Hello, Flow.

HelloFlo is a company that delivers monthly care packages to women and girls of all ages. Last month they launched a “starter kit” parents can purchase ahead of time and have ready for their daughters’ first periods. The starter kit includes: enough pads and liners to get through a cycle, a “get ready” info guide for parents as well as a separate one for girls, a canvas pouch to take pads on the go, and small goodies and surprises.

HelloFlo aims to ease the pain, discomfort, and embarrassment of periods while simultaneously educating young girls about their bodies and emotions in relation to their menstrual cycles. I think they do a really great job of using humor to break the “hush hush” attitude that usually surrounds menstruation.

Where was this when I was a girl?!

Continue reading →

by

I Mind the Gap

As our fat bodies studies took full swing and we were pushed to think about some examples of how the fat body is devalued, my mind also drifted to the obvious counterpart; the thin body. I couldn’t stop my mind from wandering to a website called The Chive… more specifically, an album called “mind the gap”.  What gap you ask? No, not the Gap Store… Not the ominous warning at the London Underground, heeding people to be wary of the gap between the train and platform (yes, that’s a thing)… This gap…

 

***WARNING: thin bodies, thin pictures, thin-talk***

Continue reading →

by

The limits of pain; the creation of a unique desire

My back hurts. Every day, all the time. For the last five or so years, I have shifted in my seat every few seconds, taken the elevator to the second floor. I have declined invitations to go hiking or biking, trips I normally would have jumped at the opportunity to participate in. Sitting and standing and lying down are mostly unbearable, which really sucks, because those are pretty much the basic three positions my body can be in.

Sciatic_notches

Ouch.

Continue reading →

by

The Girl That Fat Built

So much of my identity has been shaped by my body and the way the world around me has treated it that I often find myself wondering, “If I’d had a different body, who would I be now?”

Some of my earliest painful memories are of becoming aware of my weight as an issue—my parents’ noticeable concern for my young and rapidly changing body, being called fat by my peers, the inability to share clothes with friends, the list goes on.

As my fat seemed to be under attack by the world around me, I subconsciously began to fashion armor around it. My attempts at protecting myself began with denial, not letting myself believe I was a “fat kid.” At eight years old, I still had the sense that I was fantastic and beautiful and I wasn’t ready to give that up. However, as people grew meaner and more eager to inform me that I wasn’t as beautiful as I thought I was, I came to a sort of sad acceptance.

But because I was a rambunctious and attention-seeking kid, I decided that maybe I could use being fat to my advantage. Continue reading →

by

Project Clothesline

Project Clothesline is a nationwide project that documents the experiences of survivors of sexual abuse and assault. Survivors and people who knew victims make T-shirts about their experiences. These shirts are then displayed publicly to highlight the issue of violence against women.

Project Clothesline at UMBC

Project Clothesline at UMBC

The Women’s Center at UMBC takes part in this project. The shirts are displayed twice a year. During relationship violence awareness month in October, and again for sexual violence awareness month in April. I saw the clothesline last year, and it really hit me.

Continue reading →

by

No more ignoring fat bodies [warning: rape]

It seems to me that no one ever thinks about this, or they never want to talk about it. I want to talk about it. I think it needs to be written down, passed around, and heard over and over again until we replace our present beliefs with the truth.

Continue reading →

by

Snug as a bug in a…thing that shouldn’t be in your ear

Almost exactly nine months ago I made a spontaneous decision. This is rare for me. I like to research, I like to Google something until all the links are purple from me visiting them. I’ll ask other people about things, I’ll read books on it, I’ll run through scenarios in my head for days before an event happens to try to think of all the possible outcomes and reactions. It makes me indecisive but it’s my process and it keeps me from freaking out. Very rarely do I do something without agonizing about it first, and much less often does it involved sticking needles in my face. Continue reading →