Fat Girl Gets Skinny

Women constantly face the battle of learning to love themselves in a society where natural beauty is not considered true beauty, to the point where women fight amongst each other over issues that patriarchy has instilled. For example, “body shaming is defined as inappropriate, negative statements and attitudes toward another person’s weight or size” (how is body shaming defined?). In the poem “when the Fat Girl Gets Skinny” the usage of extended metaphors about social constructs, Baird showcases how body shaming caused her to resort to having an eating disorder. In her poem, Baird states “as a child, “fat was the first word people used to describe me/ which didn’t offend me until I found out it was supposed to.” Likewise, Baird states “when I lost weight, my dad was so proud/…/so relieved he could stop worrying about me getting diabetes.” Baird metaphorically suggests the true nature of body shaming, for it taught a young, innocent girl how to grow up into a young lady who hated her own

These societal pressures Baird faced reached the point where even her own father supported her eating disorder if it would make her skinny. By Baird using the world “fat’ she is emphasizing the innocence in the youth, for without knowing the connotation a young child would assume it was a positive attribute; however, Baird highlights the corruption of the youth by teaching them at a young age that being fat is wrong and negative, a “disease.” Using extended metaphors about social constructs and through the usage of connotation Baird highlights the stigma associated with deviating from the ideal body, and the mental and emotional consequences that come with it. This is paralleled in the poem “To the tune “The Fall of a Little Wild Goose”’ by Huang E, for through the use of extended metaphors about social constructs she showcases the shift in the woman’s perspective when being