I am not skinny, but I am definitely not fat. And if I was, so what?

My mom and dad blessed me with gorgeous curves, which is also my biggest curse.

In primary school everyone made fun of my booty, but now all those bullies are squatting in the gym to grow one.

I’ve been told that I should get married in a flowy wedding dress, because of my little big hip situation, but then I went and ordered the most figure hugging designer gown and guess what, I looked beautiful AF.

Women with a genetic curvy body have issues that ‘normal size’ or skinny women just never will understand. Or want to understand.

Here’s the 5 biggest fat shaming myths women with curves have to deal with.

1. “But you don’t look like a runner!”

I’ve ran two half marathons and try to get in one 10 kilometre per week. Sometimes I feel depressed and then I don’t exercise for two weeks – sue me.

The amount of people that have questioned my running because of my body shape is shamelessly high. Most people picture a slender athlete with calves for days when they think about a runner, not someone’s whose calve muscle when straight to their thighs.

2. “Don’t worry, we can do it at your pace.”

There’s a lot of hiking trails in Cape Town and people will always tell me that we can do it at my pace. My pace? What do you mean my pace? Just because I have more fat than muscle, does not mean that I am not stronger than you.

Same thing at the gym. You get ‘cute’ girls who does the same ‘cute’ exercises in the gym daily and rarely build muscle, but they never get questioned. I sweat twice as hard in a spinning class, but when  my hips don’t shrink people will give me motivational speeches that I should push harder and harder next time. Bitch, please.

3. “You probably want a bigger size?”

Shopping with someone is the worst. The ‘no booty-army’ will always ask if you would like a size bigger than them. Just because my hip-to-butt-to-hip-to-another-butt ratio is above average, doesn’t mean the rest of my body is as well.

The looks I get when I tell people that I wear a size small top, the disbelief OMG, it’s just too much to handle.

Dear person X, I am a professional stylist, are you? Um, okurrr.

4. “You are going to fall pregnant so easily.”

I think this is the most offensive one. When you ask them why, they will tell you that skinny girls have more struggles to conceive. Okay, if I don’t count as skinny do you just think that I am fat?

Unless you are a medical professional, please don’t tell me about my future birth journey when so many people of all sizes have issues to conceive. Giving birth is a blessing and my pants size is not going to be the deal breaker, trust me.

5. “Are you on a diet?”

This is now the part where I want to get physical. Curvy ladies, have you ever ordered a salad and then your friends will ask if you if you are on a diet? People always consume when bootyful women order something healthy, they are trying to lose weight.

Okay, so here’s a surprise fact: we actually eat healthy most of the time. I hate greasy foods and alcohol. I avoid white carbs and always snack on carrots and yes, chocolate. Sue me, again.

But I’m not on a diet. Diets are for the birds!

My body is not my only testimony of my healthy lifestyle. I have glowing skin, perfect hair, 100% visual sight, no cholesterol warnings, zero dark circles under my eyes and I’ve never ever had a teeth filling in my life. Why? Because I’m healthy.

6. “How much?”

When a slender woman walks down the street in a skinny jean, little reaction.

When a curvy woman walks down the street in a skinny jean, chaos!

Society still see curvy women in short or tight clothing as ‘easy’ or ‘cheap’ and that annoys the living demons out of me. I rarely wear a bikini to the beach, but in January I felt brave and threw over a second skin dress to cover my lovely lady humps.

A group of men approached me and made sexual comments, which you get used to and learn to ignore over the years, but this time I’ve had enough. I told them my basic human rights and walked straight to the police station. They chose the wrong girl!

Stop judging people based on how God created them. We are all beautiful in our own way. Skinny, curvy, athletic -it doesn’t matter. It’s what is happening on the inside, that is.

Always, Anne

xoxo