WHAT WE'RE ABOUT
We are constantly redefining our own perspectives, and therefore tend to write a lot about our personal experiences. Many followers and contributors are living with anorexia, bulimia, body dysmorphic disorder, depression, and a variety of other body image disorders or mental illnesses, so please be respectful and remember that health applies differently to everyone. Any and all potentially triggering content will be prefaced with a trigger warning.
RBI supports all races, genders, classes, and sizes. We try our best to make this a safe space for everyone. If we are not doing our job or checking our privilege, we invite you to please inform us.
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We are not health professionals. Any and all advice provided on this blog is supported only by our own research, studies, and personal experiences; nothing more.
This blog is part of the Safe Space Network.
TW: Self harm, ED,
Hello all! My name is Mel and I am 17 years-old.
I’ve been diagnosed as being Bipolar and what is now, a mild eating disorder. No-one who looks at me would ever imagine that I struggle with eating and keeping it down, but all I can say is; I’m ill, and there’s nothing wrong with that. I’m trying to be as strong as I possibly can, and I’m determined to be mentally strong enough to be on my own in a few months. I have scars, and I have days where I don’t do all too well, but you always have to remember that your disorder does NOT define who YOU are.
Big girls have eating disorders, and that is never going to change. That’s what people have to realize.
Overheard getting coffee this morning: “I’m not saying I’m fat, I’m just curvy.”
Bitch, AIN’T NOTHING WRONG WITH FAT OKAY.
I have a really hard time with loving myself sometimes,
and when all else fails I take to drawing on my body and trying to rely on what I know to be true rather than what I think I see.
Even if those things were true, “I’d still be worth loving”
colorblock striped dress: torrid
black cardigan: asos curve
In society today, there exist a pervasive myth that some people are born with style— when in reality, it’s learned! Unfortunately, lots of fat women grew up thinking that style is something for thin women only, and never spent time developing their style muscles. This is a zine for them!
Featuring 36 pages of content, this zine showcases the styles of four fictional women, and as well as some guidelines for developing your own personal style. Check out a preview spread here!
Because I’m currently only selling it as a PDF, I have set the price at $5. If you can’t afford to pay that, or don’t have a way of paying online, please shoot me an e-mail at aefleck@gmail.com, and I will send you a copy. The money goes towards allowing me to create more things like this, so please pay if you can! And hey— if you’ve got the cash and are into this idea, perhaps pay a few extra dollars? Every cent helps a fat working lady illustrator!
It’s done!! DAMN GIRL THAT STYLE IS FAT! is a zine, written and illustrated and design by me, and YOU CAN BUY IT FOR $5 HERE!
NOTE: When this zine becomes available in print, IF YOU BOUGHT IT ONLINE FIRST, $5 will be deducted from the print price! There’s not a date set yet for print copies, as I have no idea how I’m going to print it yet (it’s so long!!), but I do plan on doing a print run.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=74LXx0wSqMI
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I approved this video but I see a lot of problematic things with it.
I wanted to see Caro Emerald having fun - running around the town getting into trouble. Not the other women.
See, I think that is the problem with the video concept. They think that because Caro is fat, she can’t be fun, sexy, mischievous - like the thin women can. She can’t possibly be a femme fatale.
When in reality, I thought she was far more seductive with that red lipstick and that flower in her hair, singing into that old microphone than those girls diving into that pool.
YOU GUISE THIS BRIDAL SHOP WAS BRILLIANT
Anyone in the Detroit area looking for wedding dresses in fat sizes, definitely check out Bombshell Bridal in St. Clair Shores. The sisters who run the shop are so lovely and I felt like a glamazon queen all afternoon.
I don’t know how I’ll ever decide! This shit is hard work.
I never liked this photo cos I felt it showed too much of my body and that I should be ashamed of my curves. I always hid behind my art rather than becoming part of my art but I am realizing more and more each day that I too am a beautiful piece of art. This journey continues to be hard but with blogs like these it becomes easier.
Annie, size 20 (South African)
Artist, musician and chubby warrior
My name is Shayna,
I’d like to share a story with you.
Through my whole life I have been told I was obese by doctors, my parents, friends, etc.
My family to this day still comment and choose what I eat when a family dinner rolls around.
I was placed in weight watchers at the age of 12 and was forced to continue until 15. I was never told that I was pretty by anyone but my mother. My whole life has been filled with personal trainers, fitting in to corsets, and constant struggles with eating disorders. It took me until the age of 20 to realize,
I am so much more than my weight,
I am a GO-GO dancer, I am a soldier, I AM beautiful.
Everyone of you, please remember that YOU are beautiful too!
One of the biggest struggles I have when talking about fat acceptance is our culture’s fear of the word “fat” and the connotations that come with it.
It doesn’t have to be feared or replaced with nicer-sounding words. It really doesn’t.
Stop spitting it as an insult or accepting it as negative and repurpose it for positivity. It’s just a descriptor, a noun, a way of identifying a body - not the person inside it.
Many people embrace the word “curvy” rather than “fat”, as “curves” are more palatable than “fat rolls” - but really, what’s the difference? It means the same thing, said in a different way, to avoid the bullshit that’s tied to the identification of fat bodies - the implied laziness, lack of motivation, unhealthy, ~OBESITY IS KILLING THE WORLD~ bullshit.
I am a size 16/18 fatty, though of course not fat enough to be deemed the biggest shit-stain on society - I’m just “thin” enough to be given the benefit of the doubt, capable of calling myself curvy rather than fat, but I choose not to. Because my corpulent bod is what it is and there is nothing wrong with it.
This isn’t to say I object to any and all use of the word “curvy” - I use it often, along with “fat”, because there are many different kinds of body sizes, shapes, preferences, and identities and it is good to be inclusive with body image related language.
I simply encourage smaller fats to keep in mind that larger fats don’t have the privilege of being able to lean on the word “curvy” to escape fat-negative language. They don’t exist in that gray area. We owe it to all fat bodies to examine why that gray area exists and challenge it.
Stop fearing the flesh. Fat ≠ Unhealthy, undesirable, unsexy, or unintelligent. All body types have the possibility of being these things and it’s outrageous to me that only fatness is tied to them. Reclaim it.
Here’s a shoutout to anyone who hates their body and wishes they looked different: LEARN about the power of media. The above ad is from the 1950s. Advertising thrives on making you feel insecure. Over the decades, thanks to feminism, ad designers were forced to become (less patronising, misogynistic and outright sexist in their content and) more subtle, but otherwise nothing has changed - the media still throws images at us which make us feel insecure or deepen our insecurities. Why? Because ultimately, they’re trying to sell us things. Back then it was exercises and diets that will increase your bust or help you put a few pounds on, now it’s plastic surgery and diets which will help you shed those pounds.
The good news is, you can fight it - knowledge is power - so educate yourself. Think about the ‘perfect’ model back when you were young, and how has she changed. Learn of the power of Photoshop. Look at quality retouching: before and after. These women that media wants us to emulate are hardly real anymore. Things are turning around, but slowly, so in the meantime, learn.
I hope this gives some a little bit of perspective. Don’t fall prey to the media, you’re too smart for that, and way too beautiful all on your own.
——
[mod note or whatever: fucking THIS. cosigned. always. - haley <3]
(TW ED)
I have been recovering from bulimia nervosa/substance abuse problems for nearly a year now. There has never been a point in my life where I have been happy with myself or my appearance so I would always try to change and numb myself out through weight-loss and getting high. Through recovery I am slowly learning that size is of ZERO importance, and has absolutely nothing to do with my happiness or self-worth. Despite continuous relapses I am still pushing towards health and happiness and a positive body image. Because I deserve it.
Hey, I’m Penny, and this is just my story that I felt I needed to tell.
I’ve been extremely self conscious of my legs my whole life, feeling they were too big, too fat, too wobbly and just plain ugly. I have big thighs and bigger calves, and although most days I appreciate what I can do with them, some days all the pictures of toothpick legs get me down. I was born with larger and stronger than average leg muscles than normal - on the day I was born, I could support my full weight, only using my parent’s hands for balance.
I don’t know why, and I don’t know what started it, but by the time is was three years old, I was already unhappy with them. THREE YEARS OLD. I went to my (very skinny) cousins’ house, and we were having lunch, and I remember thinking “I won’t sit down, because then my legs will look even bigger than they already do.” I find this really saddening, that in our society, a three year old girl feels that her legs are too fat to sit down at lunch. Anyway, to get on with it, after tons of support from my friends, and many hours spent on this beautiful blog, I finally feel content with my legs, and am embracing my thunder thighs <3