Thoughts on #PlusSizedWars and #WeAreTheThey

Hello sweet peas,

It would be really remiss of me not to talk about some of the wonderful things that have happened in plus size world in the last couple of days.

On Tuesday Plus Sized Wars aired in the UK on Channel 4 and I was so proud to see many amazing women who I know and have met have their say on their lives as plus size women. I was really glad to see Tess Holliday looking her usual radiant self, and for their to be some light shed on the plus size blogging (and shopping) scene in the UK. Make no mistake, some of our plus size bloggers like Danielle Vanier, Callie Thorpe and Georgina Horne are going stratospheric like some of the plus size bloggers in the US have done - Gabi Fresh, Chastity Garner, Nicolette Mason, etc etc.

On the whole the show was positive. There were a couple of things I'd liked to have seen - less of the lady who owns MiLK modelling agency, who basically seems to have signed Tess Munster because of her social media following and NOT because she's an amazingly beautiful, inspirational soul who happens to be in a plus size body. I'd also have liked to have seen more of Bethany Rutter, who writes so well on her blog and always has interesting things to say. It was also good to see behind the scenes at Evans and Yours Clothing, although the less said about Taking Shape and their 'Skinny Bird Watching' at LFW the better. One lady has already tweeted me to say she's ordered from TS after watching, so I'm glad it has at least introduced women to new places to shop. I just wish TS and every other plus size retailer who's gaffed recently would realise you don't need to pull 'Them VS Us' crap to sell clothes. You just don't. Clothes sell themselves, put them on a blogger and wheeeeee. No body shaming required, thankyouverymuch.

Overall though it started a conversation, and that can only be a good thing. I was very happy to see lots of plus size ladies I know on screen and not being made fun of like so often happens in tv shows about fat people. Yass.

Another thing that happened on Tuesday was Z-list chanteuse and A-List gobshite Jamelia appeared on Loose Women and suggested that people below a size 6 and people over a size 20 shouldn't be able to buy clothes on the high street as they're 'unhealthy'. Ohyesshedid.


What about naturally very petite women who may be a size 0 because that's the way their body IS? What does she suggest we do with women over a size 20? Corral us all into ghettoes where we'll exist clotheless until we've been shamed below a size 20? What if we don't lose weight? Euthanasia?! What about plus size athletes, like shotputters or weight lifters? Do they get to go to the NOT-OK Corral too?

Debz from Wannabe Princess decided yesterday to address Jamelia's comments on Twitter using the hashtag #WeAreTheThey, referring to the 'they' Jamelia kept referring to plus people as. Debz wanted to show Jamelia we are all people of different sizes, different personalities etc etc. To HUMANISE us basically, take it from her referring to us as 'they', othering us, and reminding her we are people with stories, as diverse as our bodies. We are outside the 'norm' but we are still people Goddamnit!


It was a raging success. There was so much positivity it was a delight. I spent a few hours spouting off and retweeting dozens of tweets from my sisters from other misters. I didn't engage Jamelia in any of the tweets because plenty of people were, and I see it that she has enough problems already. Namely her horrible personality. She ceased to have any relevance in the music world years ago and now earns her crust trying to be the new Katie Hopkins. What a waste of a life.

Jameela Jamil, who is awesome and not to be confused with Jamelia wrote this rebuttal. Well done, lady.

I'll leave this in closing.

What are your thoughts on Plus Sized Wars and WeAreTheThey?

Thanks for reading!
Leah xoxo

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