I first started getting into body positivity about five years ago, when an acquaintance introduced me to the Fatshionista community on LiveJournal. At the time I had just wanted to get some ideas for outfits. Little did I know that what I would end up getting was an introduction to an amazing and wonderful new world. When the other community members on Fatshionista started … [Read more...]
4 Problems with the Trauma-Leads-to-Fatness Narrative
This piece first appeared on the author’s blog under the title "4 Problems with the Trauma-Leads-to-Fatness Narrative" and is reprinted here by permission. I've seen the fatness-as-a-product-of-trauma conversation pop up about five times in my feed this week. Though I have no desire to belittle the truly stultifying realities and effects of trauma (sexual and otherwise), … [Read more...]
Who Can and Cannot Be Feminine Without Giving Up Their Safety?
Before being out as a transfeminine person, in order to maintain any sense of safety no matter how fragile, I was always expected to express my femininity only with certain restrictions. These restrictions changed depending on who I was with and where I was. This often made things not only confusing, but miserable. It was difficult to keep up with who I was supposed to … [Read more...]
There Is No Social Justice When Some Bodies are Excluded
This article was originally published on The Health At Every Size® Blog and is republished with permission. I entered the conference with trepidation, acutely aware of the different spaces I inhabit and the tensions of trying to navigate between them. The conference focused on centralizing racial and ethnic justice in higher education, and was – at least in theory – … [Read more...]
Breaking Down Beauty Standards: The Difference Between ‘Too Fat’ Models and ‘Too Thin’ Models
The other day I came across an article entitled ‘Facebook was right to remove an advert featuring plus-sized model Tess Holliday’. Starting with the line ‘Images of significantly overweight women are as damaging as [images of] size zero women’, this article explains that promotional material featuring Holliday was banned from Facebook because the images were showing a state of … [Read more...]
