Here’s one for my Asian curvy babes.
We are a rare breed.
We are an exclusive species.
And we are beautiful.
I want to speak specifically to the Asians out there. The Asians that don’t get seen in the bopo community, the Asians that don’t feel seen on billboards in their own country or heard on TVs in their own language. The Asians that feel practically invisible in every store that you walk into because your figure and your body shape is not welcome.
YOU ARE SEEN. YOU ARE HEARD. YOU ARE BEAUTIFUL.
I specifically say curvy, and not fat, because even being the higher end of straight size is controversial over there. They struggle just as much as the fat babes because it is all put into one category over there – the “not good enough” category. I am going to use the word curvy because, you already hear that other word too much. In China at least, it’s always the first comment when saying hi. “Wow, you’ve got fat”
“Don’t eat so much”
“Fat is not pretty”
It is not just the first conversation but every conversation. In a culture where food is currency, it becomes even more puzzling that those same people will be the ones surrounding you with food for the rest of the evening. You will be told you are disrespectful for declining it and yet you are somehow meant to changing your body at the same time because SOMEHOW you weren’t blessed with the small bone structure and petite frame that would do your ancestors proud.
It still confuses me. It confuses me how merely existing offends my fellow Asians so much. Let alone existing in a happy body. A body that feels comfortable to wear short dresses that show some of your thigh! Shock horror ? let alone when you take it off and there’s a bikini underneath ? so tonight when I am celebrating Chinese New Year, I will be thinking of all of you and sending you all my love. You aren’t seen enough, but there are a lot of us out there – I promise.