As a woman*, people seem to think that your body is a free for all discussion topic. They give you their opinion on your weight, on their perception of your health; they share unsolicited “advice” about what you should/shouldn’t be eating, how you should/shouldn’t be exercising, what you’re wearing and how you treat your body in general; and if you are pregnant everyone is going to touch your belly whether you want them to or not. In fact, stories from friends indicate that people might try doing this when you’re not pregnant, just fat. Awkwaaaaard.

I want to start out by saying that unwelcome comments about your body and health are not limited to fat women – but I write about this from the perspective of a woman who is fat. Women of all sizes get comments about their bodies (and their health): there’s catcalling in the street (and on the internet); there are snide comments about how she looks in that red bodycon dress; there are thousands of magazines and websites that pass judgement on women’s bodies every day – too fat, too thin, cellulite, weight gain, weight loss, pregnancy… We need to learn that it’s not okay, and we need to start making a change to the culture we’ve created.

More often than not, these kinds of comments can make us feel like crap. I’ve had times when passing comments from strangers have reduced me to tears … and when it’s my own family? That’s a thousand times worse. So I thought I’d share a few tips I’ve picked up along the way about how to deal with situations like this. View Post