Fuck Yeah Skinny Chicks

I read a comment on our new Let It Out page for venting and our first comment was from the author of Fuck Yeah Skinny Chicks. Intrigued by her candor and relief at finding our site, I checked out hers to see if she was on the level, as opposed to promoting a pro-ana or pro-weight loss philosophy. I found neither.

In studying the science of Fat Acceptance I’ve come to believe that body size and shape is powerfully determined by genetics, and that some people are predestined to higher and lower weights than average. What I hadn’t given much consideration to is that naturally thin women often experience the same sorts of prejudicial treatment that fat women do. It isn’t the same by any stretch of the imagination, but I believe they are both equally hurtful.

I invited Luxe to submit a guest post because I see the potential in a valuable ally at Fuck Yeah Skinny Chicks and I hope you do too.

Hello everyone, I’m Luxe, the owner of the body acceptance blog Fuck Yeah Skinny Chicks. I was invited by the kind Shannon to write a guest post for this fine blog, so I have chosen to pontificate on the common ground and shared goals of both skinny and fat women in the body acceptance movement.

Something I’ve noticed that happens occasionally in discussions of size is that women segregate into two camps: the skinny and the fat. For example, take this College Candy article. A “slightly overweight” girl wrote in to CC’s “Ask A Dude” column asking whether guys like overweight girls. Instead of going to “Guys all have different tastes and yes you can be beautiful no matter what your size is” route, the columnist started bashing skinny girls. The column was pretty much an aggregation of every anti-skinny sentiment I’ve ever seen. He even said the perfectly normal looking Zoe Saldana looked “gross.”

But even more stupefying was the debate that erupted in the comments. Tons of skinny women posted that this offended them of course, but some girls and a few guys told them to shut up. One even said “Fuck all the skinny bitches on this page.” But then in retaliation to that, there were commenters who put down chubby girls to make the skinny commenters feel better! It became a vicious cycle of one side dissing the other and vice versa: woman versus woman, with the guys thrown in. I can’t believe the hate that comes out of the woodwork when weight is discussed, from both skinny and fat women. Both sides are guilty of it. It is completely unnecessary and I struggle to come up with a theory of why people even say things like that.

I’ve also talked to a lot of people, who consistently deny that skinny women have any self-esteem problems. I’m not going to pretend that skinny women are as marginalized or discriminated against as fat women — by reading fat acceptance blogs I’ve learned about some issues that I didn’t even know existed — but it’s undeniable that women of all shapes and sizes have felt bad about their appearance at some point in their life. We’re too fat, too skinny, our boobs aren’t big enough, or they’re too big, etc. etc. etc. And of course, all of these qualities make us unattractive to men because as a whole they seem to mysteriously prefer whatever the polar opposite as seen above.

My first introduction to the whole fat acceptance thing happened in high school. I had this good friend who was fat and healthy. She exercised for several hours a week doing competitive figure skating, and she ate a pretty average diet. One day I was sitting around waiting for the bus when this obnoxious acquaintance of mine and I were discussing weight. Then she made a comment about my friend, saying she was too fat! Then this girl went and pointed at a picture of our cheerleading squad and commented on how fat they all were. They really weren’t, and since they were cheerleaders they were probably fitter than her.

What a lot of the more antagonistic women (who obviously aren’t into body acceptance!) don’t realize is that we can understand each other if we’re open minded. When a skinny girl is called “anorexic,” that means someone is making a judgement about her lifestyle based on her appearance. When someone says a fat woman needs get on the treadmill, they’re making a judgement about her as well. How can you possibly deduce someone’s eating or exercise habits from their appearance? This is where we have something in common. As a skinny woman, I completely commiserate with fat women when people make judgements about them or say mean things. It’s really shocking how a single word can get you down. Even if your weight is unhealthy on either end, you shouldn’t be ridiculed. These people may have legitimate illnesses and should be treated with kindness and be given help if they seek it. I generally try to promote health on my blog: exercise, eating well, and taking care of yourself, because this is what makes you beautiful, no matter what your size.

I started Fuck Yeah Skinny Chicks because I saw a niche that wasn’t filled: a body acceptance blog for skinny chicks. People will always remain skeptical that skinny women need a blog like this, but the truth is that the media doesn’t really help anyone. It’s true that they favor thinness over fatness but that’s where it ends. The media loves big-boobed blonde women. So much so, that poor Heidi Montag (who a lot of people make fun of, but I just feel really sad for) went and got ten plastic surgeries in one day, even though most people would agree she already fit the media ideal. Now she looks like a Barbie doll, but people are saying she looks too fake and her implants are too big when she was adorable just the way she was. Whenever you read about runway models in the news, it’s always about how they’re scary skinny or anorexic. Naturally skinny celebrities like Keira Knightley are attacked in the same way. The media creates an ideal that we may be close to or not, but we will never reach. Whatever your body looks like, the media will always find a fault with it.

I’m also sure that if you’re reading this, you know that teenage girls can have notoriously low self esteem regarding their bodies. The teenage years are a painful time (I would know, I’ve just got six more months to go, thank goodness) and every teenage girl has something she hates about her body. For them, I like to say the grass is always greener on the other side. If you tell a teenage girl that the media loves her body type or that she could be a model, it doesn’t do an ounce of good. I was pretty damn scrawny and flat-chested in middle and high school and I was convinced that this was why guys didn’t like me. Compounded with other issues in my life at the time, I was depressed. It took me a really long time to get to where I am now: (mostly) happy with my body. My wonderful boyfriend insists that he likes me just that way I am, but I still wish my boobs are bigger and that my waist-hip ratio was lower. I’m banking on the fact that my boobs have a few more years to go.

I created FYSC just for girls like me. This is an issue that really hits close to home for me and if there’s even one skinny girl who feels better about herself because of my blog, my mission will have been fulfilled. Thankfully, I have received a few comments from people who like what I’m doing, so it seems that my mission is going well.

I feel that because we all have the goal of making women feel better about their bodies, we should collaborate and be friends and I’m glad I’ve been given a chance to explain myself. I’m really happy I found FA blogs who are inclusive of everyone because by working together we’re more powerful and we can accomplish more. United we stand, you know. I hope that what I’ve written has opened your mind just a bit and helped you realize that we’re all on the same page. As a commenter in the CC column said, “Let’s start the new decade by rejecting this bullshit, misogynistic sexy/unsexy binary!”