Beauty and #Fatkini: Women of all shapes and sizes find confidence

Ericka Walker wears a fatkini and a black cover-up while posing on a beach. “(Response to my photo) has been nothing but positive feedback from both men and woman. Woman have told me that they love what I stand for, and men have told me that they love a woman with confidence, and that there is nothing that attracts a man more than a confident woman,” said Walker.
Cailey Berg poses in her fatkini by a pool. “I first started seeing #fatkini during the spring of 2013 when swimwear was starting to become available. Finding a bikini for a fat person was somewhat of a chore, but there were a few companies that had them. This year, there are at least a dozen different fatkinis. We have a lot more to choose from, though the number of bikinis available to plus-sized people is still a tiny fraction of what is available to straight-size people,” said Berg.
Emily Roy poses at Coney Island after attending New York Full Figured Fashion Week. “I think (and I hope) it helps women accepting their bodies and see how beautiful they are. Seeing so many models on Instagram with the #Fatkini shows you that beauty is not defined by a number or a size. It's in our confidence,” Roy said.
Cristiana Morais poses in a colorful high-wasited fatkini at the beach. “I think people should know their own bodies and have confidence in themselves. This probably won't change all the mediocre minds and opinions some have, I say this because I know some people got the wrong idea with this movement and think it's a 'obesity propaganda,' but I think the most important [part] is showing to some girls that don't have that much confidence that there are others like them and we are people too, we need support, just like any skinny girl, we are girls having fun,” said Morais.
Adrienne Fleck, Natalie Drue, Molly @spookyfemme and Kristen Gaddis jump into a pool together. “Instead of being afraid to use the term FAT, I embrace it. It's so crazy how people have allowed this three-letter word to have so much power. It's like a weapon of mass destruction,” said TroJah Irby-Morgan of Newark, N.J.
TroJah Irby-Morgan wears a yellow fatkni while spending a day on the beach. “This world has become too conformed that we forget the term FAT is relative. It's only a description of the mass in our body.”
Olivia Tedesco wears red high-waisted bottoms and a striped-top fatkini at a pool in Texas. “As a Christian, I believe God gave us these bodies that are beautiful regardless of what society says. If you were given a brand new Mercedes you wouldn't keep it in the garage all the time, right? You'd drive it around! Show it off! And get a nice car wash every week,” said Tedesco.
Danielle DeFronzo wears a two-piece while on vacation in Aruba. “Big girls want to rock bikinis too and we should be allowed to! I think it's catching on so fast because its glamorizing a word with such negative connotation and it really is empowering women to wear what they want to wear and look good doing it! Fat isn't a bad word... we just need to accept that and look damn good rocking it!” DeFronzo said.
Christina Cruz wears a floral fatkini while on a beach. “I feel great knowing there are a lot of other big women out there that can see this movement and build the confidence to join as I did. Its helps everyone see we are all beautiful big or small,” said Cruz.
Berkeley Hanley poses for a fatkini Instagram photograph on Pismo Beach. “I know there are some people who think by calling them fatkinis instead of regular bikinis we are insulting ourselves but I don't really see it that way. Fat isn't an insult, it's a type of cell. Everyone has some somewhere. People, especially women, shouldn't have their worth assigned based on their physical appearance,” said Hanley.

By Claudia Schreiber | Orange County Register

August 26, 2014 at 8:26 a.m.

Look in magazines from Cosmopolitan to the Sports Illustrated Swimsuit Issue and the message goes something like this: If you’re plus-size, lose the weight, and in the meantime, for God’s sake, cover it up.

A growing number of larger women around the country are taking to social media these days to spread a new kind of message: I’m fat, and I’m rocking this bikini. Live with it.

More than 8,700 photos have been posted on Instagram to the #Fatkini hashtag, with women of all shapes and sizes flaunting their two-pieces for the camera.

“Using the hashtag on the Internet helps us come together to say, ‘Hey, we are fat, and we are proud,’ ” said Christina Cruz of Pasadena.

Women who are built for comfort, not built for speed, as the blues song goes, have been wearing bikinis for years – just not in public, said Peggy Howell, vice chairwoman and public relations director of the National Association of Fat Acceptance.

“I’m very proud of the young fat girls who are creating a revolution – that’s how we’re going to bring about change and realize equality at every size,” Howell said.

Los Angeles-based image and dating expert Kimberly Seltzer said she thinks the #Fatkini trend is inspirational to women who feel discriminated against for being larger.

“I think (#Fatkini) is great: these women are putting themselves out there and being looked at in a positive way,” Seltzer said.

“It’s very cathartic to say ‘This is how I am, and I am happy and I have a right to exist and to be happy and beautiful and enjoy my own body,’” added Abigail Saguy, UCLA sociology associate professor, and author of “What’s wrong with Fat?”

It took Hannah Santicci, 24, of Sunnyvale almost 23 years to love her body.

“Fatkini is about women standing up as a group to anyone who body shames plus-size women; it’s about being proud of their curves and happy with themselves,” she said. “Want a bikini body? Take your body and put a bikini on it, now you have a bikini body.”

Instagram photos used with permission.

Contact the writer: cschreiber@losangelesregister.com