So this whole Abercrombie bullshit has gotten a huge backlash, of course… but naturally it’s brought out the Fat Pride mentality of this country, which pisses me off.  To sum up, I kind of hate both sides of this.

Overweight women are writing letters to Jeffries saying “Fuck you, I’m beautiful!” but the cold hard truth is, they’re just another fat chick trying to justify their own choices.  They may have a kind heart by some standards but somehow I doubt they’re vegan, which means their kindness is probably limited to humans, so I’m not really impressed.  They eat too much or eat the wrong foods or don’t exercise or take harmful medications or some combination of these, and I’m sorry, but it’s not beautiful.  It’s a symptom of a deeper problem.  I see fat and can only think diabetes, heart disease, high cholesterol, heart attacks, stroke.  I know people like this - I have seen it happen.  It’s sad and shitty and the worst part is, it didn’t have to happen.

So what’s beautiful to me?  Not skinny, necessarily.  Skinny is just chance.  There are plenty of skinny people who aren’t healthy, and there are non-skinny people who are probably healthier than I am.  But no, I do not know any fat people that I could consider healthy or beautiful.  Beautiful to me is someone who treats their body like a temple (pardon the Biblical reference).  Beautiful is someone who makes the well-being of body their top priority - beautiful is eating healthy, nutritious food in the right amounts, with respect to animals and the environment.  Beautiful is exercise, activity; creating a strong, fit body that will serve you well.  You only get one, you know.  Just one body, and then you die.  You can either abuse it or treat it like the precious, living entity that it is.  Hard work is beautiful to me.  Hard work and respect for your physical and mental self - that means cultivating awareness, knowing who you are and what your weaknesses are, and working to overcome them.  Commitment to a life of avoiding harm to all living beings, including and especially oneself.  Passion for science and truth, with the underlying non-harm philosophy at heart.  That is beautiful to me.

I understand that weight is a difficult issue and it’s something many people struggle with.  Food and habits can be an addiction, and overcoming an addiction can be one of the hardest things anyone does.  But that doesn’t mean the solution is to give up and accept that obesity is a valid lifestyle choice.  Obese isn’t a “body type.”  ”Body type” is your height, the size of your bones, the shape of your skeleton.  No one is born fat; we become fat, and we can become un-fat.  I will accept that there can be extremely rare exceptions where weight is literally out of someone’s control, but so rare that I doubt anyone reading this can claim that category.  I’ve seen so many people of all types and sizes and lifestyles go from overweight to fit and fabulous, and it’s not from some expensive workout video or complicated diet.  Eat less, eat better, and exercise lots - seriously, that’s it.  My fiance lost a hundred pounds over a couple years and has kept it off; that was seven years ago.  It was nothing special; he was just another fat kid who ate a lot of shitty food and didn’t grow up in a healthy environment with anyone to teach him good habits.  What he did/does have is commitment and discipline and the strongest work ethic I’ve ever known.

Douchebag though he is, Jeffries is honest, which is more than I can say for any other corporation I can think of.  Just because other corporations don’t come out and say the things he said doesn’t mean they’re any better.  Why are people always so disappointed when they hear something bad about a company?  Why are people still personifying corporations?  That is ignorant, immature, and dangerous.  Companies - especially large ones - are out to make money.  That’s all.  How do people not realize that?  The clothes you’re wearing right now probably made some douchebag rich, and exploited some poor kids in a third world country.  It’s pretty much unavoidable.

A&F’s technique for making money is to get all the rich attractive people to shop in their stores and feel exclusive and special, so they’ll keep coming back to spend more money.  They target a specific type of people, just like Torrid targets a different but equally specific type of people.  Store X’s tactic might be stocking extra large sizes to sell to the ever-growing obese population, a tactic disguised as “inclusive and respectful of all body types”.  You realize the only reason your favorite store stocks XXXL clothing is because it will make them money, right?  Sorry to burst your bubble, but they don’t actually care about you.

Seriously, what did anyone expect from a clothing store that emblazons their brand logo on literally every fucking piece of clothing they sell?  You wear it and you’re instantly a walking advertisement; congrats.

If I had any A&F clothes to donate, I would totally give them to the homeless.  That guy in the video had it right.

I think what bothers me the most is Jeffries’ comments about “cool” versus “uncool” kids.  That sounds an awful lot like bullying, and to imply that someone is cool based on the brand of clothing they wear is immature at the level of middle-schoolers.  Way to go, asshole.

All this said, it would be really awesome if they went out of business or he got his ass fired, so boycott their dumbass store whenever possible.  Not that I’d ever shop there, but I do like to point and laugh whenever we walk by it in the mall.  I could never decide whether A&F or Hollister was the more ridiculous, pretentious store… but now that’s an easy decision.