So Amy Poehler said something interesting in an interview with Terry Gross. At one point, Poehler discusses the challenges of doing sketch comedy while she was very, very pregnant. Gross mentions that, as an actor your body is your tool, and it must have been a challenge for the normally petite Poehler to adjust to a "large" body. Poehler responds,
"When I was pregnant, it was difficult to write sketches...[but] It was really fun for a small person like myself to take up a lot of space....It was nice for people to have to, you know, get out of my way."
Yes, it is easy to respond "and are your diamond shoes too tight?" Poehler experience with "bigness" was temporary and she will most likely return to her very, very small size. But I LIKE that she saw POWER in taking up space. Most of the body-imaging work pushes the "you don't have to look like the women in magazines, it's OK to not be thin" which is admittedly an important message. But moving beyond self-acceptance to celebration,"hell YEAH I'm the biggest person here," is a revolutionary concept, at least to me.
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This might be slightly off-topic, but I think that at the same time, bigger does not necessarily equate to better. It sucks because I am 5'2" and no one ever thinks that I can be powerful, too! You shouldn't have to feel like you are more powerful just because you are larger. I think Poehler does just fine as a tiny little woman.
Nevertheless, I think it's great that she is so accepting of her size, especially as many people see pregnancy as a huge disadvantage.
Yeah, I have short friends, and it always seems like they get ignored until they yell. It's annoying to me, because I'm 5'6" and grab people's attention pretty quickly when I start speaking, but these young women with great ideas are being ignored just because they aren't as tall as some people.
Also, as a note to the blog, I have nothing against people who weigh more (this is said lightly- I mean clinically overweight, not healthy) except that I worry about their health. Most of my family is overweight, and some have health problems, and others don't.
So long as someone is healthy, I'm happy.
"I worry about their health"
I really don't understand why you felt a need to mention that. I'm sure everyone on this blog have people who *actually* know them and thus *actually* have reason to worry about in the real life. I don't see what purpose that served.
I'm sure you had good intentions, but advice from people you don't know can often come off as patronizing.
I hope you don't interpret this comment as an attack.
I agree that women in this culture are taught to not take up space. You can see it in the way we sit and stand compared to men. (and please nobody give me that junk about how cause men have balls they need to spread out so much more than women, your balls are not that big and I'm talking chest, shoulders, etc., not just legs.) Just another example of the entitlement and power men are socially allowed and even expected to express vs women who are expected to be unassuming and accommodating.