More and more people seem to be showing fat-shaming the door in Singapore. From actors to activists to social media influencers, many are embracing body positivity, preaching the good news of love and acceptance at any size.
When it comes to size, women all over the globe have been subjected to impossible beauty standards, and perhaps especially so in Asia, where a 2XL may just be a Medium in the west (trust us, we speak from experience.)
Nevertheless, the tide may finally be turning.
Even last month’s furore over ‘Ah Girls Go Army’s’ fat-shaming could be seen as a sign that the days of cheap laughs over someone’s full figure may be coming to an end.
On Thursday (Feb 24) an Agence France-Presse article entitled “In conservative Singapore, plus-size actors take centre stage” was widely published online, featuring the play “Big Brown Girl”, starring Ross Nasir which showed at the Esplanade last year.
It quotes Ms Ross as saying, “It just took a longer time for people in Asia to get used to fat acceptance, but it’s growing.”
The actor, who co-created the show with Melissa Sim, said the play is partially based on her own stories of looking for love as a “big brown girl.”
“I think nowadays, there’s a little less prejudice, though the idea of big as beautiful is still not widely accepted. You do have more body-positive influencers now, even in South Korea, where beauty standards are often so narrow, and in Singapore, we’re seeing a growing movement where women are learning to be more comfortable with their bodies,” she said last December.
The AFP piece also shines a light on artist and writer Aarti Olivia Dubey, who was featured in Vogue Singapore last year. Ms Dubey is behind one of Singapore’s first plus-sized fashion blogs, Curves Become Her.
Dubey’s voice certainly resonates on social media, with their over 30,000 Instagram followers, as does the voice Mathilda Huaang, or @mathildaaaa, as she’s known over multiple social media channels (Instagram, TikTok, YouTube), and who has almost as many followers.
Her matter-of-fact message of self-love seems to strike the right chord with the younger set.
Ms Huang, 24, told AsiaOne last year that for her, becoming an influencer was unplanned, and “just happened.”
As her travel stories drew more and more attention, more comments about her size emerged.
“And of course, the comments don’t stop. There was a 20-page HardwareZone thread discussing my body,” she told AsiaOne. Not that she’s allowing to let anyone, or anything, stop her.
Today she has her own travel company, a cheeseboard and sangria service she runs with a friend and based on her most recent video, may even venture into becoming a Property Agent. /TISG