WTF?

Seriously? You're really going to go with the sexism tac? "Beer guts are for boys"? Really? You don't see anything wrong with that statement?

Oh, I forgot, you're trying to make money preying on the insecurities of us "fat chicks". The saddest thing is that the "fat chicks" in the ads you place aren't even fat! Excuse me, but a size 6 isn't fat. Hell, a size 14 isn't fat! That's right, I'm saying it, I'm not fat. Size 14 isn't fat. I'm healthy and shaped a little differently, with a little flab here and there, but there's nothing wrong with my body.

Quite frankly, a woman who is a size 18 and exercises regularly isn't fat either. Ladies of size, we need to stop allowing this thin-ocracy to affect how we feel about ourselves! You don't have to be a single-digit dress size to be beautiful or sexy. And you certainly don't have to wear a burlap sack instead of a hot dress because the thin-ocracy prevents stores from carrying nice dresses in your size.

Regarding our friends of petite size, let them be their size too. There's nothing wrong with a girl who is naturally skinny. There's nothing wrong with a woman who has small breasts. Ladies, we all come in all shapes and sizes and we can't continue to let people denigrate us because of it. Nor is it the least bit productive for us to harass each other because someone is a size 1 and someone else is a size 20. Doesn't matter.

Over and over again it's been proven that skinny isn't necessarily healthy. You're just as likely to have the kind of fat that wraps itself around your organs if you're thin as a rail as if you are wide as a barge. So, exercise, because regular cardio burns off that dangerous fat (that doesn't show in your jeans, but can stop your heart) and you're healthier. You don't have to lose pounds and inches to be healthy. Just exercise and eat well.

I've struggled with the fat issue my whole life because certain female members of my family pretty much constantly harassed me about my weight during my teen years. It didn't serve me very well, and tendencies toward self-harm cropped up partly because of that harassment and partly because of other abuse. So, here I am, and I've come to the conclusion that I'm okay the way I am. My shape doesn't conform to the standards of beauty espoused in the mainstream media (or the ad above) but I can look pretty hot in a short skirt and cami top or a little black dress -- or hell, in yoga pants and a t-shirt. Not only that, I'm healthy -- my doctor has never commented on my weight or shape and he doesn't have any concerns about it at all.

So, ladies of all sizes, let's not put up with being called fat. Hell, maybe we should stop allowing the word "fat" to have so much control over us. There are a number of reasons to eat right and exercise, but the chief among those should be that it makes you FEEL good, not that you think you have to be skinny.

Eat dessert too. Have a cookie. Or a goddamn milkshake. There are a lot of reasons not to eat these things all the time (mostly because, yeah, milkshakes are bad for you and they usually make my intestines mad, but that's me), but there's nothing "bad" about having dessert when you go out for a fancy dinner, or having a piece of cake when a co-worker has a birthday. Or when you do!

Oh yeah, and beer.