In any group or community of similar individuals (the ingroup) there is a tendency to make less positive attributions about members of the outgroup. This is referred to as the Ultimate Attributional Error in the study of social psychology. What does this have to do with thin and fat? I'll explain.
I've noticed some trends in the area of size acceptance and they aren't all positive ones. Sometimes us fat girls will look down upon the thin girls, often without realizing it. No longer consumed by body jealousy toward our thinner sisters, we instead put down anyone who isn't a 'big, beautiful woman' either consciously or subconsciously. That's the ingroup mentality, and I think we should be aware of it whether we're guilty of it or not.
It's wonderful that more and more big women are taking strides to portray themselves as the sexy fat girls they are, and confidence is an amazing asset everyone should be so lucky to have (oh the doors it opens!). The problem arises when that confidence and high self esteem goes that one step too far and the line defining that is fuzzy. If you find yourself looking at typical thinner women as all anorexic societal standard beauty seeking bimbos (even though we all know there certainly are some out there!), you might want to step back and examine the reasons you're feeling this way.
We're all people and we come in all shapes and sizes. Celebrate our differences and take comfort in our similarities. As my mother always told me, it takes all kinds to make the world.
Photo by Spencer Tunick
2 comments:
Well said! Really, all it comes down to is realizes that everybody finds comfort in different things, body types included. What you find enjoyable/attractive/sexy isn't always going to coincide with the opinions of others. This is exactly the reason why keeping your mind open is key to coexisting. Thank you, Aurora, for your tolerant and intelligent approaches.
BEST ENTRY EVA!!!!
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