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Assignment #9

For my entire life, up until college I had grown up in a very synchronized, non-diverse, suburban town on eastern Long Island. Most shared the same class, race, political standing, etc. And while my family fit within many of these categories, I found myself an outsider due to being overweight, unlike most of my peers, neighbors, etc. Though I was not the only overweight youth in my town, I was one of the very few. For the longest time, even today, I felt excluded from the mass majority of people my age. I could never run as fast, wear the same types of clothing, or look anything like my friends and peers. I constantly feel inferior due to my body and the pressures media possess can make me feel even more so an outsider. In a world where woman’s bodies are constantly scrutinized, judged, labeled, etc. it feels frankly impossible for a girl of my size to not feel like an outsider. A woman’s value today seems to be determined by her appearance in so many peoples’ perceptions. I at times feel oppressed being an outsider, because many devalue me as a person simply based on my appearance, while my true self is dismissively overlooked.

I can connect my feelings of being an outsider to Paticia Hill-Collin’s essay, “Learning from the Outsider Within” by focusing on what she says about stereotypes and how they can be a defense mechanism against threats to the patriarchy. When discussing African American woman and how stereotypes can make them feel devalued, she notes how these stereotypes could have been constructed so that black woman would not threaten the power of white men. (page S17) I think that what Hill-Collin is trying to say is that if we let stereotyping control us, and devalue us, we are just giving up our power to those that already hold it most. Connecting this concept to my own life, stereotypes surrounding overweight woman can make us feel powerless. That we are lazy, ugly, undesirable, etc. These labels can strip away our self-worth. But if we can take what Patricia Hill-Collin is saying, and look at our feelings of being outsiders, and interpret that as an advantage, we can fight these feelings oppression. Maybe if I stop letting these nasty stereotypes against overweight woman control me, and see my body as something that has taught me strength and a clearer perspective, I can feel more inner power.