Do you think Kate Upton is fat?
If you answered yes, then you're in the wrong place. See that little red button with an X through it at the top left of your screen? Go ahead and click that right about meow.
If you're still here, then you must be of the persuasion that no, she is not indeed fat.
According to one of the web's most ruthless "pro-skinny" blogs, if you answered no, you're grievously misinformed. Here's what an anonymous writer who goes by the name of Skinny Gossip has to say about this exact picture:
"Huge thighs, NO waist, big fat floppy boobs, terrible body definition – she looks like a squishy brick... lumbering down the runway like there’s a buffet at the end of it."
She goes on to say, "is this what American women are “striving” for now? The lazy, lardy look? Have we really gotten so fat in this country that Kate is the best we can aim for?" She later suggests that a picture of Kate eating a hamburger is "canniablism" because she is clearly "a cow."
Appaled yet?
Wait, there's more:
Here's what she has to say about this pro-body acceptance campaign...
"I’m really glad I can’t read the number on that measuring tape. Eww… can we say fat rolls!? Do you have any idea how much someone has to eat to look like this?"
It gets worse. Not even the thinnest of thin is safe...
"She is such a beautiful girl but she would look amazing if she lost about 10-15 pounds. She is only 5’6″ so she isn’t blessed with much height to help her look skinny. She’ll end up like Hayden Panettiere if she doesn’t watch out!"
Oh, and by the way, here's the exact picture of the god-awful fate "Skinny Gossip" is hoping poor Emma Watson will avoid...
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If you're like me, you should be sitting at your computer reading this in disbelief. If you're like me, you should also be furious. What this blog promotes is pure, unadulterated body-shaming at its worst, and there is simply no excuse for that. "Skinny Gossip" may just be one girl, but this kind of perpetuation of body hatred is far from isolated.
The irony of the matter is that, the girls who are spending their time maintaining these blogs, posting pictures of beautiful, strong, confident women and tearing them to pieces, are the same girls who have been taught by our own society that it is not okay to be anything but skinny. They have been taught that being fat is far and above the most horrible thing a person could be, and so out of fear, not only have they started starving themselves to prevent this from happening (Skinny Gossip brags that by following her own "starvation tips of the day," she has finally reached her goal weight of "5'7 and 100 pounds"), they have gone so far as to start shaming others for their appearance.
While I in no way condone the words of this blogger, or any girl who thinks body-shaming other women is acceptable, I feel that this blog is a symptom of the greater evil: a society that has so completely ingrained a fear of fat in us that we are willing to turn on each other, picking each other apart and preying on others' imperfections to give ourselves a little boost.
Ladies. Do you really think criticizing another girl makes you better than her? If you're following this blog, then you agree with me that our society needs a change, one that will allow us to learn how to love our bodies as a whole, instead of denigrating them until they're only a collection of flaws.
Well here's some cold, hard truth coming at you: that movement not only starts with you, but with how you treat others. I don't care if you'd never actually tell your lab partner she has some gnarly cellulite goin' on. If you are thinking it, even though it isn't even about you, the only thing you're doing is perpetuating feelings of body shame and body hatred as a whole.
For a self-love movement to really work, it has to include not just your self, but everybody's self. And that means putting an end to the body hatred you're keeping alive not only in yourself, but also in the judgment of others. Just as you have to practice looking in the mirror and accepting yourself exactly as you are, so you need to practice letting go of the negative judgments you make about others. If you genuinely believe that every woman has the right to feel beautiful in her own skin, it has got to start with you, and not just realizing that you yourself are a beautiful, powerful and incredible woman, but that all the other lovely ladies around you are too. That is the only way we're going to achieve any unity in this movement, and that is the only way we're ever going to make any real, lasting change. #
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