MONIQUE BOYCOTT NETFLIX/OPRAH/ROLAND MARTIN

BBW'S ARE WE STILL ROCKING WITH MONIQUE??? BACK IN THE DAY MONIQUE REPRESENTED THE PLUS SIZE COMMUNITY. IN MY EYES SHE COULD DO NO WRONG. NOWADAY'S SHE'S SKINNY, GOT A NEW SKETCHY MAN, AND WANTING EVERYBODY TO GIVE UP NETFLIX????? ARE YOU STANDING BEHIND WHAT'S LEFT OF HER OR NAH?

THE GREAT DEBATE---ARE WE HELPING OR HURTING???

This topic has been discussed more than once.  Once I think it's settled it rises its ugly head again.

This is the debate on rather or not the advertisement of plus size women as beautiful and fashionable is helping or hurting the ever growing problem of obesity.

First of all, I must say that if your are not considered plus size you cannot effectively weigh-in (no pun intended) on this topic.  I'm sorry (no I'm not) but it honestly feels like we (plus size people) lose their voice when it comes to this debate because people who have never face this issue have the loudest voice in this conversation.

There are three points that I would like to bring up (AGAIN) that pertains to this debate.

1. You cannot love yourself only when you are thin.  This was the very first lesson that I had to learn if I ever wanted to be happy.  Not if I ever wanted to be thin.  Not if I ever wanted to be pretty.  If I ever wanted to be happy with myself and who I am I could NOT wait until I was thin to do so.  We see this over and over and over again.  Loving yourself has nothing to do with a person's outward appearance.  So to say that showcasing a plus size woman being confident, feeling sexy and being admired is contributing to obesity is just FALSE.  

When you love yourself that is half the battle.  It is so much easier trying to live a healthier lifestyle when you are doing it from a healthy mind set.  It's not easy trying to lose weight, eat right, just to satisfy someone else.  It's too much pressure.  Honestly when you are very overweight it can be very difficult to try to lose weight even when its for your own health.  When you step on that scale and then hear your doctor say what you should weigh it can be very difficult to even start when you're just doing it to satisfy someone else, even if its what's best for you.

But whenever you decide that I love myself exactly for who I am and you really mean it.  It suddenly becomes very easy to lose weight because you don't have the pressure of doing it for someone else.  You can actually have fun doing it.

2. This may come as a news flash to some of you but: YOU DON'T HAVE TO BE SKINNY TO BE HEALTHY! There's a lot of skinny unhealthy people and vise versa.  There a many plus size women who eat healthy, are very active and get good reports from their doctors every check-up.  The only difference is, they're not skinny!

3. Finally, I personally find it very offensive when one group comes out with a study with a small percentage of women as their case study and suddenly this is the norm for EVERYBODY!  It's sickening! Now, because of one case study plus size women ads are the cause for obesity. Not the fact that unhealthy foods are cheaper than healthy foods and are more readily available.  ( I won't even go there)

Feel free to check out these articles and feel free to comment and share!

Seeing Plus-Size Models Everywhere Is Only Making Us Get Fatter

Study claims ‘plus-size’ models may contribute to obesity epidemic and unhealthy lifestyle choices

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Plus SIze--Name or More

"Plus Size"--Name or More

 

Is it just a name or does it stand for more???  I don't know when the first time I was referred to as "plus size" I don't even remember when the first time I was directed to the "plus size" section, come to think of it I don't even remember when I started referring to myself and other women as "plus size."

Honestly, I never looked at the word as anything derogatory or insulting.  I think a few years ago, women with a few extra inches were just happy to not be called "fat."  Growing up hearing that word tossed around a lot in my direction definitely made me feel "some type of way."  But as I got older to hear word such as "plus, curvy, phat, phatabulous" these were words that defined me but in a positive light.  Now, according to recent comments by singer Megan Trainor and actress Melissa McCarthy, even these words are not worthy to describe the fuller woman.

But let's be real.  We live in a world and society that loves to categorize.  We all want to put everyone in tight neatly organized boxes that we can easily identify with.  Is it right?  No. But is it the truth?  Yes.  Will it change?  Maybe, but its highly unlikely.

But bravo to Meghan Trainor and Melissa McCarthy for trying.

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Positive vs. Negative

Positive vs. Negative



I haven't had much to say on this blog lately.  Most articles I'm reading these days that concern plus size women are not in a positive light.  I recently read an article by Margaret Bogenrief, and in it she was pointing out (nothing new really) how plus size women are as usual not catered to in the fashion world.  She mention a few retailers such as Lane Bryant who still do but shouldn't we have more options then the regular few.

Ok, the positive: Yes there are a lot of up and coming designers, boutiques, fashion shows, model opportunities, and fashion weeks.  So I guess I should (as a plus size woman) should be grateful.  But am I? Are you?

New Dove Campaign- My picture was on a billboard!

So, I'm friends with a lot of beautiful, smart, sexy, sassy, wonderful phatabulous ladies on Face Book, right, and all of a sudden I see a bunch of these Time-Square Billboard Ads for Dove soap and bath products with a lot of my FB friends pictures on them.  Now, at first I was like wow, a plus size woman on a billboard in Times-Square that's something to blog and brag about, but then I see more and more, so I immediately become curious.  Which basically means I googled it.  Turns out Dove is doing something very good for women all around the world.  They've purchased a billboard in Times Square that's basically a slide show, and all you have to do to be on it is go to their website dove.us and sign up and submit a pic.  I did this and the very next day: BOOM there goes my picture.  I screamed!

 I immediately started inboxing, calling, telling everyone  I think may be interested, you know all of the women I see posting beautiful cell phone pics (lol).  I say to them, this is your chance to actually get those bathroom pics (we've all done it) out their and you never know.  But to my surprise I get very little response back and the response I do get is so shocking to me.  "I don't think I wanna do that", and every excuse in the book, and I'm like, "are you serious""?

I don't get it, I just don't get it.  People talk a lot of talk, but when it's time to show up, their scared. 

Okay, so I'm done with my little rant.  Back to the fact that for maybe about 3-5 seconds my picture was on a billboard in Times-Square.  I am soooooo excited.  Yea me!

Thanks Dove for taking the time out to recognize natural beauty and for giving all of the women like me who would love to model or do something like that but just don't quite fit the bill.  Thank you for saying we are still beautiful anyway and actually doing something about it.

So, I ran across this video on you tube.  In it the announcer talks about a study that "proves" plus size models or "thicker women" cause low self-esteem among women.  This "study" doesn't bother me mainly because there are a lot of studies out here that can "prove" just about anything.  Everyone is different with different opinions, cultures, growing up in different communities and families that shape us.  So just because one college has come up with this study does not mean its true.

The problem I have with this video is the fact that the announcer stated that when models who are skinny are seen they are seen as skinny models and when models who are plus sized are viewed they are viewed as plus size models.  I have to disagree.  When I hear someone talk about "models" they are usually referring to models who are skinny.  When someone refers to a plus size model they usually say, "plus size model".

My question is why?

The plus size woman is doing the same thing the skinny woman is doing.  She's modeling a specific product for a specific company.  Why does she need a label about her size?

This doesn't really bother me when it happens, but I have noticed that it happens.  What bothered me about the video is that the announcer doesn't know what she's talking about.  I watched a few of their videos on the subject and I can honestly say that neither one of them have a complete understanding of the plus size community. 

Just my thoughts:)