Borderline obese is “not how real women look like or should look like”

Dec 4, 2013 21:06 GMT  ·  By
“Fit Mom” Maria Kang defends herself once more against fat-shaming accusations
   “Fit Mom” Maria Kang defends herself once more against fat-shaming accusations

Maria Kang, aka “Fit Mom,” the fitness guru who became an Internet star with her “What’s Your Excuse?” campaign and because of the backlash that followed, which saw her accused of fat-shaming, is in the headlines again. This time, she’s accused of more of the same by a woman who runs a plus-size lingerie company called Curvy Girl.

Curvy Girl founder Chrystal Bougon is encouraging women of all shapes and sizes to send her photos of themselves in lingerie, which she later posts online with the aim of showing that real beauty knows no weight and, most importantly, that all women should feel proud of their bodies.

Kang found out about this campaign and vented in an entry on her blog, which she also posted to Facebook. She did not name any names, but she was still banned for it for a few days from the social networking website, after Bougon reported her for “hate speech.”

This is all the context that you need in order to understand the heated debate that took place a few days ago between the two, on CNN.

Whereas Kang is saying that we all need to push ourselves to be always at our best and healthiest, Bougon argues that, while weight may vary, your self-esteem should always be the same.

That idea is perfectly fine with Kang, up to the point where she thinks it’s a sign of the way Americans are dealing with the obesity pandemic: burying your head in the ground and pretending that everything is ok (which is her understanding of Bougan’s “love yourself” message) won’t make the problem go away. It will, most definitely, make it worse in time because denial is never good.

“These are women who are obese and they're saying how real women should look like. I was a little bit peeved because I thought ‘No, that's not how real women should look like.’ There's a fine line we're walking right now, as a nation, with the obesity crisis that we're in,” Kang explains.

Bougan thinks she might be generalizing and thus, fat-shaming. “You can't tell whether or not I work out. You can't tell how healthy I am by looking at a photo of me. You just can't,” she fights back.

Kang is certain that, with some people, “you just know they’re not healthy,” so she doesn’t understand what the problem is with calling a spade a spade, which is precisely what she does.

On Facebook, Kang explains that Bougan’s campaign is detrimental in the long run to the very women she’s hoping to help.

“We need to change this strange mentality we are breeding in the US and start celebrating people who are a result of hard work, dedication and discipline. I’m not bashing those who are proud and overweight, I am empowering those who are proud and healthy to come out and be the real role models in our society,” she says.