Q: How often do we hear, "She's so tiny-don't you just hate her?" or "She's so skinny...bitch!"...?
A: So much, that "Skinny Bitch" is a popular book and line of weight loss related products.
As I'm sure you can guess, I have a big problem with this. Not only do I generally dislike anything that labels someone a bitch, I'm also not a big fan of shaming any woman's body...even people who fit beauty ideals.
The problem with labeling thin women as "the enemy" is that it does nothing to help the acceptance of fat women. It just creates more division between women and falls into girl-on-girl crime. It perpetuates the idea that a thin body is one to be envied/desired. It's just fatphobia repackaged to seem like an insult to thin women.
Body acceptance is a multi-faceted process, and I believe that you can't truly love your body if you continue to hate other people's, be they fat OR thin.
Plus hating on another woman's looks is just all around misogynistic...tired...and cliche. Stop thinking that skinny girls (or girls with great hair...boobs...perfect teeth...nice skin...etc.) are bitches.
They're just living their lives. Live yours.
As someone who has been shamed for being skinny on multiple occasions, I'm 100% with you on this one. Even at 25 years old, I still feel uncomfortable around my friends when they speak negatively about their bodies (usually complaining about how they're "fat"), because I know that if I disagree with their self-deprecation, they will look at me and say "you're so skinny" in a judgmental, "what do you know about it, anyway" fashion.
ReplyDeleteThat was my biggest problem with the body-positive manifesto, Shut Up, Skinny Bitches. A little ridiculous if you ask me. http://www.adiosbarbie.com/2011/03/%E2%80%9Cshut-up-skinny-bitches%E2%80%9D-tells-readers-to-love-their-bodies%E2%80%94or-else/
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