A New York blogger and her project on sizeism has found herself catapulted into the spotlight after a photo of herself in a bikini went viral.
Stella Boonshoft had originally posted the snap on her tumblr blog with the following caption:
WARNING: Picture might be considered obscene because subject is not thin. And we all know that only skinny people can show their stomachs and celebrate themselves. Well I’m not going to stand for that. This is my body. Not yours. MINE. Meaning the choices I make about it, are none of your f**king business. Meaning my size, IS NONE OF YOUR FUCKING BUSINESS.
‘My body must be a revolution’, proclaims blogger Stella Boonshoft Boonshoft, who suffers from polycystic ovarian syndrome, dedicated the picture to the litany of people who have bullied her over her size, including the boy who told her she looked like a “beached whale” and the middle school pupil who nicknamed her “lard”.
She adds:
MOST OF ALL, this picture is for me. For the girl who hated her body so much she took extreme measures to try to change it. Who cried for hours over the fact she would never be thin. Who was teased and tormented and hurt just for being who she was.
She signs off the post with a triumphant:
I’m so over that. THIS IS MY BODY, DEAL WITH IT.
and FUCK YOU ALL who tried to degrade my being and sense of self with your hurtful comments and actions.
GUESS WHAT IT DIDN’T WORK HAHAHAHAH
Boonshoft’s blog – and this image – went viral after her path crossed with that ofBrandon Stanton, the photographer behind Humans of New York.
Stanton asked for a photo and Boonshoft shared her story, posing for a picture and steering him towards her blog.
What she hadn’t expected was for Stanton to use the bikini picture on her site.
The image quickly went viral, and has so far amassed nearly half a million ‘likes’ and thousands of comments, with the majority applauding Boonshoft for her beauty and bravery.
Boonshoft later blogged how her first reaction had been to “burst into tears” and that the move had left her feeling “like utter s**t”.
In a panic, she asked Stanton to post the (clothed) picture he had taken of her, adding: “Here I was, this woman speaking about loving yourself and accepting who you are, suddenly absolutely devastated because some random people I don’t know where saying nasty things about me on the internet.
“Finally, I decided to leave it. I know what I am trying to do, which is help young women struggling with their body image and expose the hypocrisy and cruelty that is sizeism, is SO MUCH MORE IMPORTANT than whatever feelings I may have about myself.” [ read the rest at HUffpo-uk]
You know what, Stella. For every person who had something awful to say about you and wanted to tear you down, Honey….for each of those negative fools, there is a Black man who thinks you are just a lil: Thick. And if you have low self-esteem but a high credit score and you don’t mind using to put his cellphone and assorted bills in your name, you WILL find a Black man to love you.
Ok that was stereotypical and racist.
….buuuuuut pretty true.
Anyway, Stella, you can either be happy for you or you can be happy for the world. With lots of women out there killing themselves to fit into the acceptable mode of what is beautiful, I’m not mad at you for preferring to simply be you. It’s not my body and it’s not my decision to decide what’s best for YOU. No one else’s either. You have the right to feel as pretty as you want to be….. just as others have the right to think: “Ugh bytch ugh. Go walk some!”
I could care less about Stella being fat or thin, thin or fat. The thing that stood out to me in all this is how she did what a lot of big people do. She lied to herself. She lied to herself about how strong she was and how she didn’t care what people thought about her appearance She lied about how positive she felt about her shape and how she would stand up to anyone who thought otherwise. Because when her photo went up for the WORLD to see and not just her small circle of friends, she crumbled and collapsed.
But then she did something awesome. She realized that she had lied to herself. She saw through her own boolshyt and she saw how she really DID care what the world thought of her. And then she realized what the biggest lie she had told her self was. She WASN’T as strong as she thought she was.
…she was even stronger.
Because only then when she faced a REAL juggernaut of negativity and scorn…. did she stand with arms wide open and decided not to hide. She said: “bring it on, world. Let’s see what you’ve got..”
THAT…. I respect.
I’m just always creeped out by big women with small boobs. HOW does that happen!
Anyway….
Thanks to Fubsy for the send in.
You know what, Stella. For every person who had something awful to say about you and wanted to tear you down, Honey….for each of those negative fools, there is a Black man who thinks you are just a lil: Thick. And if you have low self-esteem but a high credit score you don’t mind using to put his cellphone in your name, you WILL find a Black man to love you.
Get out yo. ——————–>
You know what, Stella. For every person who had something awful to say about you and wanted to tear you down, Honey….for each of those negative fools, there is a Black man who thinks you are just a lil: Thick. And if you have low self-esteem but a high credit score you don’t mind using to put his cellphone in your name, you WILL find a Black man to love you.
LMAO
this is so wrong yet so very damn true!
I'm sure plenty of the brothas on this blog secretly feel this way
I still couldn't do no ish like that. I will however hold the black power fist up in her honor. Being deemed big is just demeaning and hard to deal with.
Damn cockroach is distracting and giving me the heebeegeebees.
That damn meme is just disgusting… where is the fat white girl? I'ont see one…
I suffer from PCOS and i can tell you it does stupid shyt to your body. I was one of the lucky ones to be able to have a child with little medical intervention.
I'm so glad she is doing this and putting a face to PCOS.
I have 2 friends that suffer from it, and yes it is indeed a difficult issue. One of my friends constantly works out, because it makes her gain weight. So in order to keep from blowing up, she's always doing something. My other friend wants to have a baby, and unfortunately the PCOS has been such an issue where that is concerned.
And then she realized what the biggest lie she had told her self was. She WASN’T as strong as she thought she was.
…she was even stronger.
Indeed!!! GO STELLA GO!
You know, people are so ignorant. Then they teach that ignorance to their children. "If someone doesn't look like you our ready like you do, they ate gross, and deserve to be made fun of". That is no way to live, or to teach your kids to be. Let people be. And I don't see a big girl either. I think she's beautiful. No matter what, you will always be too big our to small for somebody out there. You know what to tell them? To jump of a cliff. Jump in front of a train. Kiss tor ass, because they have nothing better to do in life, but point out people's flaws and such. Get a hobby. Stop worrying about my weight.
White girl fat is clearly different than Black girl fat…
lol What?
I don't think she's fat.
Sorry I dont know why I didnt get that. smh. She looks like a size 14 which can be considered fat by many
I love Brandon Stanton and his HONY images, and was happy to read her story when he posted about her earlier this month. Stand strong girl.