Friday Links, 10/26/12

Happy Friday, and happy almost-Halloween! Do you have anything fun planned for the weekend or next Wednesday?

A chocolate haunted house!

I’m going to start organizing Friday links by categories, in order to make them easier to browse.

Fa(t)shion
-Plus size fashion blogger Elann Zelie launches a clothing line, Zelie for She.
-Lesley has a great round-up of printed plus size leggings.
-This list is a good reminder of why access to clothing matters.
–Out and about: Haute Curves made history during L.A. fashion week.
-Shawna of Chubby Cartwheels has two posts about fat-positive shopping in Portland, OR. I’m so jealous–I’ll definitely check out those stores if I ever make it to Portland.
–Ose Vintage: fall/winter collection. I especially like the pink leopard-print and black velvet dresses.
-Pictures from Adele’s Vogue shoot.
-Suggestions for finding plus-size goth clothing.
–What is age-appropriate dressing, anyway?

There’s nothing like hot chocolate on a chilly fall day.

Fat activism
–Fat stories: an exhibition.
-Great advice on responding to fat-hate from Texts from Dog.
-Tori has a great hypothetical response to people who want her to join a weight-loss-oriented link exchange.
-A must-read: 21 things to stop saying unless you hate fat people. The comments are a mixed bag, but I really like this one, which has the best analogy I’ve read yet about the pathologizing of fatness.
-A brave young woman put up a self-portrait in her underwear as a statement about self-acceptance.
–My fat body is me: so much yes to all of this.
-A response to fat-shaming within progressive communities.
-Anna Guest-Jelley of Curvy Yoga on being a fat yoga teacher.

Friday links and flowers

Brought to you by a lovely dahlia that I bought at the farmer’s market.

I took it on a lunch date to the rooftop garden.

Why I blog about fatshion

My fabulous Fat necklace

The other day, a few of my friends were discussing people they’d known in high school. Apparently the ones who’d been conventionally attractive then are now fat and ugly. And there was one girl who used to be fat, lost about 70 pounds, and looks great. “She was always pretty, but now she’s stunning!”

I hate it. I hate the automatic assumption that thinner is better, that “getting fat” is inherently bad. I hate that if I suddenly lost a large amount of weight, people would compliment me left and right–like they did when I was dieting in college. I hate that those same people would consider me less attractive now.

This is why I blog.

To counter the 386,170 fat-negative messages per year that we are all bombarded with.

To take up space, without apology.

To define beauty on my own terms.

To question cultural assumptions.

To do my part, however small, in changing them.