plus-size blogger based in Yorkshire.

Plus Size Fashion – I have to admit that I had to think twice about writing this post because I really do not want to isolate brands that I have worked with and might work with in the future. But then I realised I couldn’t think like that because my blog started out as my own little corner of the internet to rant and rave about items and I can’t let that change.
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Debz Louise

Debz Louise is a plus-size blogger based in Yorkshire. Behind many nationwide campaigns such as #WeaAreTheThey & winner of Best Blogger at the UK Plus Size Awards, she talkas about life as a plus-size 40-something woman in South Yorkshire.

www.wannabeprincess.co.uk

*TRIGGER WARNING – Bullying & hateful words to do with size, eating disorders and more – quite a sensitive topic*

When it comes to ranting on the likes of Facebook and other social media, I am not often able to hold back, espeically when I see bullying or subtle (or not so) body bashing. 


Today a photo of a very thin lady came on on my Facebook news feed. This lady is very, very thin to the ‘extreme’ that you can see bones poking out from under her skin. The photo had “no fat chicks” all over it and according to what I have read, it is a lady that is scared and afraid of being overweight, or fat in anyway. I am not a doctor but I guess that would indicate an eating disorder of sorts, but that is not really for me to judge. You can see the photo I am talking about here *Trigger warning, very thin body and body hatred*. You’ll need to click the link as I did not want to show it without a trigger warning (something I am trying to become more aware of!)


I agree that an image like this is shocking, for the body image insults if nothing else! However, the insults and pure ignorance posted towards this photo left me flabbergasted. I understand that we need to fight body image negativity, it’s something that I do every day but I do not understand why people feel that body bashing and bullying is the best way to get there?

Click to view larger, sorry for the ultra-cool editing! ha

So… So far we have that she probably has some sort of eating disorder (again I am not a doctor but she posts a lot about not wanting to be fat and she is very thin so I can only assume), according to one of the earlier comments the best way to deal with this is to ‘give this girl a double cheeseburger‘. Then we have the comments about her looking like a corpse and a skeleton and her body being disgusting. I don’t know whether it is because  I have had body shaming comments left on my photos online or not, but these comments leave me feeling very uncomfortable and I do not understand why anyone feels that mocking a body is the best way to deal with intolerance?

Click to view larger, sorry for the ultra-cool editing! ha

Another comment about this lady looking like a corpse and now she looks like a starved animal… AN ANIMAL! Someone thinks that because this lady is very thin it is OK to compare her to an ANIMAL!!! How does that even make any sense? We also have a comparison to a tooth pick & apparently these ‘bitches snap in half’… Have you ever read anything so awful? Well actually, sadly I have but that doesn’t make it right!


The conversation goes on and on about how she deserves it because she fat bashed, how her body is gross, so wrong, she needs a sandwich, her body makes someone want to throw up and the last comment as I write this is that she is a “freakshow”.


I don’t quite know what the point of this rant is, but I needed to get it out there! 


I truly, truly do not understand why people feel it is their right or their duty to comment on the body shape of another HUMAN! Not an animal or a tooth pick or even a fat whale, but a HUMAN! A person! Someone who is effected by words and lives their life being judged every day because of the shape of their body. I do not understand how people can say “Wow that skinny bitch fat bashed get her a sandwich” and think that it is OK because you know the two wrongs cancel each other out or something!

YES! Fight this lady (that is what she is – not a corpse, not a skeleton and not a freakshow) for her shallow views against fat people and her loved ones should get her help if she needs it but DO NOT use the shape of her body against her because you are no worse then the people who body shame every single day!


If you are ever tempted to use the shape of someones body against them for whatever reason, try to think about how you feel whenever others use yours against you? It’s horrible – why would you want to inflict that feeling onto someone else?

Disgraceful…


Debz x

Debz Louise

Debz Louise is a plus-size blogger based in Yorkshire. Behind many nationwide campaigns such as #WeaAreTheThey & winner of Best Blogger at the UK Plus Size Awards, she talkas about life as a plus-size 40-something woman in South Yorkshire.

www.wannabeprincess.co.uk

Yesterday I wrote about Katie Hopkins and her mission to gain weight and then lose it again, to show how easy it is! The article had an amazing response – THANK YOU! And one of my busiest blog days ever, amazing!

Anyway, as you would expect from an article like this it got a lot of comments everywhere, but I have to say not all of them made me smile. As ever, I know that most of these comments come from a good place & people are simply rallying together to fight this bully and really that can only be positive, but I didn’t like it!

She Looks So Much Healthier Fatter


Katie Hopkins has gained just over 3.5 stone and in her own words has gone from underweight to overweight (I don’t know her BMI or anything so I can’t judge that), so I can only take what she has said on the subject. However, what I read several times yesterday is ‘she looks so much healthier fatter’, which surely goes against what lots of us strive for? I have read time and time again larger people writing that they do not want people to judge their health just by the way they look, after all what do you know about someone’s health just by looking at them? Health is such a complicated process and subject and not something that you can tell just be seeing how big or how small they are? Yes, she looks bigger but I can not agree that she looks healthier.


She Looks So Much Better Fatter


Looks are subjective and most of us would rather be seen for more than just the size of our waistband – so why should it be different for Katie Hopkins? It is fine if you think she is nicer looking with more weight on her, but you should remember that how good someone looks is subjective and personal – what you think looks good isn’t the same across the board. Does being fatter or thinner make her ‘better’? Not at all!


She Looks Normal Now


What is normal? Who are we to judge who looks normal and who doesn’t? The only thing we really know about Katies weight gain is that she now looks fatter. Is fatter more normal? Does that mean anyone who shared Katies old weight/height statistics doesn’t look normal? What an odd concept! 

I am not a Katie fan at all but I don’t believe in fighting fire with fire. Just because she wants to judge us on the way we look because of our weight that doesn’t mean that we should do the same. Let’s fight her with education and tell her she is wrong – but we won’t do that by using insults or non-factual statements about her body like she does ours!


Debz xx

Debz Louise

Debz Louise is a plus-size blogger based in Yorkshire. Behind many nationwide campaigns such as #WeaAreTheThey & winner of Best Blogger at the UK Plus Size Awards, she talkas about life as a plus-size 40-something woman in South Yorkshire.

www.wannabeprincess.co.uk

So – Today Katie Hopkins gave her first TV interview on This Morning since gaining just over 3.5 stone for a new TV documentary she is recording. Apparently the idea is that she is going to show how you gain weight and how easy it is to lose it. She wants people to stop making excuses about their weight and lose it just as easy as she is supposedly going to from the 8th September.

On the sofa Katie did look bigger, but then when you gain 3.5 stone that is to be expected. However, in my opinion the whole interview was like a one woman pantomime! She was breathless when she talked and held her hip as she sat, like sitting on a sofa was so hard for her now she is fat. (She is in the region of 11 stone now)… I can assure you that as someone who weighs quite a bit more than Katie – sitting on a sofa and having a conversation does not make me breathless. We can see that she looks fatter, she does not need to put on over exaggerated symptoms to show ‘how hard’ life as a fat person is!

Thanks to http://www.huffingtonpost.co.uk/2014/09/01/katie-hopkins-this-morning-weight-gain-three-stone_n_5746866.html?utm_hp_ref=uk-entertainment&ir=UK+Entertainment

In a clip from the TV show, she cried about how much she had eaten in one day (apparently 6500 calories a day) she said “I hate fat people for making me do this”, however I can assure that the feeling is quite mutual. 


Fat people did not make her accept money for making a documentary on fat people, we did not make her eat more than normal and gain weight on purpose nor will we make her need to lose it. Fat people did not ask her to go on a one woman crusade to ‘educate’ us into changing our bodies or to sit on TV and tell us that our bodies are incapable of good. 


Katies TV show is about not making excuses for being fat, but it is people like her that make fat people feel that they need to make excuses for their body. It can be hard living as a fat person in a thin world. It can be even harder to live in a fat body and say “I love by body just how it is and I do not want to change it”. 


Instead people like Katie Hopkins make people feel like we need to excuse our bodies for being how they are – so people turn to health excuses, making sure people know that even though they’re fat they eat well or exercise lots, they’re fat because of stress or they’re going to start a diet next week and lose all the extra weight they now have.

You shouldn’t have to feel like you need to reassure people about your life choices or let them know you intend to change it. It is programs like this and the general media pressure to have a small body that make people think that they need to excuse their body – BUT YOU DO NOT!!


Love the skin you’re in and let others know you love it to. It is your body and you do not need to excuse it away!


Debz xx

Debz Louise

Debz Louise is a plus-size blogger based in Yorkshire. Behind many nationwide campaigns such as #WeaAreTheThey & winner of Best Blogger at the UK Plus Size Awards, she talkas about life as a plus-size 40-something woman in South Yorkshire.

www.wannabeprincess.co.uk

First of all let me tell you now – Plus North was AMAZING! A different perspective just means I am going to review it in a different way to most people, just because I like to be difficult 😀

I have spoken before about the importance of surrounding yourself with the right type of media. It can be tough living in a body that doesn’t fit the media version of perfect that so many of us are force fed, often without us realising it. It’s up to us to change that and surround ourselves with something new – an alternative version of good, so that we can change the influences our brain sees as positive.

Which leads me on to Plus North – an event which oozes inspiration. If you haven’t attended Plus North before, PLEASE PLEASE PLEASE make sure you go next year, there is literally nothing quite like it. I have no doubt that over the next few days there will be bundles of reviews and photos posted, so I wanted to share something different with you.

Photo thanks to Plus North. Some of the blogger babes on Sunday

I have to tell you that being in a room full of women that are strong and confident is amazing. When you can see plus size fashion being modelled on actual plus size women it is just perfect. When you see those women laughing together, sharing stories, supporting eachother, wooping, clapping and cheering for each other it gives you that sort of warm fuzzy feeling. Talking to brands and being able to tell them what you want from fat fashion and where you think they are going wrong is a crazy sort of liberating – Imagine being able to go into Asda and tell them what’s wrong with their bread, it’s amazing! 

(c) Plus North

You can get measured, try make up, have your photo taken, browse clothes, buy clothes, win prizes or simply sit and enjoy a drink – all in the surroundings of plus size women who just like you fight the media’s idea of a perfect body and live a happy, loving life. I know it sounds a bit cliche, but there is nothing quite like seeing someone like you living the life you would like for you to see that you can be fat (*plus size, bbw, larger, cuddly, curvy…) and happy because those people ARE DOING IT!


That is without the almost startling concept (for me at least) that maybe plus size fashion isn’t quite as limited as it once was. I saw hundreds of women at this event, all looking AMAZING in different outfits across three different events (Saturday day, Saturday evening and Sunday day), which just goes to show that over the years plus size fashion has really improved – definitely steps in the right direction at the very least! 

Plus North had its 3rd Annual event in Leeds this year – with fashion shows, brand talks, blogging tips, pub quizzes, raffles and an after party that was beyond fun. All this was alongside ladies you see on Instagram, read the blogs of, chat to on Twitter and generally nosey on their lives – it’s amazing! I have everything crossed that there will be a Plus North 2015 and if there is, make it your mission to be there!
Debz xx

Debz Louise

Debz Louise is a plus-size blogger based in Yorkshire. Behind many nationwide campaigns such as #WeaAreTheThey & winner of Best Blogger at the UK Plus Size Awards, she talkas about life as a plus-size 40-something woman in South Yorkshire.

www.wannabeprincess.co.uk

I love my body. Yes, there are things about it I would change (who wouldn’t?) but I love that it is mine and all the things that it allows me to do. I hope one day, everyone feels as content and comfortable in their own skin as I do, because it’s a really lovely place to be at.


However, sometimes things happen that make me realise I am fighting a losing battle, because the lines of body positivity get blurred & every day I see examples of people bringing down one body type in order to make another body type feel good – but that method IS NOT WORKING!

In my eyes, you can not be positive about one persons choice to have a body like they do while you are slating another person and their choices. Yes, I understand that it is easier to relate to and understand a person who thinks the same as you but if someone has a different thought to you, that is OK TOO!


This morning, Kate Hopkins hit the headlines with her new TV venture – to gain 3 stone and then show how easy it is to lose it (that’s another blog post)! However what I saw from comments at people (rightly so) horrified at her TV show was comments about the way she looks. People on Twitter and Facebook were making horrible comments about the way she looks, dress etc which just shows me that we’re fighting an ever losing battle!

In my eyes, if we are angry at Katie Hopkins for her judgemental comments about fat people then fighting that with judgemental comments about the way she looks is pointless and harmful. Instead we need to look at rising above it and fighting her horrible judgemental views with education and strength, not resorting to name calling.


And then this morning I saw (although admittedly I haven’t read the article) a headline in That’s Life Magazine about plus size party Big Girls Paradise. The headline reads “If You’re Thin, You’re Not Coming In”. The organisers of BGP are adamant that they knew nothing of the headline but I am not sure if that makes things better or worse! I have lost count of the number of BGP parties I have attended across 3 different cities in the last few years and I can hand on my heart say that thin people are welcome, more than welcome! 

Yes, BGP is a plus size positive environment but that doesn’t mean anyone else isn’t welcome, what nonsense! I have spoken about BGP and the improvements they can (in my opinion) make but one thing I can say is that no one is turned away because of their size – what a horrible place that would be if that were the case.


This headline apparently plucked out of thin air by That’s Life Magazine only goes to try and strengthen the divide between fat and thin people. I can see horrified thin women reading that story and thinking FINE! Let them go their special club they don’t need to be made to feel welcome in our clubs! Fair enough, that might be an exaggerated view but why do magazines like this need to add any fuel to the fire? We certainly do not need anything more to separate fat and thin people so these magazines need to sit up and realise that their sensationalised headlines make a massive difference!


So, we have magazines claiming that thin people aren’t welcome in plus size parties and supposed body positive people slating on Katie Hopkins because of the way she looks – both of these supposed scenarios where people should be made to feel welcomed and loved, not slated.


So, body positivity are we fighting a losing battle or do you think we’re making in-roads to where we need to be?


Debz x

Debz Louise

Debz Louise is a plus-size blogger based in Yorkshire. Behind many nationwide campaigns such as #WeaAreTheThey & winner of Best Blogger at the UK Plus Size Awards, she talkas about life as a plus-size 40-something woman in South Yorkshire.

www.wannabeprincess.co.uk