Shut Up Skinny Bitch!
read an article in O Magazine about weight loss, “I Was A 51-Year-Old Desk Muffin” by Pulitzer Prize winner Geraldine Brooks, with disdain.
The entire article was self-flagulation and self-deprecation for being, according to the BMI Calculator a NORMAL WEIGHT.
Guess how much the self-discribed “aging hippo” weighed? 123 pounds. She was 5′2″ and over the course of 23 years she gained a whopping 19 pounds. Big Freaking Whoop!
Negative terms she used to describe her normal body were: brandy snifter, Bosc pear, pear-shaped corpse, slightly mushy 123 pound pear, aging hippo, curvaceous deposit of midriff fat, upper arms jiggle so much,
I think I can safely speak for Oprah, my self and my BFF Violet - we’d do a boogie dance if we hopped on any scale that read 123 pounds in our lifetimes.
But, since you can’t see quite how wonderful you have it at your 123 pound high I’ll steal a quote from Joy Behar from The View, “Shut up Skinny Bitch!”
Oh and that goes double for the buffest, slimmest, fittest woman in my gym class who won’t shut up about how she’ll “never lose this fat.” In reality the woman has like 1% body fat.
Here’s a Miss Manners lesson - if you’re normal-sized and blathering on about your fat to women who really are fat - you’re being RUDE.
I’m bored to death with the hobby of American women to incessantly talk about their fat. Especially if they are perfectly normal.
I don’t think it’s harmless, I think it’s costing us self-esteem in a very real way.
Try this challenge - avoid self-deprecation and fat-renouncing-of-self for 30 days. I bet almost no one can do it. I bet, even, that trying it for one day will illustrate just how much of women’s conversation is dependent on it.
Tags: blog fabulous, empowering women, fat talk, geraldine brooks, normal body weight, O-magazine, self deprecation, so sioux me, tracee siouxRelated Stories
POSTED IN: Fabulous Beauty Editor, Fabulous Body Image, Fabulous Culture, Fabulous Health
10 opinions for Shut Up Skinny Bitch!
Tarah
Apr 29, 2008 at 7:23 am
This story made me laugh. I weigh 123 myself but am a littel taller than 5′2. BUT if people who knew me years ago saw me they wouldn’t say “oh there is a slim woman”..they would say “damn you got fat!” I use to weigh less, so to me yes I am fat..BUT do I go around saying it to people who are bigger than me? NO..and when someone says it to me who is skinnier than I am and they go, “Oh, I am so fat..bla bla bla” I just look at them and say “yeah..you are kinda gaining weight.” lol..the look they give you is priceless..
Ashley
Apr 29, 2008 at 7:27 am
Tracee,
I don’t think these people realize what they’re doing. I have acne and acne scars and I have friends (w/ beautiful, clear, smooth skin) that will whine to me about ‘this pimple, see? this one right here?’ and as I’m hopefully searching their flawless complection for any sign of an actual breakout I have to stave off the fantasies of tackling them with a red sharpie and dotting their entire face so that they can experience the embarassment of a real breakout. I want to scream “Can you see me? Have we met? Do you have me confused with your other clear faced friend? I’m Ashley - the one with the real skin problems! Zip it!” But, I don’t think they realize.
Ashley
Apr 29, 2008 at 7:27 am
LOL Terah.
Tracee
Apr 29, 2008 at 7:38 am
Well they should realize how rude it is.
It’s completely ungrateful too.
Be grateful for your gifts ladies! Is it that hard?
Ashley
Apr 29, 2008 at 7:43 am
You’re right. Maybe it’s some sort of guilt over having a great feature while whoever you’re talking to might be lacking in that area?
Tracee
Apr 29, 2008 at 7:57 am
guilt? Maybe.
A weird nod at “I can see your not perfect, but I’m not perfect either.” ?
How bout this - a left-over from 7th grade where the other girls might scream “You’re so conceited!” if you said you thought you had good anything - body, boobs, butt, skin, hair.
Ashley
Apr 29, 2008 at 8:10 am
Yeah, I can see that.
Violet
Apr 29, 2008 at 9:01 am
I am so tired and bored of women putting themselves down. And I don’t care if you weigh 123 or 223. It’s the seedy underbelly of womanhood that no matter how lovely you are, you are required to hate yourself and talk loudly and often about it.
As someone who has seen a transcendently beautiful teenager talk about her wrinkles and getting a boob job, I just want to scream, WE DON’T HAVE TO DO THIS.
You know women could rule the world if we’d let go of this. Suck it Geraldine.
Ashley
Apr 29, 2008 at 9:03 am
LOL - Violet! I’m scared of you today!
Tracee
Apr 29, 2008 at 9:16 am
LOL.
I totally agree. If we started talking about how to change the world and obtain some equality and power, instead of how to starve our selves or our own mirror image we would have 10 times more power.
We’re stupidly distracted by our own physical forms.
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