Where Feminism and Fat Meet

You must be thin to be in...Brandy Melville clothing. 
Image by sattva via freedigitalphotos.net

Except, and here’s the thing – it’s not really about being fat.  It’s about being human.

People are all different shapes and sizes.  For example, right now, I’m a larger size and a larger shape.  But, once upon a time, I weighed in at about 100 pounds.  And even then, I was a size 5.  It’s the way I’m made, the way my body does things.  I’m short and squat.  Even when I’m thin, I’m short and squat.

So when I read about a store called ‘Brandy Melville’ that only sells size small (which is really, really small), I was kind of displeased with their business model.  They sell small (and “one size,” which is really just another word for small in their store), and it has only 18 stores.  Yet somehow it’s growing in popularity, and it’s insane. 

Huffington Post points out that their only ‘skinny jeans’ require a 25 inch waist, which is commonly the size for 0 or 2.  However, according to statistics in the U.S., the average 16-year-old girl has a 31 inch waist. 

Clearly, Brandy Melville doesn’t care about the average.  They are looking for separating the skinny from the “fat,” and their definition of “fat” is a scary one.

Texas A&M published a study in 2013 that stated that more than 50% of teen girls “use unhealthy weight control behaviors, like skipping meals, fasting or vomiting.”

And Brandy Melville’s response – from one of their female executives – pointed out while girls may not be able to fit their clothes, they can still buy an accessory.

Ummm, thanks.  But seriously, no fucking thanks. 

Do you know what you’re doing, Brandy Melville?

Do you care?

HuffPost included a number of tweets at the bottom of their article that I find heartbreaking in the worst possible ways. 

Girls who state

-          Brandy Melville makes me feel fat

-          How to feel fat: brandy melville jeans

-          im too fat for brandy melville and it breaks my heart

-          crying bc too fat to fit into brandy melville.. sigh

What’s heartbreaking about it?

Because you can almost feel the eating disorders coming on.  The girls who feel bad about being “fat” because they aren’t in a size 0.  The girls who are told, “hey, you can buy a bag because you’re not ‘good enough’ to buy clothes.”

The judgment that this company is causing is damaging.  It is causing these girls serious distress.  And while I might not think that it should – while I think that they should reject the company and its horrible methods of creating a clique based purely on body type – that isn’t the point.  The point is that the company knows what it’s doing.  It knows the harm it is doing to these girls and their self esteem.  And it doesn’t give a shit because it cares about profit.

So why do I find this a feminist issue?

Because we’re all women.  And we need to stop judging ourselves and each other.  And we need to stop making businesses that exist purely to judge us.

So fuck you,  Brandy Melville.  Fuck you and the ‘accessories’ you’re offering as consolation prizes to all of us ‘fatties’ who have a waist bigger than 25 inches.

Another thing women are asking for…

is protection from upskirt perverts.  But, sadly, apparently the law doesn’t help them with it at all.

In the news on the October 10 was a story about a case from September 4 about a Washington, D.C. In the case, a female judge declared that women couldn’t have “a reasonable expectation of privacy” when they were “clothed and positioned in the manner in which these women were in a public space (sitting on steps in a skirt).” 

Let me admit that the italics are totally mine – but the meaning is there.

What the hell does that mean?

Women aren’t allowed to enjoy the sun in public?  Women must be sure to wear extra protective undergarments if they are going to have the nerve to sit on steps while wearing a skirt? 

The judge pointed out that the photos that the peeping tom took were “not ‘incidental glimpses’ and in fact were images that were exploded to the public without requiring any extraordinary lengths, or in fact any lengths whatsoever, to view.” 

So, apparently, if someone can easily look up your skirt, hey, you were asking for it!  Your body is on public display, even if it’s mostly covered, as long as you foolishly allow someone to look at the “upper portion of [your] buttocks and breasts.” 

And, yes, I mentioned the dates on purpose because it took over a month for this to hit the news.  How did it stay hidden so long?  Why did no one get outraged the day it happened?

I can’t help but be completely pissed off.  And hopefully you’re pissed off, too.  

Oh, and I went ahead and made up some underwear for those who want to help make your position clear:

http://www.cafepress.com/katesgeekystuffandmore.1409080234

http://www.cafepress.com/katesgeekystuffandmore.1409080235 

Being a girl in Staples

So a friend – who shall remain nameless – needed to pick up some special paper to print her thesis on.  Being a total freak for paper and pens and all manner of office supplies, of course I knew that Staples happened to carry the right paper.  It needed to be thesis paper.  Seriously.  It’s a special kind of paper that has to be cotton, etc, etc.  Awesome, right?

I happened to be at a Staples one day after she had asked me where she could possibly find this paper, and so I took a picture of the paper on the shelf and texted it to her.  She knew what it looked like.  She knew how much it cost.  She knew that Staples had it.

My friend then went to Staples to buy the paper.  She couldn’t find it because she didn’t know the super-secret place they hide it, so she asked an employee.

In response to the question to the employee, a random guy responded, telling my friend (and the employee) that to get paper like that, you had to go to a specialty stationary store.  Which was totally and completely wrong.  But he said it with complete authority – even though he hadn’t been asked – and then he walked away, convinced that he had just delivered a proclamation that all should (and would) listen to.

My friend ignored it, and, of course, found the paper she was looking for because, hello!, Staples did carry it.

Here’s where it gets confusing.

Was he being sexist or just rude?

If it had been a woman who intruded on the conversation, there wouldn’t be a question.  But how can you tell someone’s intent when the only thing you know for sure is that the person speaking is male and that what he did was rude. 

Would he have done this to a guy asking a question? 

I’d like to give him the benefit of the doubt.  But part of me really has reasonable doubt that he would have felt the freedom to take charge of a situation with a male questioner instead of a female.  Hopefully someday it won’t be a question, and we will be able to tell the rude people from the sexist people, but for now…it’s anyone’s guess.