When I took these photos,
I decided to go with: love.
Regina
Our society is deeply misogynistic and fatphobic. That is a fact.
Here’s another one: Everyone has fat. Some bodies have more than others.
Are we all supposed to hide under baggy t shirts or clever angles in photographs or behind other people in group shots or in a house all alone on a treadmill eating only 6 almonds every 12 hours?
We must decide.
We must have a response to a culture that screams with online comments and in person discrimination “YOU ARE SHAMEFUL. YOU ARE REPULSIVE. WE DO NOT WANT YOU AS YOU ARE, YOU MUST CHANGE.”
One response is to believe that.
Some days that’s what I do.
I look at myself and see all the shame I’ve ever learned to carry reflecting back at me.
Those times are hard. And other days, I don’t just take it.
I ask new questions, and find new answers.
Do I have value? Yes. Are people attracted to me? Yes. Am I giving love as deeply as I can? Yes. Am I accepting it too? Yes. Do I deserve to be seen? Yes. Do I love my blackness? Yes. Am I fighting for what I believe in? Yes. Do I respect my body? Yes. Am I proud of my body? Yes. Do I decide what I do with myself and how I feel about me? Yes. Can anyone else tell me what I should believe about myself? Fuck No.
