I walk in a room and I don’t know who to sit next to. There’s a black girl who looks kind but also like she may hate me. There’s a white girl who looks fun but also like she may hate me. There’s a boy who’s cute but he may hate me. A room full of people but they all may hate me. Maybe a universal experience but racial acceptance is a game in my head. Who’s going to accept me for who I am and what I look like? There’s a divide between black and white, but what about the people who are neither? My dad’s side of the family doesn’t think I’m “asian enough”, my mom’s side of the family simply tolerates me, black people think I’m white washed. White people think I’m too ethnic, people act surprised I speak english but people are also surprised I don’t speak Chinese. So what does life look like when you don’t have a “safe” side. It looks like backhanded compliments, fear from everyone, surprised when people DO like you, and a lot of days spent looking in the mirror wondering how you can fit in. Code switching? I live it, but I never know which code to default back on because who I am is not truly accepted, I always have to do my best to fit in.
acceptance
So, You Want To Grab Her By The Pussy?
There you have it folks!
Not only is Donald Trump a bigot, but now he is also a sexual assailant. Continue reading
Judging Invisible Battles
I recently read a heart breaking story about a woman with Postural Orthostatic Tachycardia Syndrome who was shamed for using a handicapped parking spot. The woman in the story was having a good day, meaning she was actually well enough to walk. Continue reading
Body Acceptance
“The image that concerns most people is the reflection they see in other people’s minds.”
― Edward De Bono
How do we really succeed full confidence in our bodies with society’s specific vision? This is a question I have recently been asking myself. It is more recent because before I had never thought that I had a choice of the way my body should look. This is because growing up I had always been told what it is to be a lady and how my body should look in order to be accepted. I have always been super self conscience when it comes to my weight because in my household weight seemed to be a revisited topic. For me because I was always an “overweight” child. I usually got compared to my fit and muscular brother. He passionately played football so I was also expected to passionately play a sport. I was always strongly pushed to play a sport because of my thicker figure, with hopes I would loose weight or not gain any. I was constantly compared to my brother and what my parents and society told me was the ideal shape.
Having society’s ideal and “normal” weight always shown and told to me, it is the hardest thing to really except being different from that expectation. I have many days where I love and embrace my thick and curvier shape. Other days I constantly dwell on how I look compared to those of the more ideal weight. Even when someone is thicker, there always is an appearance expectation. The fashion always is supposed to be kept up rather than the expectations from someone who is already at ideal shape. It is a struggle in which I still look to accept how I feel about my body rather then persuaded by society’s perception. Is there really a full and complete way to accept our personal own body type? Even when we are up against what a body should be and look like concerning doctors, health,and society. I always wonder will there be a body type acceptance for all.
More Than A Number
I saw this video by Special K and I absolutely loved it. It caught my eye because it questions what we use to measure our self worth. In the video, various women go into a denim store looking for jeans. The video opens to a voiceover of women explaining their disdain for shopping for jeans. As it continues the women notice that none of the jeans have a size on it, which then allows the associates to ask to measure the women. In the measurements, the associates don’t mention size 6 or size 12, but radiant, strong, charismatic, stunning or fabulous. The idea is to show that we are not defined by our weight but by our own personalities and personal idea of worth. I especially enjoyed this commercial because it strayed away from the idea that you’ll feel better or be a better person if you lose weight with a product. The commercial emphasizes that you can be great in any body. It was an interesting take on weight and advertising and to me, it gave me the feeling of acceptance and non-judgment which is what all people should feel about themselves regardless of weight. One woman even states “Not seeing the number is so freeing” and I completely agree with this statement. This is not to say that everyone should wear the same size, but that everyone deserves the same level of quality and comfort regardless of a person’s size or weight. It shouldn’t be a difficult process for certain people because they are bigger than others.
