The National Mall got a new memorial yesterday, if only briefly. As part of One Billion Rising, Baltimore-based feminist group FORCE installed a temporary memorial recognizing survivors of sexual assault. The group greated giant letters out of a statement from a rape survivor and floated the eight-foot-tall words onto the reflecting pool in front of the Lincoln Memorial.
WHAT WE'RE ABOUT
RBI focuses on using expressive writing, design-oriented work, photography, media, research, and community input to fuel fat positive, body acceptance, discussion, and outreach. Our goal is to redefine the way we view and think about body image, size, fat, discrimination, health, fitness, wellness, mental/chronic illness, stigma, and other related topics.
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.
Some of the artwork you see here has been created by our founder or moderators, some sourced when applicable. Please be kind enough to source this blog whenever you share it's content.
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.
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.
Some of the artwork you see here has been created by our founder or moderators, some sourced when applicable. Please be kind enough to source this blog whenever you share it's content.
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.
Yeah, I’ll say it - this universal call to action for women of the world to “love themselves” is overrated.
Strive for self contentment, be kind to yourself, be critical of media, remain vigilant in seeking empowerment and positivity when you can, form a relationship with your body, live well by your own standards, and by all means - love yourself, if that is within your grasp.
But if you can not find self love, for whatever reason and however long, know that you are not part of the problem.
You have been affected.
Unlearning the hate is hard work, but once we learn how to dismantle the inner-workings of a society and culture that permeates and surrounds our very existence, we can stand a chance of knocking it down.
In the meantime, don’t force it - stop blaming yourself for not “loving your body” enough.
You can not possibly be at fault, when the oppressive culture we live in is the main offender.
[Image: Typographic message depicted in pastel purple and peach: “I am forever working against a culture of shame.”]
It’s been a while. Here’s a thing I made for you!
Sometimes I am afraid to be too dismal.
Smile. Be positive. Set an example. Fuck you.
Because I’ve come to this place again, of questioning my body - and while most of the time I aim for acceptance and presence of mind, those things are hard to keep hold of, as a reality. As my reality.
So I keep asking myself over and over again, as if reminding myself will finally get me to accept that I am not always okay with my body, or my mental health, or my eating habits, and that it will pass. I just rather wish it would stop flipping like a goddamn switch.
Does my overwhelming love for spinach cancel out my overzealous gravitation to baked goods? Am I virtuously healthy enough yet, or will I surely die some vague future death that won’t stop haunting my mind?
You know the shit that surrounds you molds you. You know how to actively break it down. You know that aiming for good health rather than the slimness commonly (and incorrectly) associated with it is the better alternative.
But that slim figure, the one you’ve crafted in your brain from the moment you realized your fatness, is burned behind your retinas. And this perfected version has a tendency to want to block your view.
Why the fuck do I want to change my body? Because I was fine, until someone or something pulled the trigger - and I don’t have to sit here and take the fucking bullet.
It’s been a while.
I’ve been hearing this a lot lately. This is what I think about it.
There are no if’s, and’s, or BUT’s when it comes to body positivity.
ALL bodies are good bodies.