“Real women are fat. And thin. And neither. And both. And otherwise.”
Image via Glamour
And Otherwise
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Sally McGraw
Minneapolis,
MN
Blogger, freelance journalist, style and body-image writer.
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{ 11 comments… read them below or add one }
Thanks so much for posting this. Inspiring quote and picture.
The secret is not how much you weigh but how you feel about how much you weigh.
You nailed it right.You could weigh whatever but it all comes down to how you feel about it.Why feel bad when your weight is within normal range?
I love the quote, but unfortunately the picture left a sour taste in my mouth. It seems disingenuous for such an inclusive quote to be illustrated by a group of very select women, namely a group of so-called “plus size” models who conform to societal standards of beauty and are by no means fat, with all the benefits of professional makeup, hair and photography for the sole purpose of promoting industries that deliberately undermine women’s self esteem in order to sell more stuff.
I’m not saying that any accompanying photo for this has to have a uniform or representative distribution of every aspect of a women’s appearance (size, height and race are the three things I’d like to see), but to associate this photo with this quote merely substitutes one narrow definition of beauty (i.e. thin and all the rest) with another slightly less narrow definition of beauty (i.e. size 14 or below and all the rest).
Added to which, they’re all young.
Challenge: Find a photo that meets Kate’s criteria. I don’t think it will be easy.
thats the saddest part. this photo is utterly revolutionary in what it chooses to show, yet every bit as limited as kate is saying. we’re in a sad state indeed.
So what were my criteria? That the accompanying photo should have a slightly broader definition of “beauty” and not communicate a twisted concept of “plus size”? Well, it is certainly difficult if we restrict our search to studio photos of professional models, since industries associated with selling things to women are the worst offenders.
However, are professional models the only people who can demonstrate beauty? What about a collage of happy women of all shapes and sizes? Wouldn’t that be a better attempt at underlining the inclusive nature of the quote? I know this is a fashion blog and there is an expectation for images to be “polished” and “professional”, but to me, a poorly-chosen picture can reduce the impact of the quote and distort the message.
It bugs my s#!t that they are all so perfectly smooth and hairless. Who looks that smooth in real life??! I’m parenting a chubby girl in the throes of adolescence, and the terror of body hair–on lip, brow, arms, belly, thighs–outweighs the terror of fat by quite a bit. The photo is pretty, but that is all. Not helpful.
Heck, none of the thin girls and women I know in real life are that smooth either. We all have hair, moles, scars, birthmarks, bumps, creases and folds of skin.
I really dislike the photo too. It’s weird and objectifying – they’re all huddling tohether naked like a group of nervous aninals.
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