"Fat" Or Fiction?

I have been bragging my new "pet project" blog all over the interwebz. I love to show off what I am up to lately and A Fat Girl & A Fat Horse is no different!

I showed it to a very sweet and very dear friend of mine (actually, the girl who took my fabulous profile picture on Bronwyn!) and she loved it, but told me she took issue with me saying that "I am a fat girl".

I personally feel like fat is a descriptive word, and so, therefore, has no negative connotation for me. I know that there are many out there who choose to use it as an insult or derogatory term, but to me - it simply is not. "Fat" takes less time to say than "overweight" or "plus sized" (though you will note that out of respect for those who have been made to feel that "fat" is a very negative word, I generally will refer to my readership or other plus sized riders as "plus sized" or "overweight"), and since I am a writer by nature, and I have affixed neither a negative nor positive spin to the word myself, it is the word I use.

For me, "fat" is no different than "dark" or "tall" or any other word you might use to physically describe a person that is neither good nor bad. The insult "Yeah, well... you're FAT and STUPID!" makes about as much sense to me as the insult "you're TALL and STUPID!" or "you're DARK and stupid!". The word only has as much power as we give it and if it is just a descriptive word in your vocabulary... it's perfectly okay to say "I am a fat girl".

And I think people who use a word like that as an insult are about the same as people use a word like "gay" as an insult. "Gay" and "fat" are words used to describe a person, not to imply that there is anything wrong with them.

I love my friend and I think she is a wonderful, positive girl, inside and out - and I think (correct me if I am wrong, love!) that she doesn't like to hear me say "I am a fat girl" because she feels that I am putting myself down. I am sure there are others out there who take issue with me saying that about myself. But the truth is, to me, it is no different than saying "I am a tall girl" or "I am an Amazonian girl".

So today, I want to do two things on this blog. I want to send out a big "XOXOXO" to my friend, and thank her for the vote of confidence - and I want to leave you with one of my favourite Youtube videos of all time.

Joy Nash's "A Fat Rant". You can't help but feel inspired and uplifted after watching it.



And drop a comment - tell me - what kind of a relationship do YOU have with the word "fat"? Do you allow it to be used as an insult or for derogatory purposes in your life, or do you simply regard it as yet another clever descriptor?