Movements Start Small

So many times we as Americans we say how something in society or culture bugs us but we never feel like we can make a difference. Today I heard a great story and had a great experience about how individuals can make a difference.



My best friend went to a movie showing tonight on our campus about the way the media misrepresents women. She went with three of our other friends and were really excited about the topic and the discussions it would bring out. Well, they sit down to the film and it gets underway and this guy in front of them starts making all of these smart ass comments about the film and starts insulting women and making fun of some people on the film. My friends and all the people around them have been getting more tense the entire time.

Some of this guy's friends got up and left and he loudly compliments them on leaving and continues to insult the film. This was the last straw. My friend Kylie kicked his seat and her boyfriend Max said "Well why don't you leave too." The girlfriend of this guy was staring in disgust at my friends so my friend Andrew pipes up, "The door is that way," she replies snidely: "Yeah I know, we're not going anywhere". So they continued to sit there and texting each other things and the guy continued with his awful comments but slowly every person around them started piping up and telling them to leave.

The situation ended with the offending parties apologizing to those around them. This just kind of shows how you can really start a ball rolling.

Next story actually happened to me so I think I'll be able to tell it a bit better...hopefully :)

If you follow my blog or know me in person you know that I am kind of addicted to a company called Black Milk Clothing. Leggings, dresses, swims and all things stretchy :) Last night on the facebook fan page there were a lot of girls complaining about how the company discriminates against larger girls and that only a stick could look good in their clothing. Well honey, I'm no stick. It kind of made me mad that girls could just assume that because they use models that aren't plus size or that because they haven't looked deep enough into the fan pics to see a girl with curves that the company was so discriminatory.

So I started a movement.

Well honestly someone on the discussion page gave me the idea but I then posted 12 pictures of me rocking Black milk with my curves and on most of them I posted about how I feel sexy when I wear it and how my confidence shoots through the roof when I wear their clothing. I also made comments about how if a girl is going to call another girl's figure disgusting then that girl should get off the page and work on her own self loathing.

Then I got on the discussion page and challenged the other girls to post their curves proudly with their sizes and show how they rock their black milk. Something amazing happened! There were at least 50 pictures of girls with curves within a few hours and the designer took notice and complimented us and told us how proud he was. He then gave us a sneak peak of a swim suit he designed being sported by a girl with bigger boobs (because we had already seen it on a smaller girl and a ton of girls said it wouldn't work with big boobs). It was just awesome to see so many girls proud of their curves and I saw so many girls that were afraid of buying it (for size reasons) say that they were converted.

I know these may seem like minor things to anyone on the outside but it really spoke to me. We do have power to make change, we just have to have the courage to stand alone for that first step. You won't be alone long.

Carly Crosby