For the same reason thin girls wear leggings:
Because they are fucking comfortable!
I don't owe anyone an explanation for the way I dress. Hell, I have a jean jacket that looks kooky as hell, covered in patches and pins that say "I just pooped". So I get it, I don't dress like a normal person most days. But this day? I was pretty normal looking.
For a skinny girl.
My clothes were all in the dryer. They had been in there all day, since my dryer is a total asshole and needs to be fixed, so it literally takes me three hours to dry one small load of clothing. My jeans were in there, as were most of my underwear and my non-stained shirts. I don't own a lot of clothes anymore, ever since I downsized over Christmas and decided to go with a "capsule wardrobe" (read: my asshole cat took a huge piss on all my good clothes--she was angry she wasn't allowed outside--and I haven't been able to replace them yet).
So the only pair of pants I had at all to wear were my leggings (which I do not owe anyone an explanation as to why I was wearing my choice of pants, but still, there it is). And luckily I had a grey shirt to match, because usually I wear something completely non-matching with them (like an oversized blue t-shirt that says "Say Hello to My Little Friend" with a large gnome on it). And I needed some lotion from Walgreens, so I thought it was going to be a easy errand to run.
So we pulled up, and my hubby was eating a candy bar, so I said I'd go in by myself. Which was a huge deal for me, because I never go into stores alone. Like, ever. My anxiety prevents me from doing most things alone. So for me, this was a big deal. But before I could even get in the store, one my anxious fears came immediately true: I was being judged for the way I looked for absolutely no reason.
Rather than run back to the car and have a panic attack, I just stood there staring at her until she got into her car. And then I flipped her and her friend off with both of my hands 😊
I then walked into the store, got my lotion, and left. My husband saw the entire thing from the car and we laughed about it all the way home 🤣
People who judge fat people like that feel horrible about themselves. Or even if they don't, they fear what we, as a fat person, represents. A fat woman wearing leggings represents a woman who is confident enough to just wear what she wants and to not really care if others don't like it. To them, it's like we're throwing our fatness in their faces. It's like we're saying "I don't care if my body makes you feel uncomfortable, I only care about how I feel." They see that as a selfish act, like we're forcing them to look at our bodies by putting on particular clothes (like bikinis). And to them, having to look at our fatness, is on par with being naked or having sex in public: something disgusting or inappropriate and should be shared in the privacy of our own homes, but not be flaunted in public.
Well, I am sorry, my body isn't inappropriate. My body isn't any more private than a thin person's body. And my body isn't here for you to judge, just as yours isn't here for me to judge.
If I decide to wear leggings, or a tank top, or anything else for that matter that doesn't hide my fat body, that has nothing to do with you and everything to do with me. I like my leggings. No, scratch that, I love my leggings! Like, I love them so much I may buy enough pairs to wear them every single day all year long! They are so very comfortable and give me such a better range of motion in every single movement. I think they are one of the most comfortable pants on earth (those and palazzo pants). So, why aren't leggings a mandatory type of pants for everyone on earth? 😍 They should be!
And no matter my body size, I wear what I want, without regard to how other people feel about it.
Because if we are serious about #mybodymychoice, then we have to include what we wear in that as well. You can't just pick one thing, like reproduction, and call it a day. If we are true to this movement, we have to include everything. And I mean, everything. And we have to include everyone, both men and women. And even children (to a point).
I have heard the comment "Didn't she look in the mirror before leaving the house?" so many times growing up (not about myself, but I assume people have said that quietly about me many times LOL) from family members and friends that I have come to the understanding that the way other people look is taken personally by those selfish enough to believe the world revolves around them. And nothing more. When we laugh at the way others look, we are saying "I am so important that nobody should look the way I don't approve of". All that shows is the fear that person has about their own insecurities.
How other people view us has nothing to do with us, and everything to do with that person judging us. Don Miguel Ruiz taught us that in his awesome books The Four Agreements and The Voice of Knowledge. Because of those two books, I am able to wear my leggings without feeling bad when someone laughs at my body shape. I am not doing anything wrong by wearing them, it's that person's own internal issues that's causing them to lash out at me. I am representing something they fear. But that's on them, not me.
And because we know where the issue is coming from, we can wear whatever we please. We big girls can (and should) wear leggings, bikinis, halter tops, crop tops, shorts, miniskirts, tank tops, or anything else we want to wear. Why should we be ashamed of our body shapes just because we look different from a certain part of the population? Those people can deal with it and either look like an asshole by making fun of us, or they can just learn to accept it and get used to it.
Eventually, if enough of us wear what we like, people will get used to it. And it won't be an issue anymore. It used to be obscene for a woman to wear pants or have short hair. And the world got used to those things because woman decided to wear what they wanted and realized that their bodies were their choices, nobody else's.
Fat girls should wear leggings because we are human beings who can wear whatever we want. We aren't "fat girls", we are females who have bodies, just like everyone else. Our bodies may be shaped differently, but that doesn't make us inappropriate or disgusting. It just makes us different from those who look different than us. Sound stupid, doesn't it? To hate one someone who looks different than you just because your bodies are shaped differently? It would be like Sandy hating SpongeBob because he's square. That show is filled with everyone single character being a different body shape. And not one person says Pearl shouldn't wear a swimsuit at the beach just because she's shaped like a whale. Nobody cares. Bikini Bottom may be fiction, but the message in that show is clear: everyone is different, and that's what makes them so great. 😎
So the next time you're out and you see a person who looks different than you, think to yourself "I am going to pretend I am in Bikini Bottom and not even notice our differences". It's not easy at first, but eventually, it will become natural to not even notice how others look. The one thing that helped me practice this was to find one good thing about someone's appearance. This leads to finding more than one thing. And eventually, you will start to see people as people, and not "fat people" or "skinny people" or any other thing that makes us different from one another. We're just people. And people sometimes wear leggings. And that's okay. Even if it shows off all their curves and edges. Because we all have them, just in different ways. Nobody is perfect. So stop looking for perfection. You will always be disappointed if you do.
Finding the good in people will bring you far more happiness than any judgment ever will.
Life is too short to bow down to the haters of the world!! So wear your leggings, wear your bikinis, and wear your crop tops!! Wear whatever makes you feel great, even if others will judge you for it. Because who cares? The world needs more love and the more you wear what you love, the more love you share with the world. ❤
Share the love by sharing this post with your friends! And encourage them to wear what they love, too!
Did I mention that I love my leggings! You can find the kind I buy here, which fit from size 14-24! (If you purchase from this link, I get a small percentage of the sale, which goes to help my family afford life! LOL)
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