Dear Internet Bullies, Fat Shamers, Concern Trolls,Thumb Thugs.
Everyone has at least one story about being bullied or shamed once in their lifetime. For some of us it happened in grade school. Others in high school. For some of us, our families bullied us about our weight or our sexuality. For some of us, we have been bullied online by anonymous internet bullies or concern trolls. Others of us have been bullied on the playground or in a sports arena. Some of us get bullied at work. Everyone can relate to being bullied or shamed. And, those of you who know me as the owner of Curvy Girl Lingerie, you may be very familiar with the very public bullying I have been a part of since I opened my plus size lingerie store in Oct. 2012. Who knew people had so much free time to be so concerned about my health and the health and happiness of all of the beautiful fat, curvy, thick and plush women we have helped in the 17 months we have been open. Some of them have been very vocal and most of the others have been anonymous shamers and cyber bullies hiding behind anonymous profiles and faceless emoticons.
Jen Mclellan of PlusSizeBirth.com and Facebook.com/PlusSizeMommyMemoirs and I want to invite you to join us in writing a LOVE LETTER to your bully. Stand up to your bully and give them a piece of your mind. Take the power back and say exactly what you always wanted to say to that person that bullied you. (Jen from Plus Size Birth shared more about her journey and her mission here on her blog, too. PSMM Love Letter Blog Link.
I saw Jen post this on her Facebook page a few days ago and I was so inspired. Her Love Letter to a Bully who tried to shame her about her weight inspired me and I reached to Jen and told her I wanted to create one and I want to invite EVERYONE to write a Love Letter to their Bully. She loved the idea and so we decided to launch this new program.
You can share your Love Letter to your bully on our respective Facebook pages and just write it on our walls. But, what would be even more meaningful and powerful is if you did what Jen and I did and take a picture of yourself and overlay your love letter on top of your picture to let the world see who you are. Let your Bully know you are done taking their crap. Let’s show them that we are humans. Show your picture and write your truth over it. We are not just bots or pixels on a blog. We are real human beings with parents, lovers and friends who read the mean comments these bullies leave on our Facebook pages, our blogs, and our Twitter feeds. Do they ever think of that? That my beautiful Mom or my best friend might read this mean shit?
So share yours. I used picmonkey.com to create my Love Letter to a Bully. But, you can use any tool you prefer or just go and write your love letter to your bully. You can write it here in the blog comments. You can go to Jen’s Plus Size Mommy Memoirs Facebook Page and post your .jpeg or you can go to my Curvy Girl Facebook page and join in the dialogue or add your Love Letter to a Bully picture. Let’s create a movement. Let’s shut it all down. It’s long over due.
Truly, I wish all Fat Shamers, Concern Trolls and Internet Bullies could get to a point in their life where they can find some real love that will help heal or fill their heart so their eyes and hearts can see beauty in all things and all people.
And, for me, I have noticed that nothing pisses off a Fat Shamer or an Internet Troll like being FAT, SASSY, HEALTHY, HAPPY and SUCCESSFUL! Haters are motivators for me and the hatred that they spew so freely all over social media and all over the interwebs help me to wake up and hit the ground running each morning…. fulfilling my life’s goal to show Curvy, Fat, Thick and Plush women that they are beautiful and sexy and that the deserve to be respected and loved. And, to teach them not to listen to the HATERS. I live for it and their trash talking will never squelch my fire.
I love this amazing idea and I give Jen Mclellan all of the credit for coming up with this amazing post. Below here is her original post that inspired me and I am so grateful to her for collaborating with me on this project!
Write your love letter and submit it here to my blog if you prefer not to post on Facebook or Twitter. Just go to the comments section and add your picture and Love Letter and join us in this Love Letter to an Internet Bully campaign.
Sincerely, Chrystal Bougon
Owner and Resident Curvy Girl