Call For Pictures!

In inviting you to be a part of this project, I'd first like to explain how it began:

I was sitting in a Gender and Women's Studies course, watching as young woman after young woman asked for just half of one of the cinnamon rolls our professor had brought in to share, listening to myself echo them, saying "Just a tiny piece, please."

I realized two things:

First, that all of us were lying. These were homemade baked goods, which smelled fantastic from the second they were out of their foil wrapping; we're talking mouth-watering good. And I wanted one, a whole one. I wasn't full from some other meal, I don't have a sensitive stomach, I'm not allergic to cinnamon rolls or food in general. All of those excuses that we as women usually generate when turning down food didn't apply and I knew it. But still, there I was, walking away with a tiny piece of cinnamon roll in a napkin, afraid to be the girl who admitted that she wanted more. The fact that I fell into the majority on this brought me to my second realization; women have a historically complicated relationship with food and things really haven't changed. If girls in a GWS class, who discuss issues like body image and gender equality on the regular are still afraid to be seen eating "too much" then we still have a long way to go as far as loving and accepting ourselves.

I didn't do anything with my realizations then but the experience stuck with me, and I began to notice more and more occasions in classes and among friends where girls and women restricted what they ate, politely explaining that they were "watching their calories" or that they'd "already eaten." And when women did take more food, there was usually some kind of disclaimer attached, a self-conscious comment about being a pig, as if they were trying to escape judgement by being the first to say what all of us were secretly thinking. Except that I wasn't secretly judging anybody. If anything, I was admiring them for at least having the courage to take what they wanted and wishing that they didn't have to make excuses for themselves, wishing that I never felt the need to denigrate myself or my body (and in doing so, other people's bodies) as penitence for the sin of enjoying a good meal, a delicious dessert, or a calorie-laden beer.

Then, my pivotal moment: in an e-mail discussion with a fellow feminist and a proponent of fat acceptance she described blogs that were sometimes nothing but images of bigger women. Seeing these images over and over, she explained, helped normalize that body type--her body type--reducing some of the pressure society and mainstream media placed on her to be thin. Within minutes I knew what image I wanted normalized, for myself and for women everywhere: Women eating food. Plenty of food. Healthy food, unhealthy food, big vegetarian meals, burgers dripping grease down women's knuckles while they take the first giant bite. Cake. Steak. Bowls full of ice cream. Shiny red apples, funnel cakes, and homemade cinnamon rolls. I want to flood the Internet with images of girls and women eating and loving food unabashedly, so that we don't have to hesitate before asking for seconds.

And so now I'd like to issue a request to women everywhere who are also interested in un-complicating our negative relationship with food: please share a picture of yourself enjoying a meal, perhaps your favorite meal. Tell us a little bit about what you are eating and let us celebrate with you. There is no limit on age or on what you are eating in the picture (although you lose points if it contains the words "special" and "k"). This is about women enjoying food publicly, for the world to see, in the hopes that someday we will all be comfortable eating what we like as much as we like with no shame attached.

Please send all pictures to alotonherplate@gmail.com!