How are we still having this conversation?
As a woman, it is hard to believe - no, it is impossible to fathom - that in this day in age women cannot find a way to get along. To support each other. To not talk down to another woman about her physical attributes.
There have been several responses to the article "Sorry I'm A Size 00". Aside from saying that "skinny-shaming" is not a real thing, many girls have failed to bring about point to their prose other than to say "I'm sorry that you're sorry but your being sorry doesn't wash away my problems”. It's shocking and unbelievably unsupportive.This rant, however, is not about weight. Because I truly do not care.
What I do care about is self-love. I care about sharing positivity and I care about consistent feminism. It is pathetic that I can type "size 00" into a search bar and find hundreds of articles on body weight and how sorry women are for being or not being a certain size. Why are we sorry? No one asked you to apologize for being who you are. Trying to be witty and sarcastic does nothing to progress these “issues” we so claim to be affected by. Our real problems are bigger than dress size.
Women want, just as humans want, to be recognized as part of a whole. For some reason, these categories end up being defined physically. Light skinned girls, chocolate girls, blonde girls, brunettes, snow bunnies, skinny girls, thick girls, tall girls, short girls, big boobs, flat-chested.
Women cannot become the leaders and champions we are destined to be if we are part of the oppression. We know just how much mean comments sting, we understand the pain of hating our bodies yet we constantly shrink ourselves down dress sizes. Whether you are a 00 or 14 doesn't matter. You can be 80 lbs and severely anorexic or 130 lbs and the same. You body makeup is simply a shell. Your skin, beautiful as it is, is only a facade to the wonders beneath it. This is especially pertinent to women because our looks are what most of the world deems the important part of us.
Women are judged on their hair, their skin, their makeup abilities and so on, and the higher the quality of these things the “better” the woman.
But we're women, so we know this!
And that is why the sting is so much more when the put down comes from another woman. Microaggressions may apply heavily in terms of race, however, it would seem that women are constantly pushing them on each other.
“She's pretty for a fat girl” or something of the same vein is a superficial compliment that has no place in a room full of so-called feminists.
You do not get to label yourself a warrior of change if you refuse to acknowledge these hypocritical tendencies. It's okay to stumble a little, we all say things we later regret. But make it a point to always be working for women. Strive to lift each other up, without bringing up something trivial like weight.
This world will not see us differently until we can stop the cattiness and become sentient among one another. Women deserve encouraging women.
So be someone's superwoman, and I'll promise to be yours.
