Elizabeth Patch
I am the author & illustrator of More to Love
an illustrated book of positive body image for women of all sizes.
Interviews with Elizabeth Patch
W-WomanGlobally.com
MoreofMetoLove.com
The Fat Girls Guide to Living
Skorch Magazine feature article
FAQ
Why did this skinny woman create More to Love?
Like almost everyone else I know, my girlfriends and I spent the majority of our time worrying about our weight.
Fashion models, advertisers, actresses, and store mannequins
convinced us that super-thin, tall and angular was the only way we should look. My friend with natural blonde hair and angelic face was preoccupied with her thighs. Another friend, with cleavage that made jaws drop, hid herself in loose baggy clothes to disguise her “fat” rear end.
I was convinced that I was horribly overweight, even though I have always been naturally lanky, just like my mom and sisters.
It seemed that we couldn’t become thin enough,no matter what restrictive (and ridiculous) diets we tried.
We were young and pretty and we hated ourselves!
In my late 20’s, I became a single mother with two toddlers,
absolutely struggling to survive financially.
My life consisted of cleaning houses during the day, and taking as many as 15 college credits per semester at night. I took care of my boys alone, and pushed myself to give them as much positive attention as I could during my limited free hours.
I was often too exhausted, or overwhelmed, to eat at all.
I was too busy, and too broke, to worry about my “diet.”
I became literally skeletal.And then the most unbelievable thing began to happen:
Total strangers complimented me on my weight!
“You’re so lucky to be so thin!” “I wish I knew your secret!”
I was over-stressed and dangerously underweight.
Yet, I was admired for being anorexic!
Something was very wrong with this picture…I became a high school art teacher, and much to my dismay,
my female students were even more obsessed with dieting than my friends and I had ever been! The few who had the genetic “advantage” of a small build, or who were not yet filled out, or who were obviously starving themselves were the ones that everyone praised.
I was surrounded by bright, attractive, talented young women who constantly complained and agonized over perfectly normal, attractive, healthy female physiques.Whenever we studied art history,
elegant figures by the Classical Greek sculptors,
luscious paintings by Renoir, Reubens, Manet, Titian, Matisse,
the first comment was always, “Why are the women so fat?”
The comments were never about ideal feminine beauty, but fat!
And not just fat, but “Gross! Disgusting! Ugly!”
No matter what I said, my students could not imagine a society that admired anything but the super-thin ideal of today.And then, in the late 1990’s,
one of my darling girls died from anorexia…
Shortly thereafter, characters began appearing as doodles
in my sketchbooks:
happy, funny, sassy, sexy full-figured gals going through life at full force! Captions, poems, and little stories popped into my mind and begged to be illustrated.
Drawing, coloring and writing became my way of coping with the senseless loss of my student and, surprisingly, acted as a healing for my own issues with body image, eating disorders and self-esteem.Eventually, I got up the nerve to submit the idea to dozens of publishers. A few kind editors scribbled notes of encouragement on the rejection letters…But I was busy with a full-time job and a family to raise, so I put More to Love into a box in the attic.
In the 10 years that have passed since I packed that box away,
dozens of amazing books on size acceptance and self-esteem have been published.
There are glamorous publications about plus-size beauty and fashion,style and sex appeal.
“Real women” are seen on TV and in movies,on magazine covers, and advertising. There are print and web resources for plus-size products, social groups, fat activism blogs and size-related medical practices.
Fashionable clothes come in larger sizes.
And thankfully, many schools see eating disorders as a very serious health threat, taking aggressive steps to identify it and intervene before it is too late.However, too many otherwise smart, talented, and attractive women, teenagers and girls continue to waste their time, money, energy and emotions on “the diet”; hating their own bodies and stopping themselves from living a full and wonderful life, waiting until the magical day they are thin enough.
So why did this slim woman create “More to Love”?
Because
We need positive reminders of active & attractive, sassy & sexy, lovable women of ALL sizes!
Because
We don’t need another generation of girls who grow up hating their feminine curves!
Because
There is so much more to life than diets!(And because the More to Love gals are so much fun to draw!)
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