Size Acceptance in YA

Examining bodies, size, and shape in YA literature.

[moosekleenex]

[digigirlinterrupted]

[littlegeekworld-deactivated2015]

Rule #1 when you see Hilda. Reblog her. Always.

[the-master-bear]

Celebrating full sized women everywhere

[loves-sweet-melody-deactivated2]

Omg always relog.

[kairibloodheart]

she is so adorable and has such great expressions I sometimes forget she is a pin up girl

[deanplease]

She is sexy as fuck.

THIS BODY IS SEXY AS FUCK.

Don’t let anyone tell you otherwise.

[dragonnatsu-deactivated20190323]

*softly with feeling* she’s beautiful

[itsalburton]

This has to be Depression era WW2. She’s wearing bikinis made from flour sacks, which people made clothes from because they were shit poor and companies decided to put floral prints and colors on their bags to make those improvised clothes.

You also have to appreciate that she’s a hard worker, growing her own food, fixing her own plumbing and still retaining her femininity. That’s definitely a sign of the times.

[xandariathepink]

There’s another post about Hilda I can’t find right now, but yeah, it’s spot on, she was popular during the war and was created to be more a “girl next door” type.

[thewormwood]

@blackteaandbones FOUND IT. This is the series we were goin’ on about on the way to Kingston.

[tulpamom]

what I love best about Hilda is that you can learn this about her personality just from a handful of moments with her and you can’t help but love her. She’s kind and indulgent and sweet and has a good sense of humor

[wickedtizzy]

My favorite pin-up girl /gently weeps

[itsoldjohn]

Nah this is mid fifties, not depression&wwii. Not at all. The point was that she wore the flour sack bikini cuz she’s heavy. (Also the hair omg?) Anyways, Duane Bryers drew Hilda until the late 60s, or even the 70s. Can’t quite remember, but she was a cult hit for a while, with shot glasses and calendars and playing cards.

[sizeacceptanceinya]

I like how I look, usually, but people—especially people on the internet—can be so mean when you’re fat. As if fat makes you stupid or dirty or irresponsible. As if fat makes you anything other than . . . fat.

from The Summer of Jordi Perez (And The Best Burger in Los Angeles) by Amy Spalding, out April 3.

[bookriot]

For almost two decades my New Years resolutions—sometimes public, often secret—have involved changing my body. Drink more water. Lose two pounds a week. Do sit-ups every morning. Buy a bikini this year. Some resolutions I stuck with, and others I failed. Either way, most made me feel worse about myself. At age 11, I felt fat at 120 pounds. In college, I felt fat at 155 pounds. And this January, I still feel fat at (deep breath) 215 pounds. But through the body positivity movement and fat positive books, the word “fat” isn’t the scary monster hiding under my bed that it used to be. It doesn’t mean worthless anymore.

That doesn’t mean I don’t still want to lose ten (twenty, thirty, etc.) pounds this year. I do. I want to fit into my jeans from three years ago. I’d love my knees to hurt less when I run. When a man gives up his seat for me on the subway, I want it to be because he thinks I look hot, not because he thinks I look pregnant (true story).  At my yearly physical, I don’t want my doctor to sheepishly hand me a pamphlet that tells me to solve all my problems by giving up soda (which, news flash: I never drink).

But as much as I want all those things, I want to love myself and my body more. Because, obviously, none of those old resolutions worked. Just like research shows that 95% of diets don’t work, at least not in the long term. These books are ones I think will help me and hopefully might be of interest to you, no matter what size you are. And, you know what, I went ahead and ordered that bikini this year: in my current size.

https://bookriot.com/2018/01/03/fat-positive-books/

[sizeacceptanceinya]

It seemed like it would never happen. But it is. We’re finally seeing more fat girls on YA book covers. After years of talking about fatness, about YA lit, and about the lack of working one into the other, it’s so damn refreshing to see some change happening. It’s tiny, of course, in the big scope of things, and for now, it’s primarily white. But tiny ripples grow bigger.

Let us enjoy this moment.

Fat Girl on a Plane by Kelly DeVos (June 5)

FAT.

High school senior Cookie Vonn’s post-graduation dreams include getting out of Phoenix, attending Parsons and becoming the next great fashion designer. But in the world of fashion, being fat is a cardinal sin. It doesn’t help that she’s constantly compared to her supermodel mother—and named after a dessert.

Thanks to her job at a fashion blog, Cookie scores a trip to New York to pitch her portfolio and appeal for a scholarship, but her plans are put on standby when she’s declared too fat too fly. Forced to turn to her BFF for cash, Cookie buys a second seat on the plane. She arrives in the city to find that she’s been replaced by the boss’s daughter, a girl who’s everything she’s not—ultrathin and superrich. Bowing to society’s pressure, she vows to lose weight, get out of the friend zone with her crush, and put her life on track.

SKINNY.

Cookie expected sunshine and rainbows, but nothing about her new life is turning out like she planned. When the fashion designer of the moment offers her what she’s always wanted—an opportunity to live and study in New York—she finds herself in a world full of people more interested in putting women down than dressing them up. Her designs make waves, but her real dream of creating great clothes for people of all sizes seems to grow more distant by the day.

Will she realize that she’s always had the power to make her own dreams come true?

Leah on the Offbeat by Becky Albertalli (April 24)

When it comes to drumming, Leah Burke is usually on beat—but real life isn’t always so rhythmic. An anomaly in her friend group, she’s the only child of a young, single mom, and her life is decidedly less privileged. She loves to draw but is too self-conscious to show it. And even though her mom knows she’s bisexual, she hasn’t mustered the courage to tell her friends—not even her openly gay BFF, Simon.

So Leah really doesn’t know what to do when her rock-solid friend group starts to fracture in unexpected ways. With prom and college on the horizon, tensions are running high. It’s hard for Leah to strike the right note while the people she loves are fighting—especially when she realizes she might love one of them more than she ever intended.

Puddin’ by Julie Murphy (May 8)

It is a companion novel to Dumplin’, which follows supporting characters from the first book in the months after Willowdean’s star turn in the Clover City pageant.

Millie Michalchuk has gone to fat camp every year since she was a girl. Not this year. This year she has new plans to chase her secret dream—and to kiss her crush. Callie Reyes is the pretty girl who is next in line for dance team captain and has the popular boyfriend. But when it comes to other girls, she’s more frenemy than friend. When circumstances bring the girls together over the course of a semester, they will surprise everyone (especially themselves) by realizing they might have more in common than they ever imagined

The Struggle Is Real by Maggie Ann Martin (August 21)

Savannah is dreading being home alone with her overbearing mother after her sister goes off to college. But if she can just get through senior year, she’ll be able to escape to college, too. What she doesn’t count on is that her mother’s obsession with weight has only grown deeper since her appearance on an extreme weight-loss show, and now Savvy’s mom is pressuring her even harder to be constantly mindful of what she eats.

Between her mom’s diet-helicoptering, missing her sister, and worrying about her collegiate future, Savvy has enough to worry about. And then she meets George, the cute new kid at school who has insecurities of his own. As Savvy and George grow closer, they help each other discover how to live in the moment and enjoy the here and now before it disappears.

[gracedchin]

[territoriall-deactivated2018011]

⁎⋆☾

[sizeacceptanceinya]

An Open Letter to Brené Brown - Be Nourished

Dear Brené,I was at your Braving the Wilderness book event in Portland, Oregon earlier this fall. I have purchased and devoured almost every book you have written. I have had in-depth conversations about shame resiliency with my community and friends. I have read quotes from your book to my yoga students (I’m a yoga teacher). I strive to live my … Continued

[bled]

[arjuna-vallabha]

Yemanja/ Yemoja by Marcelo Jorge

[sizeacceptanceinya]

<3

[palides-deactivated20130904]

[sequinedseaqueen]

👽 Who wants to join my gang! 👽

Prints available in my store! https://taraobrien.co/products/take-up-space

[falulu]

Shout out to my disabled/unhealthy fats

Don’t let people make you feel bad about your health

Your health is non of their concern

Take care of yourself for sure to the best of your abilities

But don’t let people dictate your life or how you feel about yourself!

You’re still babely

You still deserve love and respect

You are still worthy of dignity

You deserve all the good things in life

I see you out there! You’re not invisible to me!

You’re not a “bad” fatty

Don’t let anyone, not fatphobic thin people

Not fellow fats who ignore your struggles or silence you when you speak out about fat discrimination and the healthism you face

Make you feel like you are less, because you’re more!

Nobody! This is your life! Be happy

[profeminist]

Source

[moosekleenex]

[fairycosmos]

look. i don’t think my stretch marks are beautiful. i don’t think they’re tiger stripes or natural tattooos. i don’t think my acne is beautiful. i don’t think the bags under my eyes are beautiful. i just think they’re human. and i don’t think i have to be beautiful all of the time in order to be accepted and loved and sucessful. i don’t think every small detail of my outer appearence needs to be translated into prettiness.

[the-real-eye-to-see]

[ephemer-el-deactivated20181208]

I love how not only are these women different skin tones but they’re also different body types. sometimes the world can be okay

[veronikelly-mars-deactivated201]

The most important lesson I’ve learned about summer fashion may be this: You’re not fooling anyone (least of all yourself) by covering up your body with a lot of clothing. You’re just making yourself super sweaty and uncomfortable. People already know what you look like and won’t be surprised—or even care—when they see you wearing short shorts or a dress with spaghetti straps, or taking your shirt off at the pool. And if they are? That says much more about their insecurities than it does about you or your body. Start small like I did: Wear a sleeveless top or a cute skirt. Go a step further and take a dip in the lake in a bathing suit. Or get wild and pick up a romper or a shimmery string bikini if that’s more your style.

from A Right to Bare Arms by Amy Pence-Brown (via veronikelly-mars)