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