Big IS Beautiful

Size 14 is the average of women across the country, so why is it impossible for me as a size 14 to go throughout the day without getting some kind of disparaging remark about my weight? I have been called every “fat” name in the book: blimp, whale, tubby, Michelin man, fatty, butter ball… need I go on? I get dirty looks persistently, and I have been denied service at many clothing stores. No woman of any size should go through that type of humiliation. I haven’t said anything about overweight men because, "Overweight women are twice as vulnerable as men, and discrimination strikes much earlier in their lives," according to Geoffrey Bennett’s article about over weight people in America.

The media say being overweight is ugly. What gives them the right to say that? I’m not saying it’s all right to be seven hundred pounds and the only way of getting out of your home is by knocking down a wall and craning you out, but why is it wrong to be a healthy, yet more voluptuous, woman? Every commercial and television show displays girls that are no bigger than a size 2 and then they have one bigger girl on the show that hates the world and, of course, she’s extremely unpopular.

It’s not realistic. In my reality, I’m big. I get made fun of all of the time, but I don’t hate the world, and I definitely don’t consider myself unpopular. The only truth to these shows is that the skinny girl gets the boy. Bottom line, fat isn’t hot to guys but is it the fat itself or the excessive lack of confidence these girls have that’s the turn off? I would go with the second answer. Fluffy girls don’t feel confident because there’s not enough effort being put out to change their minds. The only shows that these girls watch are ridiculous ones such as More to Love. This show is basically telling every full-figured girl that only a full-figured boy could love her. What kind of message is that to girls who already have no confidence?

The Dove Foundation is feuding against every other company to prove to girls that flaws are fabulous. They even have a song in a commercial that says, “Do your eyes sit wide. Does your nose go to the side? Does your elbow have a crinkle? Do your knees sort of wrinkle. Does your chest tend to Frankel? Do your ears sorta wiggle? Does your hair make it giggle? Does your neck crow long? Do your hips sing a song? Do your ears hang low” and I love it because being overweight isn’t the only flaw that causes women to hide from their reflection. Dove is allowing women to relate to one another in saying that we all have flaws that make us different, not ugly and I respect them for that.

Very few women these days are famous and overweight because the number on the scale overshadows their talent. Take Adele for example, she is an incredible singer and instead of people applauding her for her aptitude for singing, she is laughed at and criticized for being a big girl. Then there’s Jessica Simpson. She was a symbol of perfection to everyone while I was growing up but recently she put on weight and all hell breaks lose. Every tabloid is screaming, “FATTY!” while majority of them probably are married to women that are twice Jessica’s size. In my eyes, she’s a perfect example of a girl that hasn’t lost her beauty just because she’s gained some extra body.

My question is when did being overweight make you ugly? In the Victorian era, large women were treasured and their nude bodies were painted in collages everywhere. In African tribes, the bigger a female is the better. African men believe that larger women are more beautiful then thin women. Joan from Mad Men is adored by everyone and she’s not skinny. So when did the explosion of “thin popularity” begin? I don’t think anyone can say exactly when it began but I do know one thing: It needs to stop! We need to take a stand against discrimination. Not just discrimination against the more curvaceous of our kind but against sex, race, and social standings. I hear it said that today’s society is more accepting to everything but from where I stand, the paucity of acceptance is becoming more and more obvious and harder to ignore.