just because i think it's stupid that people are bitching about it, i've heard and known several overweight people who were "proud to not be anorexic" one was my college roommate, so dont act like people never say shit like that
Let me preface my entire post with saying I do not agree with the sentiment of being proud just because you aren't one specific body type, and shunning that body type in the same breath. It's negative reinforcement, and I disagree with it. But I also understand WHY an overweight women, or woman who feels she is overweight, would make that statement.
That said, you're right, there are overweight women who say that. Probably because women who don't fit the standard social norms are so completely and blatantly ostracized in the media and society to the point of being demonized, that the only way to save whatever shred of dignity they have is to claim that they don't care, and try to turn the tables around and demonize the image that society has set up for women. Is it wrong to return negativity with negativity? No, not really. Have women who are overweight been pushed into a corner where the only way for them to have any sort of love for themselves and their bodies is to insult the extreme aspect of the body type they're told they should have? Yeah.
Hatred for women who are overweight is rampant, and when you have somebody telling you that you're a disgusting piece of shit for not fitting into a boxed in idea of beauty, you lash out against it. Overweight women who make that statement aren't making it just because it's cool and hip. It's a coping mechanism that wouldn't even exist if you didn't have women who make the statement,
"I'm proud to not be a gross, overweight fattie."
A statement that is far more accepted anywhere you go in society, and far more in use. I've seen/heard very, very few overweight women make this statement (proud to not be anorexic), and from my own wealth of anecdata, since we seem to be using that as viable, factual evidence, every single woman I have known who has felt that way has tried and failed so many times to lose weight, that they give up and adopt that notion. Why? Because for the ones who actually DO want to be thin, they cannot get past the emotional and mental scars, or the psychological damage done in order to love themselves, which in turn would help them lose the weight effectively.
So for somebody here to post, "anyone can just stuff themselves like a pig and skip workouts as if that was an accomplishment.", for another person to say from a place of experience that it is definitely not an accomplishment, and no women or person who is very overweight feels that way, and then for another person to come behind them and say, "But I heard this one girl back in college say..." is offensive, yes it is. Because that one girl back in college wasn't saying it, I'm sure, because she was actually proud to not be the extreme side of what is acceptable by our society's standards. It was probably a way of dealing with the every day stress of constantly being verbally and emotionally abused for her weight, and the emotional, mental and physical trauma that comes with having an unwanted body type, feeling like nobody will love you, and adopting the opinion that if nobody will love me, well then fuck them all, and fuck the image (anorexic body types) that the media and society says I should mirror.
Because let's be honest here, if the media wasn't trying to hock the anorexic body type for women as the supreme body type in every magazine and movie and show that you watch, overweight women wouldn't be shunning that specific image. And it's a shame that a person who actually dealt with being overweight, and the extremes it put on her mentally and physically was instantly shunned and invalidated by one sentence in her post.
Now all I need is to not be attacked or flamed for my post, and I'll be fine. I'm kind of nervous posting any of it, as fighting is not something I need to do right now with my stress level. But the subject reflects things I've been thinking about recently, and how interesting that I would come back after so many months, and this would be the first thing I read.
ETA: Oy, I'm so tempted to just delete this post, and move on from this. This subject is so triggering for me, it's not even funny.
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Topic: Beauty=Big Boobs, Tiny Waist (Read 30635 times)