It is remarkable to me how an intangible infrastructure comprised of coded letters and symbols can create such strong global communities and ultimately alter a persons life for the better. The internet leaves me in various states of astonishment daily.
Because of the vastness of these communities though, it's easy to get lost and even easier to get lost in a niche or two. I have strained my eyes, and invested hours of blurking (blog + lurking. I totally just made that up.) in the last month or so to create a personal library of the world changers, challengers, and champions. They happen to all be women (not by design, but interesting none the less) and I would like to offer my current findings to you. Make yourself comfortable. It's long, and probably going to need to be bookmarked.
Tasha is a fierce, bold, and brave woman that I admire immensely. Her blog is perhaps my favorite recent find, and chronicles issues of sex positivity and the fat woman. Her most recent entry disects emotional vulnerablility and those feelings that we feel uncomfortable with and ashamed about when sharing. She is a superfucking hero in my book.
>>>Sex and the Fat Girl<<<
This one made my heart stop for a minute. It could have been the large quantity of coffee I had previously consumed, but I think it may have been the fact that Erin and I are soul mates. It's unverified, but I'm pretty sure we are. Her About says what I wish I thought of first: "I'm your average 20 something who's a bit on the cynical side... but I can also be quaint and delightful, so it all works out." SEE? Soul mates. She blogs about life and I like it.
>>>My Beautiful Disaster<<<
I found Anita when researching the feminist lego topic. She has her own website that hosts well researched videos spouting commentary that challenges pop culture and call out it's shit. Total sapiosexual lady boner.
>>>Feminist Frequency<<<
Lesley came to me in the form of a fatshion magazine article. Since then, I've been reading her online articles at her older blog and her new job. She's a trailblazer and smart as a whip. She just wrote a book called "Two Whole Cakes" that I plan on procuring immediately.
>>>Two Whole Cakes<<<
Georgina fits both into the secular fashion world, and into the body advocacy realm with her blog
>>>Cupcake's Clothes<<<
>>>Cupcake's Clothes<<<
I ran across Kelsae's blog a while ago promptly lost the link. I was both devastated and completely pissed when I couldn't find her again and spent a lot of (probably too much) time retracing my steps. It was a joyous moment when I found a link again, and totally worth it. "Taking on life's problems, one clusterf*ck at a time" is the tagline, and her honesty, beauty, and sailor mouth is refreshing. I would love to meet her in person.
>>>Total Trainwreck<<<
>>>Total Trainwreck<<<
I feel like Juliet and I would be close chums. She blogs about roller derby, cats, and baking while being a gorgeously curvy chick who is in love with life. If only there weren't 5280 miles between us.
>>>Ever So Juliet<<<
>>>Ever So Juliet<<<
Em is sassy, snarky, and super rad. She is a self described "dinosaur made up of several cupcakes taped together, painted blue, & sprinkled with glitter. Bitch." Swoon.
>>>Lick My Cupcakes<<<
Jasie instantly stood out to me with a header that read "Mother. Partner. Fat. Liberal. Life Learner. Former Christian. Secular Humanist. Bi-Polar." I was hooked, and I fell in absolute love with her after reading her article about loving herself. She hasn't posted in a while, but I'm anxiously awaiting the next entry.
>>>Jasie Plays at Adulthood<<<
>>>Jasie Plays at Adulthood<<<
Natalie has a charmingly designed blog that is a little ridiculous in the best way possible. She is the lead singer in "Ninja Betty and the Nunchix" and you can watch their new video here. She does burlesque, designs plus size dresses, and thinks she's awesome. I'm totally on board.
>>>lovenati<<<
Another uber talented Natalie. I particularly love her because she is such a cheeky and talented artist. Her Facebook has some hilarious images of doodles on magazine ads, and her prints are to die for. She's kind of a big deal on the internet.
>>>Definatalie<<<
Elizabeth's honesty about being a blogger in the whole wide internet world has won me over. As if her awesome outfit posts no-bullshit product reviews didn't do that already. I have a special place in my heart for this lady.
>>>Delightfully Tacky<<<
Nicolette is living the dream. Famous fashion blogger in Brooklyn making no mention of the fat issue. And why would she? It's irrelevant to her success.
>>>Nicolette Mason<<<
I would be remiss to not mention Rachele. This hot babe was my first introduction to bridging the gap between lifestyle blogs and body advocacy blogs. She does both so seamlessly and I for one look to her for inspiration. She is the founder of fat fantastic-ness in my world and I adore her so.
>>>The Nearsighted Owl<<<
Substantia Jones is the beauty and brains behind the Adipositivity photography project.
She is internationally recognized for portraying the fat female form in order to promote size acceptance.
There are over 500 pictures in the archives, each just as beautiful and striking as the last.
She is internationally recognized for portraying the fat female form in order to promote size acceptance.
There are over 500 pictures in the archives, each just as beautiful and striking as the last.
Other bloggers that I love:
Fat Aus by Bronny is a gem. GEM.
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French For Cupcake is about merging the fashion world with the food world,
who says they have to be mutually exclusive?
Eat cake, wear nice things and be comfortable in your own skin!
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Zoe from Australia is full of joie de vivre at Cutselvage and belongs to the Chub Repub.
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Carla is young and brave and blogs at Messy Carla.
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French For Cupcake is about merging the fashion world with the food world,
who says they have to be mutually exclusive?
Eat cake, wear nice things and be comfortable in your own skin!
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Zoe from Australia is full of joie de vivre at Cutselvage and belongs to the Chub Repub.
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Carla is young and brave and blogs at Messy Carla.
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stop blaming her past and move toward her future.
So crucial to a good life! I like sentiment that a lot.
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Rachel blogs about sustainability,
going green, veganism and vintage fashion at Midnight Maniac.
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Alice lives in New Zealand and blogs about kitties, her opinions,
and how to live with a disease called Ankylosing spondylitis. She authors Niceties.
I like her.
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The title Knob-Slobbing Feminism caused me to click,
and then Feminista Jones talking about her perspective on relationships caused me to stay.
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Happy Daisy by Amy is both happy and honest.
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Jen likes to write about crafting, body acceptance,
eating disorders, sex positivity and feminism on Skinned Knees
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Threadbared is an edgy fashion blog that prime factors
high class beauty down to its subculture and political roots.
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I was SO THRILLED to find a mental health zine Tumblr
that talked about real Behavioral Health issues like "person first" language.
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Heather likes to talk about recovery from alcoholism and how she did it at Sober Boots.
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A wonderful sex positive blog by Sarah.
A wonderful sex positive blog by Sarah.
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Kyla from Kyla Roma says she can't seem to get the hang of being a grownup. That's cool with me!
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Rebecca is a cute curvy and popular lifestyle blogger and you can find her at Manzanita
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Ashley has a blog titled The Uniqueness of Being
where she writes about tattoos, mustaches, and doing it yourself.
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Sammy from The Cookie Button has kick ass hair and killer glasses.
And most likely a really cute accent.
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I LOVE graphic novelist Liz Prince.
Alegra IS candy sweet! Curvy English version.
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Fat Positive Tumbler pages are all the rage. Haven't you heard?
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Sarah at SBV had me laughing three times throughout her About Me. What is with all the enviously clever British gals?
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Sarah at SBV had me laughing three times throughout her About Me. What is with all the enviously clever British gals?
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Of course, Gabi from Gabifresh. Changing lives, one bikini at a time.
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I like Amy's candor at Vanagon Champion.
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Cara tackles REALLY difficult social issues at The Curvature.
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More body acceptance at We Are Large, People. Rebecca is SO rad.
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Cutest Mom: Chelsea at Paper Mama.
Cutest Mom: Chelsea at Paper Mama.
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Also a Cutest Mom: Maryam at Pamplemousse.
Specific links I Love from Notable Bloggers:
"Please remember that I can be offensive. If you are easily offended you should read a different blog"
-Ashley from Under Those Neon Lights. Love.
Chantilly from My Girl Thursday talked about how pressure to include posts about every detail of life doesn't mean you are obligated! Word.
Jess from I Rock So What blogs about the daily "untouchable" Mental Illness subject.
Erin from Eff Etcetera does a "real" outfit post that is both snarky and sweet.
"No Diet Talk" badges for your blog.
The imminent Kate writes about The Fantasy of Being Thin.
Did you read the article in Glamour about models at every size?
Uninvested in Being Beautiful is a pivotal article by Lesley that has impacted many a woman.
I love Sara's article about her upper arm insecurity. Negative body image affects everybody, peeps!
Websites Etc. that you should probably check out:
This internet world is changing and growing daily, so this list will continue to develop. I would love to know what your daily reads are, and how they change your life. Who do you read? Who makes this thing called the Web a better place? Lets continually add to this list.
Holy crap. You are awesome. I'm happy that you posted a lot of these blogs 'cause I'm trying to get more involved on the world wide web and for some reason I couldn't find any blogs that were more about advocacy.
ReplyDeleteSo you know how you said that Rachele bridged your gap? I just wanna let you know that you did that for me. Thanks so much!!! I'm not on my way-ish to consistently doing a blog (dawnofthedandelions.blogspot.com).
Plus I mentioned you in my first post (with a link to this awesome blog of course!) ;D
THANKS AGAIN! I can't even stress that enough!!
Cassie, sometimes when I get a million hits (exaggeration, but you get the picture) but minimal commenting, I wonder if I'm reaching anyone at all...
DeleteThank you so much for taking the time to comment and let me know that what I am so passionate about is reaching someone with a positive effect.
You're a pretty rad lady:)
Aww thank you so much, Jes! <3
ReplyDelete23 isn't *that* young is it? ;D xxxx
Oh, boy, what a great list. I only knew about a few of those. Thanks so much, I love your blog, lady!!
ReplyDeleteThank you so much for the mention, Jes! I'm so, so excited to go through this list myself and get to know some wonderful ladies.
ReplyDeleteI'm blushing, this is AWESOME!! I'm so happy we crossed paths! You're on my reading list, and your blog is pretty rocking too <3 Keep in touch pweeze!
ReplyDeleteThanks for this list! I look forward to checking out even more awesome blogs. I already read quite a few of them on the regular. :]
ReplyDeleteI've not posted on your blog yet, but hi! I'm V and I look forward to reading more of your blog as well. What I've read, I've loved.
Aw, thank you so much for including me - how lovely!
ReplyDeleteI know a couple of those blogs already, but not the rest.. going to start working my way through! xx
I just saw this. Thank you so much for mentioning my blog! I really appreciate it. And I'm stoked to have found yours. :) <3
ReplyDeleteHey miss, I don't know if you intend to use this as a resource, but I moved my blog from http://jenvenegas.com/blog to http://skinnedknees.net if you wanted to update the link. If not, no worries. <3
ReplyDeleteJen - Skinned Knees