#i am not condoning or promoting the withholding of information from kids btw

[your-greatest-queen]

I just saw a body positivity post mentioning the inclusion of folks with missing limbs and it kinda surprised me? In all my life, it never occurred to me that missing limbs would be considered weird or unattractive.

I think that's because I have family and know people with missing arms, legs, fingers, toes, etc. and so it was normalized for me very early on. Nobody ever made a nasty comment to my uncle about his missing leg. I never saw anybody look disgusted by my bestie's ex-brother-in-law's missing arm. I've never seen or heard these bad things, and so I've never looked at these bodies in a different way.

And this is a prime example of why normalizing and positively portraying things in life and media are so important.

If everyone was exposed to fat, queer, poc, disabled, mentally ill people, and more from the very beginning with little to no negative themes, imagine: how would we all think and behave?

It would be incredible. Fat kids could grow up not being embarrassed about changing for gym in the same room as their classmates. Kids in wheelchairs wouldn't be looked at with constant concern or pity. Queer kids wouldn't have to go through the possible trauma that comes with the idea of coming out.

As they get older, they would start being introduced to media that shows the struggles of their minority group(s). Yes, neurodivergent and mentally ill people need to know the ways in which life may treat them. They need to know that they may be denied a job or be looked down on purely because of their mental health. But as kids? Why would they need to feel embarrassed about admitting that they're depressed, bipolar, autistic, etc? All that would do is make their mental health worse. And of course, that logic doesn't apply to everyone. Black kids will still experience racism as kids. But that just means they need to learn about their oppression. It doesn't mean they need to only be exposed to negative media or media where black kids are watered down to nothing but victims. It took me YEARS to see a film with a black protagonist whose whole arc wasn't only their oppression. Please show us media where the oppressed aren't just oppressed.

It would be incredible if these things were normalized so that kids could enjoy childhood without the weight of the world on their shoulders. Learning about the stigma surrounding who they or their friends are can come later, once they've already developed positive, or at least neutral opinions. And I don't mean near adulthood like I was with the missing limbs thing. No, I mean kids don't need to bear these weights when they're fucking five years old. By five, I already thought missing an arm was totally normal, but that being chubby was the worst thing I could do. No matter how much bullshit I hear about folks with missing limbs, my thinking isn't going to back up. I don't have to unlearn anything here. I already have positive views pertaining to those kinds of bodies, so anything negative I may hear will only educate me. Fat bodies though? I've had to unlearn everything.

If we could give kids media and change the way we talk about the world, we could instil positive views in them early on, boosting their confidence and making the world better for other minorities. When the time comes that they need to really be educated on the negatives, they will be just that. Educated.

These kids would all grow up to be adults who don't look down on each other or themselves. There could come a day when we wouldn't even have to teach them fear and hatred. If all of these kids grew up like this and then raised their own kids like this, there could come a day when we don't have to tell the little gay kid that he could be beaten in the street for daring to hold a boy's hand or the poc kid that they could experience the same just for having a different skin colour.

Imagine a world where we could tell our kids "this is your history, it has not always been good" rather than "this is your life, be careful."

There's so much that needs to go into creating change, but normalizing things is such a huge part of it.

Imagine a world with minority groups being so normalized and accepted that it doesn't even occur to anybody that they've always been considered different.

Imagine.

#fatphobia #mental health #lgbtq+ #body positivity #mental illness #racism #sexism #ableism #imagine #i am not condoning or promoting the withholding of information from kids btw #i just think my life would have been much better if i wasn't subjected to negative media and comments about who i am #when i was a child #it is absolutely important for me to know about the injustices i will face in life becaus of who i am #but i did not need to hate myself at 9yrs old #at 17 i can tell myself that a doctor insisting i lose weight to fix every ailment is fatphobic and that that doc has a bias #at 12 all i heard was that being fat is bad and i'm the cause of all my own problems #when it's time to teach the negatives #TEACH THEM #don't just make people hate themselves and each other #but can we please give everyone a good childhood first #i deserved to have a crush on a girl or keep wearing bikinis even with a belly pouch #BEFORE having to know that both of those things may be looked down on #letting people have a positive childhood does not hurt them #it benefits them AND others #stop filling kids with hate and fear #they don't need it