Be The Change
My final project for Women and Gender Studies - Liberation Act.
I made these posters as a way to challenge socially constructed ideals of body image and fat shame. As a “plus size” person, I have encountered fat shame through out the entirety of my life and have struggled with insecurities stemming from socially constructed yet self-perceived inadequacies regarding my body image. I am tired of feeling ashamed, assumed as being lazy, and glanced at with disgust - all because of my weight.
I am not inadequate because of my weight. I am not broken, or mutated, or wrong - society is.
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(Source: msandrogynous)
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(Source: Guardian)
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Her name is Tara Lynn, and I think i’m in love. It is so goddamn refreshing to see a woman in fashion who is my body type. The fact that all these major fashion magazines like Vogue and Elle are using someone who is bigger than a size 2 or 4, the fact that she had a 20 page editorial , it really makes me smile. I’ve unfortunately been told my whole life that being anything more than a size 6 is “not acceptable”, “not okay”, and “ugly”, but look at her. She seems perfectly fine to me! Sure her face is completely stunning, but her body is beautiful too. Now do all women look like her? No. There are women smaller than her, and there are women bigger than her. The point is that there is no ’one’ body type. We all look different, our weight is distributed differently, we all have our own place on the “body spectrum”. I’m slowly starting to feel comfortable with myself, and I can only hope that more plus sized models can be brought to the mainstream to help other women as well.
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Because instantly alienating a huge chunk of your demographic through offensive humour is the best way to sell soda pop. (x)
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Until today I’d assumed “whitewashing” (the practice of bleaching one’s skin to alter its color to a lighter and thus more appealing tone) had all but died in most parts of the modern world.
Holy fuck was I wrong.
This year, British Vogue’s November 2011 cover features…
A Dialogue With My 86-year-old Grandmother About LGBT Rights & Marriage Equality
- I saw this article:
- http: //www.huffingtonpost.com/2012/02/29/gay-activists-grandparents-marriage-equality_n_1310537.html
- earlier this afternoon and I got suddenly curious how my 86yo grandmother felt about marriage equality and LGBT rights. Since she's often hilarious, I decided to interview her on the phone and post it here. I put it on speakerphone, recorded it, then transcribed it. She's in Miami, and Cuban-born, so this is translated from Spanish. She's a pretty feisty lady. I want to be her when I grow up. Here's what she said:
- Me: Grandma, what do you think about this couple in their 90s supporting their gay grandkids in the fight for marriage equality?
- Grandma: I think it's very nice. You have to support your family, no matter who they are. You can't reject people for things like that.
- Me: If you had gay or lesbian family, would you do the same?
- Grandma: I don't know if I could make a video like those people. They speak English.
- Me: What about in Spanish? Would you make videos supporting marriage equality in Spanish.
- Grandma: Ay... don't get any ideas. I don't want to make a video.
- Me: But is it okay if I post this on the Internet? On one of my websites
- Grandma: Ignorant people might yell at you.
- Me: Oh, that's okay, I don't mind.
- Grandma: Yes, you can put what I said on the Internet.
- Me: Okay. So do you support gay and lesbian people getting married?
- Grandma: I think gay people should be able to get married. Times have changed. Even my ideas have changed. There used to be a lot of ignorance and rumors about gay people, mostly because they had to live in hiding, you know, you couldn't be yourself out in public like they can be sometimes now. So I think people just made things up. But think gay people should be allowed to live their lives like everyone else.
- Me: Would you go to a gay wedding?
- Grandma: Yes, I would. It would probably be more lively than a regular one. I hate weddings. They're so boring.
- Me: They really are. What do you think about people who protest gay marriage?
- Grandma: Oh. Idiots.
- Me: They're wrong?
- Grandma: Idiots. Dumb people with nothing better to do. Out of all the things to protest. They should be out trying to do some good in the world instead.
- Me: Do you think you would have felt the same way when you were my age?
- Grandma: (Pauses) I don't think I gave it any thought. People didn't talk about these things back then. There was a lot of ignorance. Everybody knew gay people, of course, but people didn't talk about it in normal conversation, much less in public like on the news now. I think that's good. Talking is always good. When people know things, they can make up their own minds.I would like to think that maybe with a little information and thinking about it, I would feel the same way.
- Me: Do you think gay people should be able to adopt kids?
- Grandma: Of course.
- Me: As a Christian, what do you think the Bible says about gay people?
- Grandma: The Bible is very clear that Jesus doesn't care about race or gender or where you came from or anything. He loves everyone.
- Me: What about the parts of the Bible that says gay people should be stoned to death?
- Grandma: We don't stone people to death anymore...
- Me: So you don't think that applies?
- Grandma: I think God gave us some common sense to be able to figure out what parts were meant for forever, like "don't kill" and "don't steal" and "be good to people," and what parts were just a record of the society people lived in back then. We don't hide women in the dark during their periods anymore, either. Things like that.
- Me: What about gays in the military? Do you think that should be allowed?
- Grandma: You know, when I heard President Obama had helped made that legal, I was surprised it already wasn't. If you're willing to pick up a gun and go fight in some war somewhere for my freedom, I'm not willing to do that, so if you are, I don't care if you have a boyfriend or a girlfriend or fifteen cats.
- Me: Yeah, I think most people supported that one.
- Grandma: It's like I told you. God gave us common sense for a reason.
- Me: I know you've had a few close gay male friends. Have you ever had a lesbian friend?
- Grandma: I did in Cuba. She was my neighbor and she did everyone's hair on the block. You couldn't really tell she was a lesbian, but she told me, after many years of knowing her.
- Me: What do you mean by "you couldn't tell she was a lesbian?"
- Grandma: Well, she was very glamorous. She looked like a movie star all the time - that's why she did everyone's hair. Some lesbians, you can tell.
- Me: In English, they call the ability to tell if someone's gay "gaydar." Like "radar" but for "gay."
- Grandma: Oh! I think I have that.
- Me: You think you have good gaydar?
- Grandma: Well, I was an artist, so I was around a lot of gay men. And I can usually tell, but Paula fooled me.
- Me: The slang term for lesbians who are very conventionally feminine in English is "lipstick lesbian."
- Grandma: She did wear lipstick!
- Me: Do you think a lot of older people think like you do?
- Grandma: I think so. A lot of older people keep up with the news better than you think. And you get to be my age and you realize a lot of past mistakes in your thinking. You realize that a lot of things you think mattered, really don't. And the people who don't think like that, it's mostly because they don't know any better. But even at my age, people can be taught.
- Me: Thank you, Pupa.
- Grandma: You should show me your website when you put this up. I hope a lot of people read it.
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