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August 5, 2005

Tell me what you really think

All the negative responses to this ad (mostly by men) have made me so sad. In this article by slate the writer starts off by saying how shocked he was at these images of enormous women (he used the term “Brobdingnagian” but I’ll spare you from having to look it up) once he realized he wasn’t looking at an Adam Sandler movie poster (as though they were a joke). And he continues to slip in backhanded insults throughout his commentary.

What?!!! These women range in sizes 4-12. That’s it! I would like to see all his ex-girlfriends and see how they match up. They can’t be below this range because most women aren’t. If I were his girlfriend or wife, I’d rip him a new one.

This article was tame compared to many of the responses out there. I’m crushed to think that people can be so insensitive. These women are our mothers, our daughters, and our sisters. We should celebrate their confidence and encourage it in more people. I can’t be sure whether my daughter will have any weight issues in her life, but even being thin she probably won’t have the stature of a super model. I’ll be devastated if something like that has any impact on her confidence. I’m training now so that I can beat up anybody or anything that make her feel bad about the way she looks. (Kind of a non-issue because she’s the most beautiful baby ever, like all of our babies.)

I don’t even like that they’re referred to as “not perfect”. They are perfect. They’re perfectly beautiful, perfectly healthy, and a perfect representation of most women in the United States.

Wendy McClure’s article is a good retaliation but I would feel a whole lot better if I could staple it on the forehead of all negative responders. Wendy is a cool chick, who has a cool website, who wrote a cool book.

Posted by hopeful @ August 5, 2005 11:13 AM