif)
morlith and phoenixisrisen ) written in response to a short piece from Natasha Hughes of the Sydney Morning Herald that essentially advocates a “no fat chicks in bikinis” policy at public beaches in the name of “decency”.
To which Frances (creator of the blog Corpulent) says, “Fuck you, I’ll wear what I fucking well want to the beach and you’ll like it.”
I’m paraphrasing. Here’s what she actually says:
I like this. And I agree.
Sure, it’s a doomed cause, at least if the object is to change things. Decent Society is currently hardwired in a manner in which “beauty” is rewarded and “ugly” is fair game for ridicule and shame. I don’t think that’s ever going to change – too many people are just hopelessly shallow and cruel. There will always be fat jokes. And there’s too much money invested in the beauty industry, which makes its money by convincing women (and to a lesser extent guys) that if they don’t look like, say, Megan Fox, they need “fixing”. And far too many people who grew up insecure about themselves will be pressured into believing it.
But that doesn’t mean you have to take it.
Which is why I like Frances’ attitude. There’s something very punk-rock about not letting fashion “experts” and Decent Society tell you what you can and can’t wear, and refusing to let them dictate to you whether you meet the socially acceptable definition of “beautiful”. Fuck those people. You have every right to get sexy like they do. Learn to love yrself and stop worrying about what other people think. If you can’t change Decent Society’s aesthetic standards, yr still free to disregard them and enjoy yrself.
Easy to say, of course – much harder to do. It’s hard to get out there on the beach without constantly waiting for that other shoe to drop in the form of some offhand comment or snigger. I know these things – I like wearing the Speedos on the beach, even though I am aesthetically unqualified to wear them according to mainstream standards (especially in the US). And sometimes I still dread that ridicule that never comes but is always hovering in my peripheral vision.
The trick (for me, anyway) is to remember that you’ll never please everyone. You’ll always have critics. Haters gonna hate, as the kids say these days. So you might as well please yrself and focus on the people who dig you.
People like me.
Flaunt it,
This is dF
Anyway ...
I’ve been enjoying the hell out of this article (glommed from
morlith and phoenixisrisen ) written in response to a short piece from Natasha Hughes of the Sydney Morning Herald that essentially advocates a “no fat chicks in bikinis” policy at public beaches in the name of “decency”. To which Frances (creator of the blog Corpulent) says, “Fuck you, I’ll wear what I fucking well want to the beach and you’ll like it.”
I’m paraphrasing. Here’s what she actually says:
I cannot begin to tell you how much I despise the idea that all fatties (and indeed, anyone with bodies outside the beauty ideal) must shield the eyes of the poor, unsuspecting public from the offensiveness of their bodies. Listen and repeat after me: Life is not a beauty pageant. We do not exist to be aesthetically pleasing to the judgemental eyes of strangers.
I like this. And I agree.
Sure, it’s a doomed cause, at least if the object is to change things. Decent Society is currently hardwired in a manner in which “beauty” is rewarded and “ugly” is fair game for ridicule and shame. I don’t think that’s ever going to change – too many people are just hopelessly shallow and cruel. There will always be fat jokes. And there’s too much money invested in the beauty industry, which makes its money by convincing women (and to a lesser extent guys) that if they don’t look like, say, Megan Fox, they need “fixing”. And far too many people who grew up insecure about themselves will be pressured into believing it.
But that doesn’t mean you have to take it.
Which is why I like Frances’ attitude. There’s something very punk-rock about not letting fashion “experts” and Decent Society tell you what you can and can’t wear, and refusing to let them dictate to you whether you meet the socially acceptable definition of “beautiful”. Fuck those people. You have every right to get sexy like they do. Learn to love yrself and stop worrying about what other people think. If you can’t change Decent Society’s aesthetic standards, yr still free to disregard them and enjoy yrself.
Easy to say, of course – much harder to do. It’s hard to get out there on the beach without constantly waiting for that other shoe to drop in the form of some offhand comment or snigger. I know these things – I like wearing the Speedos on the beach, even though I am aesthetically unqualified to wear them according to mainstream standards (especially in the US). And sometimes I still dread that ridicule that never comes but is always hovering in my peripheral vision.
The trick (for me, anyway) is to remember that you’ll never please everyone. You’ll always have critics. Haters gonna hate, as the kids say these days. So you might as well please yrself and focus on the people who dig you.
People like me.
Flaunt it,
This is dF
