I Am A Plus-Size Woman Who Wore a Low-Rise Bikini to the Beach and This is What Happened – Bustle.com

Marie Southard Ospina

As a fat woman, there are several truths that have been engrained into my psyche since the day my visible belly outline became impossible to conceal. Amongst them, the “fact” that fat women do not deserve to wear bodycon dresses or sexy lingerie. Furthermore, their sole goal when it comes to fashion should be to try their very best to not look fat. I’m talking about cultivating addictions to black dresses, wearing only loose-fitting tops and high-waisted trousers and avoiding anything loud, revealing or remotely interesting. Plus-size fashion rules indicate only solid prints and baggy things are to be purchased. And we must be grateful to these items, for they slim us down and make us more attractive (or better yet, less revolting) to those around us.

That fat phobia exists is no secret. Remember fat-shaming week? Or Karl Lagerfeld’s entire existence? We live in a world, and at a time, where being fat is considered (in mainstream culture) not just distasteful or unattractive, but downright wrong. We wage wars on obesity without fully understanding the term. We brew hatred in our hearts and minds toward a physical characteristic needed to survive… because, let’s face it, body fat is essential. We accuse plus-size bloggers, celebrities or body-positive activists of encouraging unhealthy lifestyles, without acknowledging that health at every size is a real thing, and weight is not an automatic indicator of beauty, intelligence, or workout regimen. And as a result, we often end up disliking and harming our bodies, and criticizing anyone who doesn’t fit the linear, preconceived ideologies of beauty.

That fat phobia exists is no secret, as I said. But that body-positive, feminist, girl power-y communities exist is no secret either. For every person who is cruel enough — ignorant enough — to believe that you are unloveable or unattractive or less than human because of your figure, there will be at least one person to combat that mentality. Or, at least, that’s what I’d like to think.

To read more of this article posted on Bustle.com: http://www.bustle.com/articles/41873-i-am-a-plus-size-woman-who-wore-a-low-rise-bikini-to-the-beach-and-this-is