Monday, January 28, 2013

fattie.

It's been about a year and a half since I've posted on here, but something quite appropriate got my attention tonight. A good friend of mine "liked" a Facebook page called "The All Sizes Princess Project." It's aim is to get Disney theme parks to feature plus-sized actresses as princesses . . . my thoughts are below.

Please remember, I am plus-sized. And I am a princess.
This is not meant to demonize overweight women or men, but the mindset that they should be celebrated.

(This was actually the message I responded with when someone brought the page to my attention.)

". . . I kind of think it's a bit stupid. The princesses from the stories and films are tiny and beautiful. Every character in a fairy tale sets completely unrealistic goals for actual living things . . . unless you know of a fish that can sing and dance. The Disney theme parks are very stringent and scrupulous when choosing who will play one of their characters. My friend auditioned twice (this girl looks like Snow White . . . like exactly like her). The first time they turned her down for her nose . . . her nose. The second time because she didn't have a dancing background. So, not only does the actor/actress need to look EXACTLY like a fictional character, but also be in excellent physical shape to walk around a theme park in blazing heat and do a choreographed dance number every half hour or so . . . From experience, fatties can't do that . . . not even the ones with a dance background.

"I wholeheartedly agree that girls should have positive role models and learn to accept their own beauty and their own body . . . but I think that means less Photoshop and Anorexia. A plus-sized woman isn't a good role model for girls, no matter who she's dressed up as. (Remember that I can say this because I AM plus-sized.) Being plus-sized isn't healthy. Those women are the ones who, like me, eat their emotions . . . or their boredom . . . or prefer the couch to the treadmill. Humans are, by nature, designed to be healthy. To be able to run, relocate frequently, carry lots of crap on their backs during travel. Yes, they need to be able to support life, also. That means they're healthy. Not underweight. Not overweight. Healthy. I don't believe for a second that a size 00 (yes, that size exists . . . it's like a negative size) should be a role model for younger girls, but that goes both ways. If you're unhealthy, you're unhealthy. And you shouldn't be a role model to anyone.

"I'm so sick of this new-found acceptance among fat women. Like, it's okay for their arteries to be clogged and their hearts surrounded by a cushy blanket of fat just because "they're beautiful on the inside, and that's what matters." Yes, it is more important than physical beauty, but that's not a license for a whopper and large fries. Women need to get over themselves, realize that they need to get off their fat butts if they want to set an example, and actually do something to become healthy. THAT'S what's inspiring. Someone who realized the importance of a healthy lifestyle and changed everything they did to commit to it. That's what a role model should be."