My Realization.. Body Acceptance

Hey ya'll! Hopefully everyone's Monday is shaping up to be great so far! I'm drinking coffee, woke up a little later than I'd planned. I have a nice relaxing day today. I have a phone interview at noon, and then I'll be working on my capstone until Sexy Cincinnati's Queer panel tonight! That should be a blast!

So, my capstone topic has shifted, as research does. I wanted it to be fat. I wanted to blab for 20 pages about fat issues needing to be taught in feminist classes. But. After my research, talking to many friends and classmates, seeing things on tv, reading things in magazines, and well.. just being alive.. it changed. The issue of body image acceptance and love isn't just against fat people. It's everyone. Glamour's June issue has a great article on weight stereotyping, which made me realize that I need to be punching my fists in the air for EVERYONE. Not just myself. We all are privileged and oppressed in different ways, and even though the issue of being fat is stigmatized, thin people face discrimination in different ways. I'm still teetering with just how many ways that thin people are oppressed and how it correlates with fat oppression and fat-shaming, but no matter the numbers, body image issues need to be taught in feminist classrooms. 

We all care about it. You all love my body posts, so I know it's something that people are interested in talking about. I was excluding many many people from my research and from my thoughts by saying that fat feminism needs to be taught.. it isn't just that. It's Body Feminism. Yes, that's very vague and I'm trying to figure out a new label so that I can present it with my research in my paper, but it needs to be body image as a whole, concerning weight of course. It would be a lot to add in ALL body issues, like abilities and disabilities and the like. 

Last night, I found a thin privilege checklist written by some bloggers.  Here are some snippets:

• I can be sure that people aren’t embarrassed to be seen with me because of the size of my body.

• If I pick up a magazine or watch T.V. I will see bodies that look like mine that aren’t being lampooned, desexualized, or used to signify laziness, ignorance, or lack of self-control. (No, but you will see bodies like mine being condemned as ‘ILL’ and ‘SKELETAL’, etc, signifying stupidity, a need to fulfil society’s beauty standards, a lack of independence)

• When I talk about the size of my body I can be certain that few other people will hope they are never the same size.

• I do not have to be afraid that when I talk to my friends or family they will mention the size of my body in a critical manner, or suggest unsolicited diet products and exercise programs.

• I will not be accused of being emotionally troubled or in psychological denial because of the size of my body.

• I can go home from meetings, classes, and conversations and not feel excluded, fearful, attacked, isolated, outnumbered, unheard, held at a distance, stereotyped, or feared because of the size of my body.

• I never have to speak for size acceptance as a movement. My thoughts about my body can be my own with no need for political alliance relative to size.

I'm incorporating that in, of course. So yeah. Just wanted everyone to know. I'm more broad in my thoughts now. It isn't just about fatties, even though fatties are still very important because they seem to be more oppressed in life. 

Have any sites or links that could help me in writing my paper? I need some thin oppressions, as a fat woman I'm sure I'm missing some! Throw them in the comments! 

xoxo
CORTNIE