"What would happen if one woman told the truth about her life? The world would split open." -- Muriel Rukeyser, from "Kathe Kollwitz"

Our society's relentless persecution of fat women is a fire through which many of us walk, and from which few escape unburned. What happens to a woman who breathes in the noxious fumes of public scorn and disapproval day after day, every day of her life? How is she to survive?

Why does our society so vehemently HATE fat women?

A fat woman violates our aesthetic standards.

A fat woman is an unhealthy woman.

A fat woman takes up too much space.

A fat woman smells bad.

A fat woman is a walking repudiation of culturally-sanctioned standards of femininity.

Most of all, a fat woman is dangerous...

In order for patriarchy to survive, a woman must be able to attract a man, thereby assuring the continuation of the species. A women who does not adhere to societal standards of attractiveness is an anomaly, to be dismissed or ridiculed as one who has failed in her duty, and who is therefore valueless.

However, women have a choice -- the choice to save our own lives. We who are full, rich, juicy, bursting with succulent secrets can make the revolutionary decision to own our differentness, to glory in our unique beauty, to establish our own value, and to reject our own disenfranchisement. We can become wild, we can become proud, we can become a threat, and the earth will quake under our feet!

As a big, beautiful, healthy, fit, happily-mated fat woman who works daily to help hasten the downfall of patriarchy, I say to all fat women: