Sarai Walker Quotes

I want you to consider something, hon. What if it's not possible for you to ever become thin? What if there is no one day? What if this is your real life right now? What if you're already living it?

It felt good to say the word fat. I had always avoided it, but it had the same thrust as fuck and the same power - an illicit f-word, the top teeth digging into the bottom lip, spewing the single syllable: fat. "Because I'm fat, I know how horrible everyone is. If I looked like a normal woman, if I looked like you, then I'd never know how cruel and shallow people are. I see a different side of humanity.

I think it's a response to terrorism. From the time we're little girls, we're taught to fear the bad man who might get us. We're terrified of being raped, abused, even killed by the bad man, but the problem is, you can't tell the good ones from the bad ones, so you have to wary of them all. We're told not to go out by ourselves late at night, not to dress a certain way, not to talk to male strangers, not to lead men on. We take self-defense classes, keep our doors locked, carry pepper spray and rape whistles. The fear of men is ingrained in us from girlhood. Isn't that a form of terrorism?

I looked at my body, the body that had kept me alive for nearly 30 years, without any serious health problems, the body that had taken me where I needed to go and protected me. I had never appreciated or loved the body that had done so much for me. I had thought of it as my enemy, as nothing more than a shell that enclosed my real self, but it wasn't a shell. The body was me.

I'm every American woman's worst nightmare. It's what they spend their lives fighting against, it's why they diet and exercise and have plastic surgery - because they don't want to look like me.

I was wearing bright colors, refusing to apologize for my size. The dress made me feel defiant. For the first time, I didn't mind taking up space.

What I wanted was for him to want me, for him to touch me. He held my hand sometimes. Once I fell asleep next to him on the sofa, my cheek resting against his white T-shirt, and he put his arm around me. I wanted more than that--I wanted for him to kiss me. I wanted his want.