You searched for thin privilege - Page 18 of 34 - Everyday Feminism

“I mean it as a compliment when I notice you’ve lost weight!” Okay. But just because you’re well-intentioned doesn’t mean what you say doesn’t have a harmful impact. I know your perception of me might have changed because you’re socialized to believe smaller is better, but there are better ways to behave when you notice someone has lost weight.

Cosmo has a lot to say about sex. But what they have to say is based on tired stereotypes, heteronormativity, and traditional gender roles. As such, most of their “advice” is anything but helpful. They aren’t giving women the factual and comprehensive information about sex that they probably need. So instead, remember these rules for having great sex.

Where do we draw the line between “appropriate” forms of cultural exchange and more damaging patterns of cultural appropriation?

Virginity, supposedly, is sacred. But I have news for you: It doesn’t have to be. All it takes is a little bit of myth-busting, a little bit of education, and we can turn around the conversation about virginity. So let me help you navigate through the murky waters of these four myths about virginity. Join me. We’re long overdue.

As a woman, you may feel like the world is flooding your mental inbox with constant messages of how to think, feel, and behave. And as a member of the LGBTQ+ community, it may seem as though everyone feels entitled to comment on your “lifestyle” as well. People have some rigid ideas of how both women and gay people should go about their lives. You don’t have to listen to a word of them.

There’s no winning, because “no soy de aquí, ni soy de allá.” Luckily, I no longer feel like I have to prove my identity to anyone. Because being Latina is a multidimensional experience. I love my Puerto Rican roots, but I’m also not ashamed that I’ve acculturated into American society. And to my second- and third-generation Latinos, you shouldn’t be either. After all, you’re still Latino.

Sometimes I feel like we’re living our entire lives and viewing our whole world through a camera lens – including ourselves. And yet, on the bright side, I also see it as an interesting opportunity to reclaim your self-image. I think that if you go with it, you can actually use things like selfies as tools to improve your body image – and your overall self-esteem.

Social media trends change as rapidly as the technology itself, and we need to make sure that our dialogue with teens about body image and self-esteem (dialogue that includes listening) is changing just as rapidly. Because the Facebook Generation is the next generation of thinkers, leaders, parents, and activists. They’ll be the ones changing the world. And we need them to be fully present in it!

The male gaze is a lens of entitlement. And challenging it is an integral part of feminism. Here are four ways to start.

Everyone is entitled to a relationship with their body that is based in care and respect. It’s time to stop thinking of your body as a hostile encasing in which you are imprisoned. So, in search of answers about self-love, I asked eight of the most fabulous curvy women that I know one question: What is the big secret of your relationship to your body? And here’s what they said.

The truth is: There are different kinds of fitspiration. There are different approaches that all call themselves the same thing. And a common mistake that people make is not distinguishing between them. Because not all fitspo is bad. But some of it actually inspires more unhealthy habits than healthy ones. So be media literate and body-positive enough to know what you’re doing and why.

We want to appreciate beauty, and part of that is taking in the physical beauty of the people around us. But our actions never exist in isolation. Wandering eyes exist as part of a daily onslaught women face where their bodies are treated as public property, objectified in the media and in the eyes of many men. So how can we responsibly navigate the difference?

What we need while recovering from an eating disorder is real-life, real-time support. But the fear of being judged or written off as “narcissistic” or “self-absorbed” or being told to “just start eating normally and get over it,” forces too many people into silence and too afraid and ashamed to seek help. And silence is the least helpful thing you can put in your recovery toolbox.

It’s easy for me to let negative thoughts creep into my mind and follow them down dark pathways where I not only feel misguided but also frightened. For so long I had been disconnected from my wants and needs, I had been following the script I had learned from others. So here are the techniques I use to delete my mocking, critical, mafia mind to make room for the good stuff.

The other day a man wrote to me to tell me that I shouldn’t worry—I’m not that ugly, men don’t care. Thanks (not really), but that’s not the point. My disappointment with my appearance, and the squirming, insistent anxiety that I didn’t look right, I didn’t look good enough—those things felt bigger than men.

“When we teach women to feel ashamed of their bodies, we are also taking away their capacity to experience sexual pleasure…their ability to exercise sexual freedom.”

These examples of mansplaining in sports are cringeworthy. But do you know the real impact this condescending habit is having?

She was terrified after hearing that sex would hurt. But painful sex is not inevitable – and these are some awful results of saying that it is.

With recent buzz about white people unlearning racist beauty standards, it’s time for people of color to push the conversation further for our own healing.

A close-up on a stressed-looking person with their legs drawn up to their chest and their chin resting on their knee.

“Eating disorders aren’t just for rich white girls.” Stereotypes about who “can” have eating disorders are having some awful consequences.