Written by Olivia Ali
As the shorts season begins and more skin is being seen, I can’t help but start to think about bodies and weight and appearances. I’ve become very body positive the past year and have loved myself more than I ever have before. However, as I begin to pull out my pairs of shorts and shorter and more revealing tops, people are getting uncomfortable. Why? Because the fat girl is showing skin.
“Wait, wait, wait. Hold the phone! You’re not fat!” Shut up. Please. Things need to be set straight about the word fat. First, let us start with the dictionary definition.
fat(adj): having a large amount of excess flesh.
First off, I need to establish that fat is nothing more than a descriptive word for a body type, just like lean, tall, or petite is. But here is the part that really got me; the synonyms.
plump, stout, overweight, large, chubby, portly, flabby, paunchy, potbellied, beer-bellied, meaty, of ample proportions, heavyset, obese, corpulent, fleshy, gross;
Can we look at those? Focusing on the last one? GROSS. Here we have a legitimate dictionary suggesting that anybody of a larger size with extra fat, a totally natural thing, defined as gross. Fat has become a derogatory term, when it is just a descriptive term used to define a body type. There has become a stigma circulating the adjective, and it has got to go. It has become “common sense” that fat=ugly, and fat cannot go along with pretty. It is suggesting that if you are of larger size, you cannot be pretty and vice versa. This is one of the most damaging side effects of the stigma on this word, and by carrying on these connotations with the word, no progress will be made.
Also, this dictionary isn’t too far off from the way your average civilian views fat people either. So many people are legitimately disgusted by the body’s natural response to food. Let’s get a wakeup call, and realize that discrimination has no limits. Appearance is, unfortunately, very important to people. People get harassed, humiliated, and “punished” for their bodies EVERY DAY. Finding body peace is difficult for so many anyways, no matter what we look like or what our size is, and finding peace with our own appearance is that much more difficult when we’re constantly being reminded how what we look like is not the set standard of “pretty” or “beautiful”.
In tune with that, I think it is important to stress that you do not need validation from others that you are beautiful. You do not get to be accepted into the realm of body peace, you put yourself there. You choose when you feel comfortable in your own skin, and while it may be easier to think of yourself as beautiful once others say you are, this is a harmful thing we need to kill as soon as possible. Every day, a woman or man will say “Oh my god, I’m so fat.” And they’ll wait for someone to say “No, you’re not”. And that’s our need for an OKAY for us to think we’re beautiful. And if we are constantly waiting for validation from others on ourselves, it is putting us in a toxic circle of waiting for approval.
I do not need approval for my body, and I do not need others to tell me it is okay for the way I look. I KNOW I look pretty, and I know I am beautiful. I know my body is great and I know this because it is mine.
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