Boycotting the "Big is Beautiful" Movement!

[Lauren-green]

"Big is beautiful". One of the more common and known body positivity movements. Also one of the most incorrect body positivity movements. Now don't get me wrong, I'm not saying big is unattractive, I'm just saying the message itself is wrong. If you're attracted to bigger girls -or boys- that's your business.

It's less the "big is beautiful" movement that is wrong, but more what comes with it. It doesn't bother me seeing bigger girls posting how they are beautiful, sure, I don't care about that. I'm all for body positivity, everybody should be confident in their self image. But they take it too far when they say they are healthy too. Because that is just a straight black lie, for instance, it's teaching younger girls that being big is healthy. It's not. Its a widely known fact that being overweight is unhealthy for you and your organs. So many health complications can come along with being overweight; Diabetes, Heart Disease, Stroke, High Blood Pressure, Some cancers, Gallbladder disease - These are just a few examples of the many health complications obesity can come along with. Being overweight is unhealthy.. So why is there a big body positivity movement at the moment, saying the exact opposite?

"Plus-size model"

For example, look at this 'plus-sized model' I saw on social media. This isn't "plus-sized", this is obese and an unhealthy role model for the younger generations. This is teaching people that it is okay to be overweight, but its not! It's not healthy and shouldn't be promoted in this way.

Facebook post from one of my overweight Facebook friends.

I am here to boycott the "Big is beautiful" movement, and you should too. It is teaching the wrong lessons, big isn't healthy and we should stop supporting those who say it is.

Above is a screenshot I took from one of my Facebook friends. She is severely overweight and posted this. She even went as far as saying she is just as fit and healthy than a girl with a six pack. Now if you knew the sheer size of this woman, you would know this is just complete bullshit. A girl with a six pack would work her ass off every single day, exercising, training and eating a healthy diet to stay that fit and healthy. Unlike the woman who posted the status, who doesn't even exercise and eats the unhealthiest diet I have ever seen. How could she even make that comparison, this is what I mean when I refer to an 'incorrect body positivity movement'. "It's what's on the inside that counts" is another quote from her post, well I hate to break it to you.. But with a woman your size, 'what's on the inside' is just all fat! Nothing about that is healthy.

[Dolemite510]

Amen, I hate the whole plus size model thing. It marginalizes the efforts that real models put in to stay pretty and in super good shape.

[Lauren-green]

Valid opinion, thank you :)

[Wally48]

Wow good point. Never thought about that.

[IAmRedThunder]

That’s actually a really great point

[IAmRedThunder]

Omg it’s you... 😂😂

[Smiley_face101]

Plus size models do workout. Ashley Graham works out a lot, she is plus sized and stuning with a lot of sex appeal that any woman would wish to have

[mistixs]

"Super good shape." Actually the average model has a BMI of 16.9 which is underweight, & being underweight is more unhealthy than being overweight. www.webmd.com/.../underweight-even-deadlier-than-overweight-study-says

[Massageman]

And also, the weight/size ratio to determine BMI (rather than water dispersement) is also questionable for many of those working out the hardest. Since a given volume of muscle tissue has more mass than the same volume of adipose (fat) tissue, those really taut athletes can read "heavy" per given measurement and, thereby, be ranked "overweight" even though they are in fine shape.

[Massageman]

You're right, of course. Just because someone says they are healthy doesn't MAKE them healthy.

[Lauren-green]

Exactly!

[Smiley_face101]

If someone's *doctor* says they are healthy they are healthy regardless of what society thinks

[Rashnaa]

@Smiley_face101 you are right. Sometimes society defines bigger looking girls fat. While medically they are healthy.

[centerline]

there is a whole world of problems associated with this "movement" as you call it...

some people have medical issues that CAUSE the weight gain, but MOST people have weight gain because they just dont care, or dont look in the mirror...

there are different degrees of being overweight or obese, and I think most know where the line is but its easier to ignore than it is to make the effort to change... AND the medical world and diet-mongers make a killing off of overweight people, so there is no gain to them if people get their weight to a healthy level, but to the individual and their families, it makes a world of positive difference..

psychologically, people should not be made to feel bad because of their weight, their looks or anything else that god has given them... (yes, often the person CAN change these things a little bit with help, but unlike the personal choices we make such as lack of manners, the way we treat other people, the way we dress and the friends we keep, NO ONE chooses to be overweight, unhealthy or ugly) ...

health is a big concern... maybe not at this moment in their life, but at around 35yrs of age, the body begins showing signs of the stress that its under, and health problems start showing up. and if nothing is done, by the time they reach about 55, its often too late to make much of a difference in their health by losing the weight...

and then there is the people who want to make other people think that they are proud of being over weight and they should be recognized as beautiful, when in reality, inside these same people would lose the weight in a second if there was a magic pill to do it for them... so inside they feel bad about being heavy, but try to put on a show of pride as a pacifier for their condition... which is NOT helping anyone, nor their inner feelings... people can run and try to hide from others under whatever cloak they can find that they think may work, but they can't run and hide from themselves or their personal issues...

on the more personal side of it, there is a half a world of people out there who are overweight and telling themselves they are beautiful and wanting to find love... and yet they feel that instead of them losing weight to get healthy and more attractive, that the rest of the world should just overlook or ignore their weight and potential health problems and love them for whats inside...
but, ALL of us in this world like what we like, and no one else can make us like something that is not pleasant to us, whether it be an object, a food, a location or a person... this is what makes for diversity in the world...

and I think we ALL know someone who is extremely overweight, who would be astonishingly attractive if they would put the effort into losing weight, and they could find the mate they are looking for, but just telling oneself that they are beautiful and attractive is not helping...

the "movement" causes damage to the body and soul, because it does not address any of the problems that being obese causes, but only allows one to ignore the problems and go through life telling themselves they are attractive to all the world, when really, the world sees obesity as a real problem... and continually telling yourself that you are attractive, does not make it so...
its a sad reality, but its true...

[dancing_in_nebulas]

As healthy as a skinny girl eh?

I suppose if we all had cancer lol.

Healthy is a pretty misused term in size regard.

Doctor wise, healthy means nothing particularly life threatening, or compromising of general necessary biological functions, that sustain life.

An obese woman, as pictured, generally has more strain on her organs, due to excess fatty deposits - hence why doctors probably monitor her weight constantly.

It just goes to show that we don't do much with our lives, that require us to be in shape.

So more and more women are big.

Men are also getting bigger.

So.

We are in a way, forced to be attracted to them, since options are getting limited.

The plus size movement has built its momentum simply off the fact that there's no point in being fit anymore.

In fact, being fit, is a hobby really.

We don't need to hunt or fight, or build.

We just sit around being entertained.

So, they are the future, and getting used to plus size beauty, is this transition we are currently seeing. Being fit was beautiful, but now seeing this version of beauty, finally eliminated the last reason to be fit - looks - since health doesn't matter apparently lol.

I'm glad it helped get the bullying off, and more clothes in the store, but it really is fueling the idea that we are far, lazy, spoiled, Americans.

We indulge too much, and somehow greed is beauty.

[Flamdring]

It seems we humans go from one extreme to the other: first we had anorexic skeletons advertised as the role model for women, then the fashion industry and media suddenly decided to jump to the other end of the spectrum and present obese people as "healthy and beautiful". Fully agreed with your words that beauty is a very subjective term, but neither anorexic nor obese is healthy.

I do not know the situation in New Zealand with healthcare, in Europe we usually have universal healthcare that is covered by the taxes from the entire population. It is a wonderful system and I am truly thankful it exists. Since obesity leads to a myriad of health issues that are later transferred to the healthcare system, I think obese people who refuse to lose weight unless they have a medical condition (it exists), must be forced to fork out more in the form of higher taxes in order to cover their inevitable medical bills. The same should go for anorexic people, chainsmokers, drug addicts, alcoholics etc. You continue damaging your health and you absolutely refuse to stop doing it, do not expect the others to continue paying for your medical bills. While it can be seen as discriminatory, those people do not think about the rest of the society. In fact, such system could act as a powerful incentive to stay healthy.

[Flamdring]

Forgot to add that it would only work if countries have the necessary medical infrastructure, well-trained support groups, psychologists etc. Refusing someone with weight/health issues to access medical services without helping them to get better would almost certainly mean their early death.

[debby04]

You mean most under develops countries? @flamdring

[Flamdring]

Would you consider the USA underdeveloped because they neither have a universal healthcare system nor adequate support for people who do not have private insurance or the money to cover the bills? It is hard to say.

[debby04]

I get @flamdring but I really do hope something is done too in time to put an end to all the suffering.

[debby04]

I live in Kennewick Washington how about you dear?

[rubyrose83]

It's all nonsense. Big is not beautiful. People need to stop deluding themselves into thinking they're fine the way they are. Stop trying to make everyone accept their obesity. It promotes a very unhealthy lifestyle. Instead of being inspired to change, people are going to think it's ok to be any size and it's someone else's problem if they don't embrace them. There is no such thing as 'body shaming'. And wtf is a 'plus size model'? The definition of a model is an example, someone to look up to. Ashley Graham, Tess Holiday and others are not that. I don't advocate for being skin and bones either. I, myself, am not a twig but there is a middle ground that I work hard to maintain. What happened to personal accountability?

[Oram52]

Absolutely agree. True courage is taking action, true positivity is taking positive action. Just because they may keep repeating attractiveness is social construct and hence fat can be attractive too, its not really going to make it attractive. Being obese is unhealthy, biologically we wouldn't want to pass on those genes, hence being overweight, obese can not be attractive.

Apart from being very unhealthy, other issue is these genes can also be passed down. So if parents are overweight/obese there kids might inherit those genes, and they'll be more likely to be overweight as well. Putting them at risk of problems related to obesity.

[Lauren-green]

Perfect opinion 👌🏼

[itzasekret17]

I’m plus sized but nowhere near that extreme. I agree with the fact that it’s good to love yourself even if u have extra, but to a certain degree. There reaches a point where the line has been crossed and now it’s no longer attractive but more of a health concern. I’ve seen many heavier, beautiful women but they carry themselves well. They don’t look like a heart attack waiting to happen. I understand that some have other health reasons that affect their weight, but even so, a little effort goes a long way. I try and hit the gym a few times a week to at least prevent myself from packing on the pounds, and I try and remain active.

[sd0919908]

Couldn't agree more

[Lauren-green]

This was exactly what I was talking about, you have a great mindset. Thanks for your opinion

[itzasekret17]

Yw!!!

[Kurαȷ]

Psychological examinations of fat people conclude that up to 50% of fat people are living in a delusion.
They don't exhibit negative psychopathology such as self-image issues or distress over binge eating, weight gain and lack of self control.

They genuinely believe they are not overweight and thus will not accept any help or make any changes, because they misperceive the issue as being non-existent.

[Lauren-green]

Exactly. Thank you 👌🏼

[HomoFuge]

I have personally witnessed the damaging effects obesity has within my own family. My aunt has been morbidly obese for a long time. She is only 55 and she has already developed osteoporosis, and is insulin-dependent to control her diabetes.

Fat people who claim that they can be just as healthy as fit people are saying that now because they haven’t developed any health issues yet. When they can barely walk and have trouble breathing they will regret ever having believed something so stupid.

This is probably going to sound controversial but I also feel that morbidly obese people who say this kind of BS are selfish. They don’t care how their poor health impacts their loved ones. I know a fat woman who was bedridden due to her weight and so she never turned up to any of her son’s important events like football matches. Imagine how horrible that must feel for a little child.

[Zoe1998]

Skinny people get high blood pressure and high cholesterol to and have heart ache to even if their being healthy.

[cavmanier]

@Zoe1998 Yeah but that's like comparing a skinny person to the dangers of driving with an obese person with the dangers of driving drunk. Both are dangerous and you can survive car rides while being drunk, but the risk is significantly higher. Being obese is ridiculously bad for you if you understand what it does to the body. It's not just some superficial thing. It's not only bad for health but it feels bad to live with the excessive fat.

[GraveDoll]

Big is not beautiful and I honestly do not know a soul in real life that supports that imaginary BS. Even the fat people I know the state of their health affair is at high risk.

we were made to move. we have joints for a reason and it wasn't to just sit and eat

[Guanfei]

I've said it many times. Body positivity is about accepting your body when you have things you can't change. Missing a limb, having a scar, or beauty marks, freckles, stretch marks... Things you can't do anything but accept, since it can't be changed.

Being fat isn't body positivity. It's just being a lazy shit. Fat is ugly, and it can be changed. If you "accept" being fat, don't expect me to respect you, or find you beautiful, because you're not, you're just a fat blob of grease, a walking pile of bacon. This is ugly and I certainly won't be attracted to you. And if you're offended, good, maybe that will motivate you to move your bag of fat from the sofa.
This is exactly what your friend is. A lazy crap who try to find justification to her laziness. She knows she's ugly, but instead of making things better, she prefers pretending that she's beautiful as she is.

[Bluebot]

I´ve been boycotting that mindset since it started being a thing, being morbidly obese or fat isn't beautiful nor healthy... at all. It´s a fact that you get lots of health issues with that lifestyle and people should work on themselves, they shouldn't tell themselves that being happy with it fixes all the issues.

But thats how it always is, lazy people looking for stupid things to justify their poor lifestyle.

[vjones819]

Not everyone that’s morbidly obese or just fat is lazy.. actually sorry to break it to you but there are actual health conditions that cause people to have troubles with their weight. And being morbidly obese, or fat doesn’t make you ugly.

[Bluebot]

That’s exactly the mindset I’m talking about. I’m sure the amount of people that can’t help their weight is very neglectable compared to the large amount of people who choose to be fat and lazy. I know some people who have a condition like that and they (the ones who can’t help it) complain about it the most.

To me fat = ugly but that’s personal taste. However I’m sorry to break it to you, but 99% of the fat people are fat due to poor diet and laziness.

[vjones819]

Unless your ‘opinion’ is based on actual stats, I’m quite sure your wrong. There are mental health issues and physical health issues that go to being overweight and fat. Not everyone that is fat is lazy, and yes MANY are, not “99%”

[vjones819]

Fat doesn’t equal ugly, Fat is unhealthy, not ugly. What’s ugly is people like you bringing others down because of their weight, ik being like 700 pounds isn’t exactly attractive, but you don’t need to be calling people ugly.

[vjones819]

It’s just rude, and idiotic, it’s uneccesary to call someone that, if they’re so ugly, how about you keep it to yourself and don’t look at them.

[Bluebot]

So it’s okay to call them unattractive but not ugly? To me that’s the same thing.

There’s people who think it’s attractive but I’m not one of them and I don’t think I should need to hold back what I think because of their lifestyle.

And I really do think it’s a very very low amount of people who are incapable of loosing weight. I’m sure the people who are for the body positivity movement for morbidly obese people are mostly able to loose their weight.

[vjones819]

Tbh, it’s not. Ugly isn’t unattractive.. there are plenty of people you can be unattracted to, doesn’t mean they’re ugly, it just means you aren’t attracted to them.

[vjones819]

Case in point, your size doesn’t justify your beauty, I’m not gonna continue to debate with someone who doesn’t understand that. 🤷🏽‍♀️🙅🏽‍♀️💁🏽‍♀️

[Daniela1982]

The biggest cause of death of women is heart attacks. That is over any cancer or other reason of death. So being overweight by 20 or more pounds is not going to kill you. It is by being very obese. Your heart and other organs have to work harder as there are more blood vessels to push blood through than a normal sized person. Plus all that fat around your organs, like your heart, is definitely not a good thing. If you want to live a long life, do something, even if it is weight loss surgery like a lap band or gastric bypass. Your life may depend on it. And for most people if you lose a lot of weight, like through weight loss surgery, Diabetes will leave with all your weight.

[GuidoThePizzaMaker]

I boycotted everything at this point. Its all bullshit.
I boycotted society haha

I boycotted the obese years ago, all they do is waste space. How unaware are they that they dont see themselves ballooning to hundreds of lbs. Then taxes go to treat their conditions. Heart disease is rampant among them and kills them. They dont even value their lives or health.

I have worked in restaurants since I was 14 and never became overweight, because I control my portion size. I also didn't eat poison.

[Lauren-green]

Good opinion thanks hhaa

[Purple_Summer]

Big IS beautiful. Unhealthy is not. Size does not dictate someones health. there are fat people who feel great and their health is in chech and skinny people with plenty of health problems. if someone is healthy, they are happy with their body, their partner is happy with their body, you have no right to shame them. it's not your life and none of your business.

[Lauren-green]

Omg I literally said that exact thing throughout my whole post, did you not read that? I said I don't agree IF they are saying they're healthy when theyre not and promoting obesity online. And I didn't do this post about skinny people because it is about the "big is beautiful" movement. Understand I am not coming from a bad place, my father is diabetic and struggles with weight issues, I'm trying to educate the consequences of obesity. I never said that big isn't beautiful.

[Nivinxus]

I've never cared about the movement in the first place, but I'm not against it either. I just don't see it as a concern as I've always believed in 'live how you want' and if they want to gorge themselves to death, then let'em, at least they died doing what they want.

[Lauren-green]

Yeah that's a solid point. It's more that the younger generation is going to grow up on technology and social media, and obese people are advocating that they are healthy when they aren't. It teaches the younger generation that obsesity is okay, but in actual fact it can cause severe health issues

[HumansExist]

They should just bring back "you are what you eat" and "supersize vs. superskinny" -it teaches people about the negatives of being either way.

[Anna__M]

I agree with you 100%. this movement was initially created for things girls were shamed for but could not control. Things like puberty stretch marks, pregnancy, and aging naturally. But “big” girls turned it into there own thing. They let there insecurities manifest into the movement and now impressionable young girls are all over social media saying “you can be healthy at any size” and actually believing that. Honestly I think that the big is beautiful movement just turned America’s obesity problem into a trend. And that’s dangerous in my opinion.

[vjones819]

Ok, coming from a fat person I totally agree that being OBESE, and OVERWEIGHT to a extent, is unhealthy, I can’t detest that! Hell, my own health issues come from being overweight. And yes, as I came aware of these body positivity movements, I questioned "why are you promoting being unhealthy?" A literal self conscious fat person (me) thought that! But truth is they’re not, at least not all of them. Sure posting pictures and videos of you working out doesn’t mean you do! We all know that! But some of them promote eating healthy, working out, I mean it’s not like all of them say “being fat is healthy, and being skinny isn’t.” They have their own weight goals as well, just like me! You should not “boycott” a body positivity movement, this movement actually inspires me to lose this weight, and it makes me feel like I’m not less of a person, so boycotting it, though I see your intentions, is just not a good choice in my opinion.

[vjones819]

And to add to this..

No matter what size you are, you are still beautiful! It is WHATS INSIDE THAT COUNTS! I’m not saying that towards health, I’m saying that’s towards beauty.

[Lauren-green]

Yes, I said many times that I'm not saying big isn't beautiful. In fact I said that everyone should be comfortable in their body. I also said the message "big is beautiful" isn't what I'm boycotting, but the messages that come with it, like the health based ones. But thank you for your opinion

[vjones819]

NP, and yeah, tbh the messages will never make me thing being fat is in medical terms ok! It’s not, because all of the medical conditions that come out of it is not worth it, not at all. So I agree, because some people will take it the wrong way, especially the younger audiences. But what I get from it, is don’t feel ugly because you aren’t skinny, or fit! :$

[vjones819]

:)* is what I meant lol

[Lauren-green]

Yeah I 100% agree with that

[BrookieCookie0422]

I totally agree!

They call this “health at all sizes”

This infuriated me! I weighed 210 at age 15 and was super unhappy. I was told I was beautiful but didn’t feel that way.

I have worked my ass off, eating healthy and staying active to get my weight down to 180.

These obese women claim that they have a bad metabolism and that’s why they weigh 300 lbs!

It’s BULLSHIT. I have a bad metabolism! I eat better than most people and my BFP is 30%. I eat no grains, very little sugar (there’s natural sugars in some foods like fruits and some veggies), low carb. I eat mostly meat and vegetables. I drink nothing but water.

(I am not 100% strict about this but I eat like this about 85% of the time)

I have the odds against me and I’m 180 lbs at 5’6”

They can shove it up their fat asses

[Wharvey98]

Well said, and well done. I defenitley understand the weight loss struggle. I’ve dropped about 80 pounds in the last 7 months or so, and I’m almost down to a healthy weight level. Let me tell you though these last few pounds are the hard seat for sure.

[BrookieCookie0422]

@Wharvey98 it’s definitely difficult to lose that last bit! I think younger people have more trouble with those last few pounds because of baby fat lol.

And congrats on losing the weight! That’s huge! (Or not anymore? Lol!)

[Wally48]

Actually younger people have an easier time with the last 20 or so pounds because they have a higher metabolism. For example a 5'2" 55 yo woman has one hell of a time because their resting burn rate is so low. They can gain weight by just driving by a Braums haha.

[Lochlan]

Honestly, the body frame can genetically take on more weight in healthy proportions. That depends on the individual. There are definitely some advantages to being obese, otherwise, why would it be a biological mechanism. Fat people definitely float great in water. If you have to survive on your stored caloric reserves, you'll only have to worry about getting drinkable water cause you'll survive longer if you're fat.
No one is without health concerns but there are advantages up to a certain point with any dietary state. I don't think anyone is advocating for a 500+lb lifestyle but underwear models apart of the status quo healthy chic are still just gilded walking coat hangars for people to envision the clothes on themselves.

[NobodyInPatrickular]

How often does an obese person get stranded in the woods with no food but still have drinkable water, or get cast into the ocean to float to safety? Even if they had no access to food, being fitter will allow them to find/salavage food easier than a fat person struggling t move their swollen kneecaps.

[HumansExist]

@NobodyInPatrickular It depends how fat they are... plus, if a fat person and a skinny person were stranded together and the skinny person couldn't find food, if they were prepared to resort to cannibalism the fat person's body would provide a good source of energy (fat contains around 7 calories per gram).
But, uh, that'd be if they were really desperate.
Having said that, not all obese people are morbidly obese -such as shown in the photo.
People can be obese and still be able to move well -although slowly... with less stamina.

[Lochlan]

@HumansExist Tess Holiday is big fat though. She's a bit short for all that.

[RussianNestingDoll]

I couldn’t agree more. I need to lose some weight and people tell me it’s fine to be that way. Um, no, how about we stop lying to ourselves? Nothing wrong with self esteem, but true self love is making healthy choices and not deluding oneself.