If you haven’t seen the article yet, Matel has officially announced the release of the new Barbies: petite, tall, and curvy. Find the article here. You can also check out the various skin tones, ethnicities, eye shapes, and face shapes (and order your own Barbie!) at the Barbie.com website.
The new Barbies are absolutely gorgeous! That isn’t to say that I didn’t find original Barbie gorgeous, or even that I had a problem with her portrayal of women’s bodies. I didn’t. But these new Barbie’s are so beautiful! I was absolutely thrilled when I first laid eyes on curvy Barbie’s figure; it was so similar to mine!
But alas, we decided to call her curvy (which I won’t say she isn’t). Marketing a fat Barbie would’ve been a nightmare, so I get it (don’t get me started about “curvy women’s clothing). I’m also sure that half of the women out there, regardless of size or struggle, would be up in arms about that.
But I’m here to say please, call me fat.
After all, it’s what I am. I’m blessed that my fat falls in some of the more desirable places, but those curves are still made up of fat. We’ve decided that in order to be sensitive, we need to stop saying fat, but that just disguises the issue. If being fat is okay, then saying someone is fat is okay. I don’t want to be attractive because I’m fat, and I don’t want to be unattractive because I’m fat, I want to be attractive regardless of it. When we refuse to say “fat”, it feels like we should not only be ashamed of the word but of ourselves, too. Of course, I don’t want to disregard others struggles, because there are so many body types that could also be considered “fat” or “curvy”.
I am fat. I weigh 250 lbs. I’m okay with it. You should be too.
What is a descriptive term you feel we’ve removed from our repertoire to try to be “sensitive”, but it ends up working against us? How do you feel about “fat” vs. “curvy”?
A Ship Called Life 