The Opinionated Fatty

It’s Christmas (for those who celebrate) at the end of the week. Parties have been attended, food has been consumed and alcohol has been imbibed. Lots of food. And lots of alcohol. I swear I’ve eaten and drunk more in the past few weeks than I have in a very long time. I’ve had to listen to more body shaming, hear more disturbing political viewpoints and loudmouth opinions than I ever have in my entire life.

Parties mean mingling and mingling with a vast amount of different people. People you’re not always going to get along with. That’s ok, we don’t all have be best friends, braid each others hair and tiptoe through the tulips together.

Hell, I’m sure I’ve pissed people off with my viewpoints and my opinions at these social gatherings. I’m mainly the quiet person in the corner, or in the crowd. I soak up conversation and don’t feel the need to insert myself into everything that is going on. Usually I don’t speak up all that much, unless it’s something I get really irate or passionate about. However, there were two instances in the past week that prompted me to get riled up. I definitely didn’t start screaming, or even go on a diatribe. No one applauded me or outwardly agreed with me. But I felt better for speaking up.

The first was at the hairdressers. And it was a mix between slut shaming and body shaming. I went in for my pixie cut (yay!) and had to listen to a fellow client go on and on about this woman she’d noticed, oh, sorry, “girl” who was dressed so “inappropriately for her figure.” I tried to talk even louder to my hairdresser, a woman I’ve been seeing for a fair few years now. I think my disgust was written all over my face, because she totally got how I felt and offered to move me a few seats down. As we were moving, I said to the woman, “I think YOU’RE being inappropriate.” My heart was thumping so loud and I’m sure my voice was shaking. But I said it. I don’t think it made any difference, she kept talking, but I’m glad I did.

The second was at my sisters. Standing up to family members is hard. Standing up to my family, with all of its strong, opinionated and LOUD voices is even harder. I was kind of stunned at the viewpoint she, and some of my other family members held on a recent situation that was all over the news. Coming from my own little bubble where people have similar viewpoints to myself, or at least, if they’re different, they back up their viewpoints with informed opinions, I naively assumed that everyone was the same. Not so. I wasn’t calm, but I did speak up. I was heard. I was disagreed with, but I was heard.

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