Read Things No One Will Tell Fat Girls for Free Online

cases, kill themselves (literally) trying to reach it, or because they couldn’t reach it. Don didn’t come up with these ideals of beauty—he just perpetuated them.
    Okay, actually, get pissed. Maybe even really pissed.
    We’re all aware that when it comes to physical appearance, our society is a fucking bully. But I always wanted to know why . Why is our structure this way? Why are fat people bullied, often to the point of suicide? And why are women singled out for body shame? Why have we all learned to hate ourselves? How THE FUCK did we get here ?
    After my own realization that even in this world I could learn to love myself as I am, I immersed myself in reading that supported this theory. Self-help books, women’s issues books, feminist theory books, health books, and history books. Guess which kind of book was the catalyst for one of the most pivotal turning points in my journey? History books. Motherfucking history books. They changed everything.
    I thrive on facts: They speak to me, I trust in them. Sure, the cheerful body love memes online can help a little on the self-love journey, but they aren’t enough—for me, they’re not a game changer, and are easily forgotten. I want something solid to prove why something is, so I can use that information to better my life. Only then do things start to shift for me. Oh, you too? GOOD, because I’m about to school you in a way you’ve never been schooled before.
    Buckle up, bitches. I’m about to blow your mind.
    This “why” comes from several moments in history, and to be honest . . . they’re all a little complicated. There’s nothing simple about civilization’s sordid, oppressive, and money-driven past. It’s also a very long story, so I’m just going to share the CliffsNotes version of several very large chunks of history, each of which we could probably talk about for days. The reason I’m sharing this with you is to give some insight into three significant questions about body image: (1) Why are women the ones we often talk about when it comes to body image? (2) Where does our “thin is always better” mentality came from and (3) Where did the perpetuation of the ideal body we see today start?
    The first question can be answered by exploring the history of farming communities.
    Part 1: Farming and the Development of Patriarchy

    Historians believe that early human civilization was made up of nomadic hunter-gatherers and structured as an egalitarian society, with no chiefs or leaders. Women had their super specific roles: Theytook care of the children, nurtured the community, and kept everyone connected. And men’s priorities focused on awesome stuff like hunting and fertilization. Y’know. The fun chores.
    It’s said that because early humans had to move constantly for survival, it didn’t make sense to have a food “stash” that would need to be guarded; the food they had on hand was only what they could carry. And because of all the travel, women were careful to have children only about every four years to ensure the youngest child was able to walk on their own with the group before another came along. This, as you can imagine, significantly limited family size.
    The transition from hunter-gatherers to farmers was long and tenuous, according to many. No one woke up one day and said, “HEY, WE SHOULD DO THIS THING AND CALL IT FARMING!” It was fucking slow and messy progress. Farming wasn’t discovered or invented; it evolved based on needs. Gradually, as farming was adopted more and more, the accumulation of food was possible, and with the accumulation of food came denser populations.
    To put it simply: As humans had the opportunity to store food, they also had the opportunity to survive severe winters and other life-threatening situations. They could farm during the plentiful seasons and survive the harsh ones using the food they could now amass.