The Lululemon debate: a rebuttal to a rebuttal

I received a comment on my recent post about Lululemon's fat-phobia. The person, cleverly named "Anonymous", suggested I'd screen their comment out. Well, I wanted to assuage their fears that comments are screened out on this blog, so here we go: we'll make it into its very own post.

Here's the comment I received (and it may make more sense to you if you read the original post first): 

I call shenanigans. I've been reading your blog and you yourself have referred to people as chubby. Moreover, seeing as you're SO familiar with Lulu's past, why did you take free stuff from them for your wedding? I see nothing but hypocrisy here and I won't be reading your blog anymore. There's too much: "I don't care about my weight..." but constant references to how small you are. Why the continuous defense of your size? Why mention it? I'll be wearing my Lulus quite happily from here on in. Free enterprise...that's the privilege we have here in Canada. If you don't like body messages, that's fine. But maligning the company that gave you a gift, while saying you don't care about your size, when you're clearly quite seriously concerned, is a bit of a spoiled brat move. (As is monitoring comments to your blog, P.S. It's nice that you can trash Lululemon...but no one can post a comment to your blog regarding your hypocrisy without you "approving" it first. So even if, while reading this, you shouted "well, Canada gives me freedom of speech so if a company is bad, I get to say so!"...you're squashing that for people with the whole monitoring post. Nicely done.) You're definitely down this reader.

Alright, let's take this piece by piece.

Dear Anonymous, thank you for taking the time to write your comment. Sincerely. When I receive a comment like yours, I usually assume that at least one other person out there may have the exact same question or thought on their mind; so you taking the time to write me actually helps know what may be on others' minds. Thank you.

So, first line:

I've been reading your blog and you yourself have referred to people as chubby.

I undoubtedly have. Because I don't see 'chubby' as a swear word, any more than I see 'redhead' or 'freckled' as a swear word. It's not wrong or evil to take note of someone's physical characteristics. It's wrong to shame them or discriminate against them based on these characteristics.

Moreover, seeing as you're SO familiar with Lulu's past, why did you take free stuff from them for your wedding? I see nothing but hypocrisy here and I won't be reading your blog anymore. 

You're right, Lulu did gift us some free things for my wedding...three or four years ago, they would have extended the offer. At that time, a) I was just being introduced to Lululemon, and b) the entire Lulu see-through pants debacle had not started. So while I'm terribly sorry to be losing your readership, I can't truly apologize for lacking the powers of precognition. 

There's too much: "I don't care about my weight..." but constant references to how small you are. Why the continuous defense of your size? Why mention it?

I mention my weight when I discuss size issues out of fairness. I want to be transparent, that I am not currently identified as chubby/fat/heavy/etc by our culture (for the most part...I'm not a twig). It's so that readers like yourself can decide how you feel about my opinion while knowing exactly where I'm coming from with it. I've also many times disclosed that I used to be much greater in mass; this is also relevant, as both experiences affect my perspective. If you're inferring that I'm showing off or something, I cannot tell you how sorely mistaken you'd be. I've just found over time that if I don't bring up the fact that I'm light in mass, someone else will bring it up for me. 

Oh, also: I do care about my weight. I live in North America, for god's sake. I read magazines and watch movies and hear how evil my cellulite is all the time. Of course I care about my weight. If I ever EVER suggested I was somehow immune to body image issues, it was an error. But I also know that I was just as smart, funny, and talented at a size 12 as I was at a size 4. 

I'll be wearing my Lulus quite happily from here on in. Free enterprise...that's the privilege we have here in Canada. If you don't like body messages, that's fine.

Yes, we have free enterprise here in Canada. Hurray. Truly. And you know what's great about our economic system? It's all about supply and demand. Lulu is welcome to keep making translucent yoga pants and declaring that women of greater mass aren't supposed to wear these clothes...and I (and many others) are allowed to stop buying their products. I think we often forget that in the end, the power is in the hands of the consumer. So you go ahead and keep buying your Lulu's, but I (and many others) won't. 

And now for maybe my favourite bit, in part because it's way off topic:

...no one can post a comment to your blog regarding your hypocrisy without you "approving" it first...you're squashing that for people with the whole monitoring post. 

I'm pretty sure somewhere on this blog I explain why comments are moderated. But let me explain: aside from trolls, swearing people, the occasional stalker, and some pick-up lines, I get a lot of spam. These spam comments are entertaining, but by no means would I allow moderation-free commenting on my blog, because I am confident no readers want to scroll through gems like:

Boys potty training () girl have more to learn how to properly teach a child to communicate his or her own pace. Potty training boys is to know when your son will be asleep, in any other case, wake yourself up and / or keep up an extra hour. I can happily say now that potty training girls, the parent must give his undivided attention to the task at hand, but what does this mean for you?

...While I apparently risk offending you by virtue of your assumption that I'm maliciously screening out anyone that disagrees with me, I'll continue to moderate comments to avoid a constant deluge of ridiculous robot-generated nonsense comments. 

So to sum up: I'm not afraid of the word chubby; I was indeed a Lulu fan until I learned of their attitude towards women's sizes; I talk about my size so that I'm transparent about my perspective; 'supply and demand' is king, so I believe consumers can take back their power by boycotting; and you can post comments all you like on my blog, provided they are respectful and don't resort to name-calling, personal slights, threats, abuse, or robot-generated gibberish. Your comment was borderline, but hey: it's up now, and it's been a great opportunity for me to tackle some of the most common and prosaic counter-arguments of the Lulu debacle. 

So thank you again, Anonymous, for your shenanigans. If you'd like to continue spouting negative at me, feel free to email me directly; alas, since you've sworn off reading in favour of your yoga pants, I'll be deprived of your response. Oh well.