Kiss my FAT A**

                                   

So after last night’s viewing and publicity surrounding plus sized wars on Channel 4 I felt I had to blog and voice my opinion.



Being plus sized all my life and bullied for being bigger than everyone else, I have for the last several years been happy with my size and who I am. I am part of a community of people who embrace their bodies and shape and who are genuine, loving and such humble people. I’m so lucky to call some of them best friends who support and encourage me every day. I also work for a plus size designer who I’ve looked up to and admired for years which in its self is a dream come true. It’s safe to say Plus size is not only what I am but who I am and last night’s documentary made me feel blessed that I’m a part of it.


It was refreshing for me to see people I know and company’s I shop at being shown in a positive light. Honestly the story line did go a bit all over the place and I did question what war was happening as the programme name describes, but for me it was lovely to see a documentary focus on positives rather than negatives.


The one negative backlash for me came from the lips of the out dated and downright rude Loose women panalist Jamelia. Telling the audience on the show, she believes that plus size clothes should only be available on specialist shops and that high street stores are helping to promote an unhealthy image if fashionable clothes in bigger sizes can be bought. See quote below


"I think everyone should have access to lovely clothes, BUT I do not think it's right to facilitate people living an unhealthy lifestyle.

"I don't believe stores should stock clothes below or above a certain weight. They should be made to feel uncomfortable when they go in and can't find a size."
.

Now don’t get me wrong IF what she’s saying is true, surely we’d all be cured of obesity and we’d all be thin and living the life that fashion and high street stores like Topshop etc put out there instead. I mean seriously??


Not only that but the fact that as a mum and someone who’s working with a women’s charity, she’s trying to take away the one thing that may boost and give a women at any age or size, self worth and confidence. Confidence that gives that women the positive attitude she needs to live her life and be herself. I know that being given the choice to dress in amazing fashionable clothing boosted my self-worth and confidence by miles, as it's my outlet to express myself and encourage others to do so too.


When documentaries about plus size come along everyone is far too quick to jump on the health wagon. What many people don’t think about is how weight issues can come from illness, whether physical mentally or emotionally. Everyone’s idea is that fat people sit on the ass and do sweet eff all. That in its self is ridiculous. I’m a size 20-24, I go to the gym 3 times a week and I have not drained the NHS of obesity health related problems despite my BMI showing me in the extremely obese part of the scale. I do however have friends who are of a smaller size who eat junk, smoke, don’t exercise and who are constantly back and forth the doctors surgery. OPEN YOUR EYES!!!! The group of people who struggle to maintain a "healthy" weight deal day in day out with their own self-esteem and confidence issues because of people jumping to ridiculous conclusions. I mean show me your doctors certificate which proves you can look at a person and judge what’s going on in the inside and if their healthy and I’ll eat my own words. Again I think the last thing that person needs is to be shunned and have something taken away which actually makes them feel good about themselves. I mean when I feel shit about myself I turn to food straight away, but when I feel good about myself I flaunt my confidence.

And it comes down to having specialised stores off the high street. By sending people who are "too" small or "too" large to specialist clothing stores, we are shaming them and excluding them. It outcasts them from the ‘norm’ and in turn makes them feel damn shit about themselves. I read Jameela Jamil's blog this morning (not to be confused with Jamelia) and she made such a valid point ‘We used to only let black people eat in separate establishments and use separate entrances to white people. How does Jamelia feel about that? At the core... it is a prejudice and an attempt to make human beings feel uncomfortable and unwelcome. And it's fundamentally not ok. Ever.’


We’ve have had these so called specialised plus size clothing stores for years now and as a plus size blogger and plus size customer all it did was make me and I'm sure a large portion of society feel less enthused about actually going out shopping. I mean I’ve always felt embarrassed to have to venture into these specialist stores. Evans for example, I used to make my mum go buy stuff and bring it home for me to try because being seen walking in to this specialised shop for plus size was deemed wrong. Evans have uped their game of course, and now I’ll walk in to any shop and not give a damn. But is excluding and pushing people away from the norm really going to solve problems? Or will it just make the problem even worse?


I think Jamelia has made such a bad move voicing her ridiculous out look. Of course she’s got the headlines she probably so desperately needs but after the Plus Sized Wars programme last night I think her views will be shat all over by the plus size community and the brands who support us and who step up to our demand to be able to be happy, dress well and fashionable and last but not least be ourseleves. Now my final message to all the haters and especially Jamelia. KISS MY ASS ASS ASS ASS ;)

Top by primark

Jacket by Anna Scholz

Skirt by Simply Be (old)

Jumper by Remi Ray

Skirt by Simply Be (old)

Love

Michaela

xo