jayus

Who do you think slaughters the animals you eat?

Who do you think picks your crops?

Dan Radcliffe addresses ‘Fantastic Beasts’ Johnny Depp controversy: ‘Harry Potter’ kicked someone out for weed

According to the British Dietetic Association, “Well planned vegetarian diets are appropriate for all stages of life and have many benefits.”

According to the Dietitians Association of Australia, “with good planning it is still possible to obtain all the nutrients required for good health on a vegan diet.”

According to the Dieticians of Canada, “A healthy vegan diet can meet all your nutrient needs at any stage of life including when you are pregnant, breastfeeding or for older adults.”

According to Harvard Medical School, “Plant-based eating is recognized as nutritionally sufficient.”

According to the Cleveland Clinic, “There really are no disadvantages to a herbivorous diet”.

in changing stalls she’d pick helplessly at her hipbones. she used to sigh and beg to borrow my curves. said boys actually notice you. hated beach days where her bikini didn’t fill out, hated the “eat a sandwich” and “are you a boy?” jokes, hated never feeling sexy, hated being un-soft. 

i was baffled by it. i told her there’s nothing on this earth that girls like me fit into and actually look good in. she said she’s sick of looking like an infant. we would compare pros and cons and both think we had it out worse for it: i felt like i was designated “huge” even at a healthy body weight just by virtue of breast size, she felt like everybody thought they were her nutritionist and could offer her “eat more” advice. we had friendly arguments about it, about who was suffering more than the other. how if we woke up in each other’s bodies, we’d finally be happy.

from twelve we’d both been taught our body wasn’t our body. it belonged to the public for viewing. at ten i knew it - figured out not to wear shirts with words because “i’m just reading” was an excuse to look at my boobs, learned while i grew that a v-neck was now out of the question because it always looked inappropriate. had boys run up giggling to me and ask “are you wearing a bra?” before middle school. i was in sixth grade the first time a car followed me to my home, honking, hollering. i threw out the skirt i had been wearing.

i got drunk a while ago with her. we rehashed a friendship 13 years old. the old argument came up - which is better to survive through. flat chest or full.

it’s different in our old age. we’re both out now, full-fledged gays. “boys like you” isn’t really on the table but i do get to whine that i look too femme for most girls to see i’m into them. 

it’s different in our old age. she says people still ask her if she has an eating disorder - “and thank god i don’t, because imagine what that would feel like if i did, like my ED was a punch line, like if i said ‘yes’ they’d win.” strangers on the street demand she eats a sandwich. she still never feels feminine. i tell her none of this should happen to her. she raises a thin shoulder. “it’s not as bad as all the shit that happens to you.” i tell her it’s not a competition. in the end, no matter how bad either of us has it, we both lose.

we talk about how us and our bodies feel divorced. about the unfairness that exists for young girls. how we took apart our pieces and examined them under a microscope. how girls are taught to observe themselves even when alone, how we constantly kept ourselves organized - body versus soul. we talk about hecklers and abusers and fear of the dark. about thighgap fixations and fear of the subway and always being on guard. about life as a person and life as an object.

at twenty-five we compare stories.