Discrimination against skinny/fit women

B!tches comes in all shapes, sizes and colors.

/end rant

:drinker: :laugh:

I get sad when I read forums like this where women so freely admit to body shaming, whether it be toward overweight or underweight women. I consider myself a bit of a feminist and I wish we as women could focus on one anothers strengths and accomplishments rather than solely on our appearances. Why as a society do we have to look at someone and become envious of what they look like or what they have? Why can't we use them as a source of motivation for the betterment of ourselves. If I ever bring a daughter into this world I hope things progress toward a more positive direction when it comes to body image and body perception.

I agree with what you say but it is a pipe dream for those of us in the USA. I say this because as a society we have been taught to crave to the best of everything. To always have more then the Jones. And this also applies to how we look. We are never truly happy with ourselves and are always comparing ourselves to someone else we pursue perfection. The measure of success for many is how well we compare to someone else. If someone else has more or is better then we are, then we become jealous. Which is why we immediately go to the negative thoughts of "Oh she must starve herself...she has better genetics then I do...blah blah blah" because no one wants to admit that the reason they are they are is because they themselves did it to themselves. They are too conditioned to expect things to be easy and convenient that they can't fathom it being their own fault. Which leads to the excuses as to why they can't and why it is someone else's fault..."Mcdonalds made me fat....It's my mother's fault...I was taught bad eating habits...blah blah" instead of saying "I ate things that were bad for me and sat on the couch all the time and I got fat. Now I need to change my lifestyle if I want to be healthy and the only way that is happening is if I make myself do it. No one else is going to do it for me.

I get sad when I read forums like this where women so freely admit to body shaming, whether it be toward overweight or underweight women. I consider myself a bit of a feminist and I wish we as women could focus on one anothers strengths and accomplishments rather than solely on our appearances. Why as a society do we have to look at someone and become envious of what they look like or what they have? Why can't we use them as a source of motivation for the betterment of ourselves. If I ever bring a daughter into this world I hope things progress toward a more positive direction when it comes to body image and body perception.

I agree with what you say but it is a pipe dream for those of us in the USA. I say this because as a society we have been taught to crave to the best of everything. To always have more then the Jones. And this also applies to how we look. We are never truly happy with ourselves and are always comparing ourselves to someone else we pursue perfection. The measure of success for many is how well we compare to someone else. If someone else has more or is better then we are, then we become jealous. Which is why we immediately go to the negative thoughts of "Oh she must starve herself...she has better genetics then I do...blah blah blah" because no one wants to admit that the reason they are they are is because they themselves did it to themselves. They are too conditioned to expect things to be easy and convenient that they can't fathom it being their own fault. Which leads to the excuses as to why they can't and why it is someone else's fault..."Mcdonalds made me fat....It's my mother's fault...I was taught bad eating habits...blah blah" instead of saying "I ate things that were bad for me and sat on the couch all the time and I got fat. Now I need to change my lifestyle if I want to be healthy and the only way that is happening is if I make myself do it. No one else is going to do it for me.

I see what you're saying but I think as women, as responsible citizens of our society, and as responsible consumer's of media we have an ability to begin a movement in a direction that focuses less on body image and shaming of a woman toward understanding the value of ourselves and instilling that in future generations. I admit I catch myself passing judgments, but I catch myself, I'm cognizant of my reactions and I have internal dialogue with myself to understand those feelings. Rather than passivly saying this is how things are and will continue to be, each person needs to focus on themselves for the betterment of ourselves, sisters, mothers, daughters etc.

Recently when Ashley Judd was shamed for her "puffy face" she released an article and she hit it home, below are a few excerpts:

"The Conversation about women’s bodies exists largely outside of us, while it is also directed at (and marketed to) us, and used to define and control us. The Conversation about women happens everywhere, publicly and privately. We are described and detailed, our faces and bodies analyzed and picked apart, our worth ascertained and ascribed based on the reduction of personhood to simple physical objectification. Our voices, our personhood, our potential, and our accomplishments are regularly minimized and muted."

"That women are joining in the ongoing disassembling of my appearance is salient. Patriarchy is not men. Patriarchy is a system in which both women and men participate. It privileges, inter alia, the interests of boys and men over the bodily integrity, autonomy, and dignity of girls and women. It is subtle, insidious, and never more dangerous than when women passionately deny that they themselves are engaging in it. This abnormal obsession with women’s faces and bodies has become so normal that we (I include myself at times—I absolutely fall for it still) have internalized patriarchy almost seamlessly. We are unable at times to identify ourselves as our own denigrating abusers, or as abusing other girls and women."

" hope the sharing of my thoughts can generate a new conversation: Why was a puffy face cause for such a conversation in the first place? How, and why, did people participate? If not in the conversation about me, in parallel ones about women in your sphere? What is the gloating about? What is the condemnation about? What is the self-righteous alleged “all knowing” stance of the media about? How does this symbolize constraints on girls and women, and encroach on our right to be simply as we are, at any given moment? How can we as individuals in our private lives make adjustments that support us in shedding unconscious actions, internalized beliefs, and fears about our worthiness, that perpetuate such meanness? What can we do as families, as groups of friends? Is what girls and women can do different from what boys and men can do? What does this have to do with how women are treated in the workplace?"

"I ask especially how we can leverage strong female-to-female alliances to confront and change that there is no winning here as women. It doesn’t actually matter if we are aging naturally, or resorting to surgical assistance. We experience brutal criticism. The dialogue is constructed so that our bodies are a source of speculation, ridicule, and invalidation, as if they belong to others"

"I ask especially how we can leverage strong female-to-female alliances to confront and change that there is no winning here as women. It doesn’t actually matter if we are aging naturally, or resorting to surgical assistance. We experience brutal criticism. The dialogue is constructed so that our bodies are a source of speculation, ridicule, and invalidation, as if they belong to others"

SORRY so long, but i think the information is important. Forums like this start dialogue which is the first step to change!!!

View the entire piece at :
http://www.thedailybeast.com/articles/2012/04/09/ashley-judd-slaps-media-in-the-face-for-speculation-over-her-puffy-appearance.html

You know, I don't know about discrimination, exactly, but weight is something that is NOT as taboo to talk about once you lose it.

I was never fat, but I was on the larger side of normal for a bit. Lost the weight, and suddenly it's totally fine to say things like "You need to eat a sandwich!" or "Why are you eating like a rabbit? Eat a hamburger."

If I said to someone who was overweight that was eating a hamburger "Really? Why don't you eat a salad." I'd be b@$%#-slapped, because that's totally inappropriate to question their eating habits.

Now, this isn't just with being thinner, though. Being thinner opens you up to the same suspension of personal privacy that having a child does. Once you get pregnant, all your choices are public opinion; people tell you to not eat certain things, they tell you that you're looking really big (loved that one), and they tell you to stop worrying about being active and just eat more stuff. Like ice cream. Apparently, ice cream is the thing that pregnant women are just supposed to have.

Whether you want those opinions or not, the status of your body allows them to somehow suspend proper social conventions, because hey, you now fit a status, and therefore you are open to public questioning.

But that also goes the other way with bigger people; it's just considered more rude to openly criticize, so people do it quietly. Or on internet forums.

Either way, it comes down to Western society being a sh*& place to be a woman, because everyone everywhere is expected to scrutinize and decide about your body for you.

I blame the Bible.

They are all pretty but I prefer the entire second row personal preference of more curvy women

I'm really sorry to read this, while I've never truly felt any malice towards anyone of the thinner persuasion, I sometimes say "skinny b*tch (not to their face)", and I will admit to feeling a spurt of perverse pride when I can out perform a skinny person in something athletic. But I apologize, I've never considered how hurtful comments could be or how often thinner people receive. I guess I've always had the "grass is greener on the other side" mentality. :embarassed:

Well,I am not a man but If I was....the 3rd woman in the second row is hot.Just sayin

all women are catty and jealous. Im surprised you're just figuring this out. Think of what you said/thought about skinny women when you were fat.

Yeah, thanks, but I don't need you to speak for me. I'm not catty or jealous and never have been. I'm empathetic to a fault; it has hurt me many times (sometimes severely) but it's not in me to treat people badly. Even jerks who post sexist BS get an explanation rather than getting told off outright.

^
Well said.

all women are catty and jealous. Im surprised you're just figuring this out. Think of what you said/thought about skinny women when you were fat.

So true.

I'm still a big woman, but I have completely changed my thinking when it comes to a womans body. When I see a thin/fit woman all I can think is "Wow, the work she must have put into that!!" Where it used to be my thought was "Skinny b**ch probably starves herself.

I also get a surge of excitement when I see a large woman jogging or at the gym. I just want to cheer for her, but then I'd seem crazy.


I'll admit though, when I'm at the store or mall and I see these really huge women.....I truly feel nothing but disgust. I know I shouldn't, but it's hard not to when I can see the damage they are doing to their bodies, the same kind of damage I've done to mine.

I do NOT agree that all women are catty and jealous! I didn't get snide comments when I was 50 lbs overweight or when I was at least 15 lbs underweight. I don't remember any remarks about my weight when I was heavy, and the worst I've heard since I've lost the weight is, "You're too skinny." People are entitled to their personal opinions, but I'm comfortable with my current weight, so the comment doesn't bother me. I'm just happy they recognize that I'm not fat. :flowerforyou:

I like to see women working out, whatever their size, and I root for them! I'd love to see every woman make the effort to be healthy and fit.