Posts Tagged: body image
The Politics of Being a Tall Woman
My height is political. It has taken me too long to write that sentence. I am 5’11”, cisgender woman. The “average” female in the US over 20 years old is 5’4”, while for males it’s 5’9 ½”. Therefore, I am a solid 7 inches taller than your average female. I also have big hands. Like, really big hands. I get comments literally all the time about them. They’re bigger than every boy I dated in high school’s hands. They’re almost as big as my dad’s, and he’s 6’4”. I don’t know how to hide them. I remember when I was 14, I was a fan of those hoodies with holes in the sleeves, because I wanted to hide my hands so badly. Man hands is a phrase that was all… Read more »
Body Shaming One Ad at a Time
While much of the country is still covered in snow and ice, here in the Sunshine State the temperatures are slowly on the rise. And with summer already looming in the distance, there is excitement as well as nervousness in the air. As people push the idea of “summer beach bodies,” a lot of heavier people, like myself, are much more keen to slip on t-shirt before we go swimming. I understand the fear. The fear of showing your body because you aren’t comfortable with it sometimes overshadows our desire to have fun doing things we enjoy. And we allow ourselves to become slaves of a mindset that tells us that only certain body types can wear this or that, and only certain body types are good enough to be… Read more »
5 Reasons Why a Menstrual Cup Might Be for You
I have a Diva Cup. I am not a hippie. These two statements often times seem mutually exclusive. This millennial is happy to let you know that they are not. My “feminine care” products story goes like this. First, there were pads. (Good girls use pads, they don’t use tampons, a family member used to say.) Then I got older and decided if using tampons meant I wasn’t “good,” then I didn’t want to be good. So I made the switch to tampons. I liked tampons enough. My experience with them was better than my experience with pads. And for a while I thought that was it. Until I discovered Diva Cup by accident one day. For those of you who don’t know, a Diva Cup is one of many… Read more »
How a Pool Party Could Spark a Revolution
This weekend, I had one of those moments that fueled me to continue to break down barriers and stigmas around bodies. This experience happened at the Trans* Pool Party at Creating Change: National Conference for LGBT Equality. Not exactly the place I planned to experience a transforming moment after hours of workshops, caucuses and networking. When I walked into the party, I was amazed. The small pool was crowded full of all types of people. I will never forget the range of bodies – from fat to muscular, with everything exposed, from bruises to moles to scars to tattoos and stretch marks. People who had transitional surgery, women with unshaven legs and adorable queer couples were swimming free of harassment. When I looked around, I realized that it was more… Read more »
“Hey Mrs. Carter”: Navigating Beyonce’s Feminism
The queen Beyonce unexpectedly dropped a new album and it has been a holiday gift for all. Her 17 music videos and 14 tracks on her self-titled album has had feminists chiming in on her new songs with messages of empowerment, positive sexuality, and changing what it means to be a feminist of color. We must first understand that Beyonce’s feminism, like most, is not perfect and has a lot of growth, as do all the work done in the reproductive justice movement. Constantly criticizing each other can be detrimental, but we must give credit where it’s due and reinforce constructive criticism.
Overweight Women Stuck with the Hope and Pray Contraceptive
It was just earlier this year that the emergency contraceptive Plan-B One Step became available for sale without a prescription. Commonly referred to as ‘The Morning After Pill’, Plan-B serves as a very important tool in empowering young people in their own sexual discourse. And as someone who has used Plan-B myself, it allows the user to feel comfortable and assured in themselves. Imagine my surprise, however, when two weeks ago I read that Norlevo, the European equivalent of Plan-B, has been found ineffective in women over 176 lbs. To say that I was upset is an understatement. The American Plan-B pill is chemically identical to Norvelo meaning that the pill I, myself, have used may not have been effective. I may have just gotten extremely lucky. Which isn’t something you… Read more »
Please, Let’s Not Make “Thigh Gap” a Thing
I’m 22 which means I’m an old and therefore no longer cool or privy to trends. Actually I’ve never been cool but that’s another blog post. As an old, I learn about trends the only way olds learn about new trends: overhearing the kids and then later googling whatever it is you overheard. I wish this one time I hadn’t let my curiosity get the better of me, because I had the misfortune of learning about a phenomenon called “thigh gap.” I say misfortune because it was one of those situations where ignorance really is bliss. If you aren’t aware of “the thigh gap,” I apologize for what I’m about to do. So, thigh gap. What is it? According to google, “A thigh gap is a space between your inner… Read more »
3 Lies about Sex and Overweight Women You Probably Believe
The stigmas surrounding overweight women and sex are endlessly hilarious and remarkable to me. Turn on your television, open a magazine, get on the computer and you will be bombarded by images of thin, slim, fit women reveling in their sexuality. Rightly so. I mean, sex is awesome and beautiful and all that happy crap. But I can only take so many blonde, tall, thin, white female characters being empowered in the media via the token “slut” who makes jokes about masturbation over a lunch of nicoise salad with “the girls”. Through media, we’ve been shown that only certain women have sex and only certain types of women can enjoy it. So I can understand where some confusion might arise.
21 Things
For the past few weeks I’ve been thinking about how to write this post. I knew that Love Your Body day was coming up (October 17th), and I knew that I needed to say something on the issue, but it’s been difficult for me to accept my own feelings while still maintaining an image I’m proud to represent. Over the past 21 years there have been so many things that have inspired me while at the same time having just as many struggles within myself and society. I want to take this time to celebrate 21 things that have had an impact on my view of my body, myself. 1.Let’s start at the (near) beginning: A young girl steps in front of the camera. Before caring what she looked like…. Read more »
Love Your Body: the Office Ladies Were Right All Along
October 17 was Love Your Body Day. NOW (The National Organization of Women) has been celebrating this day for 15 years. They started this day to give the finger to world of advertising and media concerning their depiction of women. The Villain here? The Media. Why? The media relentlessly portrays limited and unrealistic representations of what it means to be beautiful. Between the lines the world of advertising tells us we’ll never be good enough- but we should keep buying their “stuff”. (Unintentional rhyme). Love Your Body Day is celebrated by saying, “F- THAT!” to the media’s derogatory portrayal of humanity. Every morning of high school over the PA the office ladies would say the lunch menu, the sports updates, and events happening on campus. Fairly typical for a high… Read more »
