Fat Fashion

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According to an article found at Cleveland.com, “Size 14 is the average American woman’s size…” I myself am a size 14/16, but finding this completely average size in many clothing stores can be difficult (if not impossible). 

Because I have a little bit of a shopping habit, I have come to know which stores will have my size and which stores I should just not even bother with. Women’s clothing does not have a standard like men’s clothing which is sized by inches. This means I may fit comfortably into a large (L) dress at Old Navy but an extra, extra large (XXL) at Hot Topic will not even zip up when I try it on. I recognize that I am on the smaller end of being plus-sized, so there are women who have absolutely no options when it comes to many popular stores.

Few things have made me quite so frustrated as when I was telling a thinner friend how hard it can be to find clothes to fit me and her response was, “Stores have plus-sized sections. And if they don’t, you can just go to Torrid.”  Indeed there are some clothing companies that carry plus-sized lines as well as stores that sell plus-sized clothing exclusively. However, I still am greatly frustrated when it comes to plus-sized clothes. 

• Old Navy (while there clothing is generously sized) has taken their plus-sized line out of their stores and now only provides it online.

•  Forever 21 has a plus-sized section in almost all of their stores. However, this section takes up about two to three racks in the entire store. Almost everything is extremely large (2X-4X) and not really made for the girls who are too large to wear anything else in the store but are not looking for extremely over-sized clothing to hide their bodies.

• Land’s End marks up their plus-sized swimwear. This means paying twenty dollars extra for a few more inches of fabric when this fabric is bought in bulk by the company and costs cents per yard.

• Stores like Torrid are well known for selling plus-sized clothing exclusively. But just like many stores seem to believe that all women fit the same general shape, Torrid’s clothing seems to be made for the shape of a plus-sized model. All of their jeans are made for a 5’11 woman. I am 5’4 and even their petite jeans are about three inches too long for me. And all of their tops and dresses are meant for women with very large breasts, which excludes me from buying anything from them.

There is no doubt that the fashion industry is flawed and excludes many people. But I still have fun with what I can find. I love fashion and clothing and I do not let an industry that does not really even include me tell me how I should dress for my body. I wear whatever I choose.

I decided to add a few photos of myself wearing some of my favorite outfits. Finding clothing can sometimes be difficult but I make it work for me because I still deserve to look good regardless of my size.

Dieting Doesn’t Work…

“Every weight loss program, no matter how positively it’s packaged, whispers to you that you’re not right. You’re not good enough. You’re unacceptable and you need to be fixed. I officially reject that message. I reject it for myself, and I reject it on your behalf, too.” – Kim Brittigham

           

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We live in a dieting society. Almost everyone who will read this will have been on a diet at some point or is currently dieting. I started trying to go on diets and lose weight in elementary school. I had seen my parents dieting and so many shows on TV featured people losing drastic amounts of weight to be happier. Children thinking they must lose weight to be better and happier should not be acceptable, but diets are everywhere. And I have come to find that dieting does not work. I am not saying that someone should not want to lose weight, but going about it in a dangerous way that will not work in the long run is the wrong way to do it. 

            Dieting can be very unhealthy when done the wrong way. Constantly going on and off diets can possibly harm your overall health and can cause cardiovascular complications down the line (Field).  The fact is, most diets will fail. And after going off a diet, the majority of people will gain back the weight they lost and possibly some extra (Wolpert). Diets are a very temporary thing and are not very likely to work in the long run (Thomason). To make weight lose a permanent thing, a lifestyle change needs to be made.

            When wanting to lose weight, remember

1.     Do not diet for other people.

2.     Losing weight will not automatically make you happier/ make your life perfect.

3.     Avoid fad diets.

4.     Avoid weight cycling (losing and gaining weight repeatedly).

5.     Focus on being healthy and fit (not how quickly the number on the scale drops).

Works Cited

Field, A. E., S. Malspeis, and W. C. Willett. "Weight Cycling and Mortality among Middle-aged or Older Women." PubMed.gov. NCBI, 11 May 2009. Web. 8 Apr. 2013.

Thomason, Sue. "We'll Look Back and Laugh That We Went On Diets to Try to Lose Weight." HuffPost Lifestyle. Huffington Post, 30 May 2012. Web. 01 Apr. 2013.

Wolpert, Stuart. "Dieting Does Not Work, UCLA Researchers Report." UCLA Newsroom. University of California, 03 Apr. 2007. Web. 7 Mar. 2013.

Turning Fat Into a Fetish

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            In order to keep inspired and motivated to write for this blog, I have been following more fat feminist blogs on Tumblr. I find it really inspiring when fat women model or pose nude on their blogs as a way to express themselves and boost their self-esteem. While they may be nude in some of these photos, they are not pornographic in any way. The women who take these photos usually intend them to be for other fat feminist blogs (and of course for themselves). However, on Tumblr anyone can reblog anyone’s posted photos and I often see them ending up on porn blogs with a fat fetish theme. Beautiful photos that were meant to be inspiring, are taken out of context, over sexualized, and turned into pornography with the sole purpose of getting someone off. 

When someone is turned into a fetish, they are turned into an object for sexual pleasure. A fetish is an object, not a person (Dictionary). It is also the attraction to a body part or thing that is not typically seen as normal (Dictionary). The problem here is that there is nothing abnormal about being overweight. It should not be abnormal for someone to love a fat person and it does not automatically mean that that person has a fetish. When a partner’s physical appearance is an obsession and their fat is tuned into an object; that is a fetish.

Of course everyone has a preference when it comes to the appearance of a love interest. There is nothing wrong with that. But a preference crosses the line into a fetish when someone is no longer appreciated for their entire being, but just for a certain physical feature (Alptraum). The body is separated from the person. When someone has to justify paying attention to a fat person by saying, “I’m a chubby chaser.” or, “I love BBWs (big beautiful women).” it becomes clear that they are interested in the person’s physical appearance above the actual person.

There are fat people who knowingly participate in a person’s fat fetish or even have a fat fetish themselves. What is important is for people to know that not all fat people are comfortable being the object of someone’s fat fetish. It is also important to realize that someone being in a relationship with a chubby, overweight, or fat person does not make them a fat fetishist.

Works Cited

"Fetish." Dictionary.com. Dictionary.com, n.d. Web. 03 Apr. 2013.

Alptraum, Lux. "Fetish or Preference: What's the Difference?" Boinkology. Boinkology, 27 May 2008. Web. 03 Apr. 2013.