You Need To Hear This Fat Acceptance Poem

We as a society have a pretty reprehensible tendency of reducing fat people's entire identity down to their weight. It's a tendency that Megan Falley plays with in her slam poem "Fat Girl," performed during the semi-finals of the 2014 National Poetry Slam. The poem continuously uses the refrain "Fat Girl," defining the speaker in the same limiting terms that society uses, but creating an intensely human narrative out of a dehumanizing label, creating her own, empowering story.

We live in a society where people who exceed our narrow definition of acceptable body types face a lot of unnecessary bullshit. From fat-shaming backhanded compliments to just plain fat-shaming. From all the dumb rules about clothes fat girls shouldn't wear to the offensive "Fat Girl Costume" section at Wal-Mart. From ridiculous health and fitness assumptions to expectations of self-hate. From insensitive friends to insensitive strangers. The bottom line is that being overweight comes with a lot of challenges.

Which is why it's awesome whenever someone puts out the message of self-acceptance. So check out Megan Falley's poem, and maybe be inspired to throw out your own bathroom scale and leave the lights on. Because everyone is beautiful and deserves the right to feel good about their bodies.