It took me some time to get over my weight, because once puberty struck, I was never a skinny girl and because puberty is so awkward, my body was awkward. I was thick in ALL THE WRONG PLACES. My boobs weren’t huge, but my tummy was. My trunk didn’t have much junk in it, but my arms were like Thanksgiving turkey legs. Then I was a sophomore in college and the weight vanished. Like one day I was a big girl, and the next day I was wearing a bikini… in public. Then, I had my first boyfriend, and even though I was the smallest I’d ever been since I was six, we were the same size. Then that relationship ended and I gained sympathy weight… in the RIGHT places. And waddayaknow? I was the sh*t and I loved myself.   Every single curve I had was a badge of honor and represented my long awaited queendom. See, I’m an African woman and despite what the Discovery Channel leads you to believe, by nature, we are thick women. We have to be, we were the original mothers of mankind. We needed those childbearing hips for a reason, so when my boobies finally came in and my booty popped out, I went to church, gave my tithes and offering, and danced likeBrother Franklin. 

I say all of that to say this - not every woman wants to be skinny! A lot of women, especially black women, are perfectly fine with having a little extra poundage than the average model. Just because we are above a size 6, doesn’t mean we are striving to be any thinner. Personally, I like having thick thighs. I like being shapely. I’m 5’10”; how crazy would I look if I was super thin? Don’t get me wrong, I love working out, yoga, and eating a healthy diet (Go Vegetarians!), but that’s because I want to keep my life long and my visits to the doctor infrequent. As long as I keep my cholesterol low, my blood sugar moderate, and my cardiovascular system clear of plaque build-up, I’m ecstatic to be thicker than a Snicker. 

The world of fashion needs to stop making being “fuller figured” seem like a novelty. Women have been thick since the beginning of time. To be honest, I do not care that the models on the runway are freakishly thin, if they want to sip cabbage water for lunch that’s their problem. I’m perfectly fine that I don’t fit into the designer sample sizes as long as Marc Jacobs, Yves Saint Laurent, Rachel Roy, etc. sell clothes of my size in the store, and they do, so it’s all good. When I cease to fit into designer clothes, I’ll order cabbage water for breakfast, lunch and dinner. Stop saying that “bigger” women shouldn’t wear harem pants, jumpsuits, or skinny jeans because it accentuates the hips and buns - that’s my GOAL! Anything to make my butt bigger is a-okay with me! I do think when women start to get into BMIs that are into the 30s, it’s a problem, and thin women are beautiful as well, but let’s stop putting focus on size and let’s put it back on beauty. 

I’m not even big enough to shop at plus-size stores, but if the world of fashion wants to label me as being plus-sized, I’ll take it. Last time I checked, an A+ was better than an A.

Originally posted on May 9, 2010