I saw this line somewhere one day and laughed really hard: “Skinny women are evil.” It took me back years ago to that time when I believed in doing all that was necessary to be slim.
Thankfully, those days are over. I am not one of those women who sits around trying to figure out how to be slim, stay slim and or look slim. Some people might call it smugness, but I call it ‘peace of mind.’
I look at my body and there is nothing wrong with it; I love it, he loves it, well you see, I just love my body. I have what you’d call a little flabby tummy that bounces around sometimes, and that is only when I am trying to squeeze into a blouse that says ‘XS’.
For years I would go shopping and strictly refuse to look at anything that didn’t say ‘XS’ and/or ‘S’ on the inside label. I wanted to be a ‘small’ woman and wear all those cute blouses that are unreasonably made for tiny people only.
I’ve had run-ins with sales clerks who tried to pass off ‘medium’ clothes to me and once I stated very publicly in a store that no ‘medium-sized’ woman could have my figure. There was a guy standing a few inches away who seconded it with an “Amen,” and two little girls left staring at me as if I were insane. Ah, those are days I’d rather forget.
These days I shop with an open mind and I have accepted that my figure is what it is; I am a sexy slim woman with some curves and a visible tummy who is not afraid to shop outside of the ‘XS’ and ‘S’ categories of clothing. I have quit the whole, “this has to fit me” thing and readily opt to see what is available these days, and you know what? I can finally breathe.
I raided my closet a month ago and discarded several pairs of skinny jeans and blouses that were honestly sizes ‘0’ and ‘1’. I couldn’t fit into them for almost three years now but I kept them as reminders of a time when I proudly wore those sizes. I would hear my mom saying stuff like, “you’re starving yourself” and “I can’t shop for you.”
No! I’ve never had anorexic and/or bulimia issues (and yes she can’t shop for me). What I suffered from was typical body obsessive behaviour issues and I wanted to be slim. I think it was a phase though, and the years continue to clue me in; this body is changing every day.
I don’t cling to skinny jeans like I used to, and I have several pairs which are to be donated to an eager cousin later this month as a thoughtful Christmas gift. The most difficult part is letting go of that pair of navy blue jeans I got three years ago on sale for eleven grand (it was actually fifteen). I’ve never looked as good in another pair as I did in those jeans.
I will not the hide the fact that I still wear some ‘XS’ blouses, but I wear what fits and if the tummy gets in the way then I bump it up to an ‘M’. I still watch some of my friends who reject the medium sizes and hold out that the smaller sizes still fit. Of course they still fit – you make them fit!
I don’t really believe that skinny women are evil, but I think the statement is laugh out loud funny. I used to be skinny too, but I’ve moved on.
(thescene@stabroeknews.com)
