Gabourey Sidibe’s sex scene on last week’s Empire has inspired women on Twitter to come forward to share accounts of their sexuality on the hashtag #myfatsexstory.
Writer Sesali B. began the hashtag to challenge the narrative of fat women as asexual beings, sassy side characters or the butt of jokes. Instead, she challenged women of all sizes to see themselves as sexy, passionate beings. And to talk about sex openly.
On the blog, Feministing, she wrote, “My hope was that sharing personal sex stories from and about fat black women could make more room in the narrative about our sexuality.”
The hashtag immediately became a place of powerful personal stories — some heartbreaking and some hysterical. Check out some of the highlights below.
Sidibe, for her part, was unbothered by all the Twitter talk. She wrote:
I, a plus sized, dark-skinned woman, had a love scene on primetime television. I had the most fun ever filming that scene even though I was nervous. But I felt sexy and beautiful and I felt like I was doing a good job. I’m very proud of the work we all did to make that scene a great opening for the episode. I keep hearing that people are “hating” on it. I’m not sure how anyone could hate on love but that’s okay. You may have your memes. Honestly, I’m at work too busy to check Twitter anyway. #Booked. Hope you enjoy next week’s show!
What do you think? Don’t big girls need love, too? Share your thoughts (or stories!) in the comments below.
(Photo source: Andrew H. Walker / Getty)
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