“You’d look so much prettier if you didn’t wear so much makeup-“
“That skirt is too reaveal-“
“You would be so much prettier if your hair were long-“
“Guys actually don’t like it when you’re that skinn-“
“You would look so much nicer without those piercing-“
“You’re really pretty but-“
“You would be prettier if-“
I am really frustrated with some aspects of the body positive movement right now.
The body positive movement should not be about reinforcing the tired old foolishness that women come in only two body types: thin and curvy. Some women are neither. Some women are both. And guess what? We all have our own bullshit to deal with.
The body positive movement should not be about telling women of color, LGBTQ women, disabled women, older women, poor women, and so forth and so on that their concerns are unimportant or invalid because they’re not about size. That’s ridiculous.
The body positive movement should not be about forcing women who are affected by more than one of these issues to choose which matters most to them on any given day. Why? Because Intersectionality. Have you heard of it?
It is absurd that I have at least one email in my inbox each day from someone telling me that I have no idea what it’s like to be marginalized, discriminated against, or mistreated because I’m thinner than them.I’m aware that I benefit from size privilege; that’s not what this post about it. Size privilege is B.S. and it needs to stop, and I want to be a part of that.
But can you please avoid building your movement on the backs of other oppressed groups? Can you please avoid reinforcing the societal messaging that women of color don’t matter, that disabled women don’t matter, that older women don’t matter, that LGBTQ women don’t matter, and that poor women don’t matter? Could you please stop that?
A feminist movement that sacrifices other women and views them as expendable isn’t a feminist movement at all. I don’t know what you would call it, but definitely not that.
