#fatsass

As you have made abundantly clear, you are not a “Plus Sized” Woman. Now we (and you!) can breathe easy, safe in the knowledge that (at a size 6 to 8) you are indeed smaller than 70% of American women. Now that we’ve all acknowledged this, it’s time to clear up a few things that you seem to be struggling to understand. 

First of all, “Plus Size” refers to sizes 12 and up, not 16 as you suggested. Fun fact! US 12 is smaller than the average American woman (but you don’t have to worry, it’s still two sizes bigger than your size 6 to 8). That being said, if you were to become a model you would be a Plus Sized™ Model. Sorry. That’s just how it is. You, Mindy Kaling, and Tyra Banks can go commiserate about this at SoulCycle in Lululemon size 6 to 8 spandex if you want. Remember: if you were a Plus Sized Person you wouldn’t be able to wear Lululemon, and SoulCycle would be a much less friendly place to you.

And yet you get treated like a champion of body positivity, a fighter against body shame. You act like you deserve that title. Let me make one thing clear: you’ve gotten to play body positive crusader one very specific reason: because you are Hollywood fat. You are thin enough that people don’t distance themselves from you when you eat. They listen to what you have to say without getting violently angry with you for glorifying obesity. 

At the same time, you look fat (read: average) enough next to most Hollywood types that it feels like you understand the common fatty’s struggle to make peace with our own bodies. You’ve created this illusion that by existing unapologetically you’re fighting against oppressive beauty regimes. The thing is, those beauty standards wouldn’t be an obstacle for you anywhere but in the entertainment industry - you meet and surpass enough of them that you can reap the rewards of the body image hierarchy.

So why do we treat you like a revolutionary? How have we fallen for the idea that you have any idea what it’s like to have all of your personal body image issues compounded by friends, family, and strangers on the street? When you proclaimed you could still catch a dick at 160 pounds, many rallied around you thinking you meant that size had nothing to do with desirability. Well guess what, Amy. There are people who weigh less than you wearing much larger sizes...maybe even (gasp) plus sizes. And you are fatter than them. And that doesn’t matter. All bodies are built differently. Your catch a dick speech, once a war cry for average and above-average sized women everywhere, now rings out more like:

“I am NOT FAT. 160 pounds is NOT FAT. If I were FAT I’d never get LAID I wear size 6 to 8, so I’m clearly NOT FAT stop saying I’M FAT!”

You were offended by the fact that someone would dare include you in a celebration of Plus Sized Women. You weren’t annoyed that they misrepresented you. You didn’t question why you were included. 70% of American women wear plus sizes and you refused to stand in solidarity to celebrate those bodies. This tells me something very important about your values. It tells me that you are every bit as fat phobic as the industry bigwigs who ensure that female entertainers must stay tiny for the sake of job security. You know, those same bigwigs who treat you the way the rest of us get treated by random strangers. You are fat phobic. Do something about it.

So… you don't want people thinking you wear plus sizes because...what? Your argument seems to be “I don’t want kids thinking that this body is Plus Sized because then they’re going to think they’re Plus Sized too.” You think THAT'S the thing that will doom them to a life of low self-esteem and body image issues? I’m more worried that one of our so-called “body positive” role models is perpetuating the idea that being, becoming, or being mistaken for a Fat Person is a Very Bad Thing. Because eating disorders, body image problems, and crash dieting are not the result of people thinking they are Fat. They are the result of people like you. A girl looking at herself and thinking, “I wear plus sizes,” isn’t necessarily going to develop an eating disorder. Not unless there’s some pretty blonde body positivity champion out there saying “How dare you imply that I wear anything larger than an 8? What an insult.” You are perpetuating the societal values that cause girls to grow up believing that being Fat means being lonely; that being Fat means no one could want you (except maybe creeps who refuse to be in public with you); that being Fat means you’re lazy, disgusting, ugly, and smelly. You have become one of the people feeding us those lies. You’ve become the kind of person we all thought you were opposing in your not-so-revolutionary comment about your weight. 

We get so hung up on convincing girls that they’re not fat that we lose sight of the real goal: to teach them that their size has no bearing on their value.