• The ‘fat’ v ‘thin’ debate – yawn.

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    February 17th, 2012lisaBeauty Queen

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    Enough.

    Seriously, enough already.

    Every year, when London Fashion Week rolls around, you will find me rolling my eyes at the complete predictability of it all.
    In the same way that, every year, come what may, on the 27th December, you’ll be bombarded with celebrities pimping their exercise DVDs and the diet industry launching a never-ending supply of supposed ‘I-can-make-you-thin’ prodz, London Fashion Week sparks the same debate – fashion models are too skinny, there should be more voluptuous women on the catwalk, yada, yada, yada.

    I’m a size 18. I’m hot. I have a gorgeous friend who is a size 8, she’s hot too. Society would like to label us ‘fat’ and ‘thin’ yet we both totally rock the bodies we’re in, because the size written on the label in our knickers, is NOT an indication of our awesomeness. Last night, I went to the dress rehearsal for our burlesque show on Saturday, and the girls I perform alongside are a truly delicious array of lovely shapes and sizes because, despite what the media will have you believe, girl-kind come in a gazillion different juicy-juicy forms, not just ’skinny’ and ‘fat’.

    Putting a ‘voluptuous’ (which in media terminology usually means a UK size 12) model on the catwalk isn’t an insta-fix to the crazy-assed obsession we have with body image in our society right now, in the same way that highlighting how ’skinny’ someone is, or creating niche markets for ‘plus’ size girls won’t cut it either.

    Last week, Adele was called a ‘little bit fat’ by Karl Lagerfeld, and then, when she won 7 Grammys at the weekend, the media celebrated the awesome talent of ‘curvy Adele’. What’s the size of her hips got to do with either Karl OR her freakin’ AMAZING talent?

    Nothing. It’s bullshit.

    As a self-esteem coach and agony aunt for Mizz magazine, I find myself continually exasperated/fucked off/annoyed by society’s endless need to label and define girl-kind by their body size, and as for the endless ‘fat’ and ‘thin’ debate, it just perpetuates the message that no matter what your size, as a girl/woman in the world, you’re never ‘quite’ good enough. Which, FYI, is simply not true. I work on a daily basis in all my work to ensure that girls and women of ALL shapes and sizes, love themselves JUST AS THEY ARE.

    I know, controversial, right?

    Niches, labels, ‘fat’ and ‘thin debates just continue to highlight the differences between girl-kind, which is why I’m on a mission to create media products that celebrate women in ALL their fabulous forms, not just for the clothes they wear or the size of their hips – don’t get me wrong, I LOVE clothes, shoes and make-up, but they most deffo don’t define me – but for their talents and skillz, their business savvy and their YOU-nique qualities too – get ready, the SASSY-fication o’ girl-kind is coming, g-friends – you in?

    The future is bright, the future is girl-shaped. And FYI. That’s the shape you’re currently in, ‘k?!

5 Responses to “The ‘fat’ v ‘thin’ debate – yawn.”

  1. Couldn’t have put it better!

  2. such a good post.
    deffinetly what i needed right now.

  3. I’m right with you girlfriend! So much so that I wrote BEAUTIFUL AT ANY SIZE, The Plus Size Womens Guide to Nurturing Confidence & Self-esteem,(which was a #1 Amazon bestseller upon its January launch)!

    I’ve also created The Plus Size Inner Peace Network because I’m sick and tired of a culture that believesvthere’s something wrong with us just because my shape is considerably rounder than some others.

    It’s time to celebrate the diversity of shapes, sizes and weights instead of critisizing one group or another as being too fat or too thin!

    Thank you sooo much for this article and bringing awareness to what should be a NON-issue!

  4. I love this article! I love the spirit, the message and boldness!

    Thank YOUUUUUUUUUUU!

    Rainbow Blessings!

  5. [...] ♥ treating myself to an iced caramel macchiato from Starbucks because it’s Friday ♥ THIS awesome post from the Sassy Minx re: Fat vs. Thin and the effect of either label on actual [...]

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