“…you don’t have to be a certain size to claim your flawlessness. Fat is not a flaw. This video is dedicated to the mainstream media, to the fashion industry, to internet bullies, and to anyone else who thinks it’s their right to try to make us feel less than because of their insecurities. #everyBODYisflawless.”
Gabi Gregg
By now you’ve probably seen the hashtag #everyBODYisflawless. I really appreciated the message about body positivity, inclusion, and not being a certain size. I find the #everyBODYisflawless tag appropriate and a positive message to all. Women come in all shapes and sizes. Skinny women can sometimes feel the same rejection and ridicule that plus size women face.
Comments such as “She needs a sandwich” or “She’s not a REAL woman” are just as hurtful as “Go on a diet.” I remember struggling in my own youth to gain weight to look more like my curvier peers.
Not every ultra thin woman is on a diet or starving herself. There are women that are naturally slim and they don’t deserve hate any more than larger women. Model Coco Rocha has spoken about her frustration with this same issue. That while she would like to see more inclusion and diversity in sizes, shapes, and color of models, she is often frustrated at the implication that because she is naturally svelte she isn’t a “real woman”. Saying, “Last time I checked, I’m a real woman too.”
I haven’t been plus size my entire life. When I entered the plus community, I expected support and understanding. To my surprise, instead I initially found rejection and negativity. People made statements like, “You are not really plus-size.” My comments or thoughts were often rejected because “You are an acceptable fat.” My attempts at support were sometimes ridiculed because “You couldn’t possibly understand.” Despite being a size 16 (Two sizes bigger than one blogger and one size smaller than another featured in this video), I wasn’t shaped in a way that many in the community found acceptable or rather, unacceptable enough by the “straight” size community. I honestly felt rejected by both.
Size discrimination is not something exclusive to the “straight” size community. Bloggers like Marie Denee from The Curvy Fashionista and Edith Dohmen from Style Has No Size have touched on this issue. Both have brought attention to the need for inclusion because not all plus-size women look alike or have the same issues and that, in fact, we need to do away with size judgement on both sides. Every woman should love and appreciate her own body because as Gabi says, every BODY is flawless.
Great!!! This is the only response that comes to mind. I have felt the rejection not in the modeling world but in the acting world. Your not round and plump enough for us to laugh at you on screen but your not thin enough for us to make you a desirable screen en jen u. So I always like felt like where do I fit in? My thighs touch and my butt protrudes but not in a funny haha laugh at me way…. my waist is small and my face is, attractive but not enough to make an audience watch. This has unfortunately become a factor that effects my identity as a woman and will be my struggle to overcome. Thank you for bringing this issue to a for front. We all are flawless.