#basic human decency

It is harder for women to lose weight. Objectively, it is, and here’s why.

Number one : pregnancy. When women get pregnant, they gain weight. Why? Because a baby is growing inside them. And when that happens, the body stores fat easily to prepare for breast milk production. If you’re uncomfortable by the mention of breast milk, what the hell are you doing on Planet Earth? That does not go away after the delivery of your child.

Number two : menopause. Women nearing their mid-forties start to go through perimenopause or just menopause. For all the uneducated men in the back, that’s when you lose hormones and your metabolism slows so your fat burn isn’t as effective. So when you see women grow old and comment on their bodies, men, just thing what it’d be like if you went through menopause, lost your testosterone and put on a little weight. Yeah.

Number three : natural body composition ! Women are designed to have more fat than men. It’s hard to lose because we’re predisposed to have it. Men aren’t, they are born with more muscle mass and grow that way too.

Number four : hormonal fluctuations. If you’re in denial and think women don’t shed their uterus lining every month and they live happy and pain free you’d be wrong. We bloat. We put on an average of five kilograms a month and lose it just as quickly because of hormones called the follicle-stimulating hormone (fsh), oestrogen, luteinising hormone and progesterone. They make our weight fluctuate to protect our ovaries and just cause they fucking hate us.

So all the skinny people and influencers you see on Instagram and Pinterest? They aren’t representing all of us. They’re probably the one percent. Some girls have wide rib cages which force them to wear a size ten. They may have big tits which makes any tank just look slutty. And the pouch at the bottom of our stomachs? That’s not obesity, that’s our uterus. I advise anyone who believes in toxic body standards to watch a little bit of Spencer Barbosa on Instagram. That girl knows her body positivity and shows what is NORMAL.

So when someone likes me imagines a character to have body rolls (as women all do, don’t come in my inbox and say you don’t, every woman has them) or I imagine a mid-to-plus size queen because let’s be real, Jason Todd likes big-ass thighs, that is not YOUR PROBLEM. It’s a reader insert. Imagine maneater!reader however you want, that’s the whole point of keeping physical description deliberately vague.

What you’re saying doesn’t affect me. Not personally. But I’m advocating for every woman out there made to feel less than in fashion, media, movies, songs, books, just cause she’s not stick-thin, taller than 5’ 5” and can’t wear below an EU 42. Every time someone who is mid to plus size reads these comments, is a time where she looks at her own body and hates it. Thta’s not ok. That’s disgusting. Nobody has the right to judge another person for their body types. A body is a body. Not a plague, not an alien substance, it’s flesh and blood. We bleed the same colour, unless you’re a snake, then you’ll bleed blue. There is a massive gap in all forms of media and representation for mid-size women and plus-size women because most high-end brands and even affordable clothing brands don’t know how to tailor clothes to fit different body types. They assume all women are copy-paste hourglasses and stock the most of a size small and under.

What was the post threatening? Was it specific or vague?

If vague, is there any implied specific threat? What indicates this?

What kind of threats has the poster made in the past? How does this relate to the threat in the post?

Are your opinions informed by the actual words on the screen, or how they made you feel?

Should you state these opinions as fact on a public forum? Why or why not?

How may your words reinforce the biases of others?

Are the people disagreeing with you defending the other person, or do they think you are both wrong? Why or why not?

Are the people disagreeing with you doing so based on your identity or your actions? Why or why not?

Are the people disagreeing with you disagreeing with your feelings or your actions? Are they downplaying your hurt or criticizing your behavior?