Taking Back Shorts

And by shorts, I don't mean the short fiction that I've recently been posting (and will post more of!).  I mean shorts, the clothing.

Why taking them back?  Well, I haven't worn shorts in over 15 years.  One day in middle school or early high school, I remember looking down at my be-shorted legs and thinking that my thighs were the fattest, most hideous things ever.  I swore off shorts and skirts that came above the knee, and I have stuck to that.   Even when I weighed 125lbs, I was convinced that I was too fat for shorts.

But the other day, I wondered why on earth I was banning a whole category of clothing.  I am truly fat now--and I say that as a descriptor with no negative connotations--but I want to wear shorts.  It seems like a radical action to me.  I think in general people want to see as little of the fat body as they can, and I used to think the same way.  If I, at 125lbs, was too fat for shorts, then I certainly did not want to see someone 50lbs or 100lbs heavier than me in shorts.  Ew.  Imagine the cellulite.

Now, I don't care.  I'm going to wear shorts.  They're not going to be booty shorts or daisy dukes or holey denim cut-offs.  It has nothing to do with being fat.  Those are not styles I like, and in general I don't like to show that much skin unless I'm in a bathing suit.   But I bought a pair of shorts at my favorite thrift store yesterday, and they actually look really cute on me.  Yeah, there's cellulite and probably more blinding white thigh than people want to see, but I like them.  They're black cotton mid-thigh, styled like denim shorts but not denim.  Really, the worst thing about them is that now I'll have to shave above my knee on a regular basis.

So, is there an item of clothing you've sworn off because you think it makes you look fat?  Take it back.  Take back that tank top, the shorts, the skirt above the knee.  Take back the bathing suit.  There will always be people who think you shouldn't wear that, so you might as well wear it anyway.