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Reclaiming the word fat was the most empowering step in my progress. I stopped using it for insult or degradation and instead replaced it with truth, because the truth is that I am fat, and that's ok. So now when someone calls me fat, I agree, whereas before I would get embarrassed and emotional.

Beth Ditto

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Beth Ditto
Age: 43
Born: 1981
Born: February 19
Model
Musician
Singer
Singer-Songwriter
Songwriter
Searcy
Arkansas
Mary Beth Patterson
Emotional
Insult
Instead
Fats
Steps
Whereas
Progress
Calls
Reclaiming
Word
Stopped
Degradation
Someone
Using
Embarrassed
Truth
Agree
Replaced
Would
Step
Empowering

More quotes by Beth Ditto

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I love to make people feel like they are taking a part in their own body and evolution.
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I don't love the word luxury because it feels Bougy to me.
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For me the greatest revenge of all is having a happy adulthood, waking up in my gorgeous turquoise bedroom in the morning beside a person who really inspires me. That's the best revenge a girl-loving-girl from the Bible belt could possibly have. And, importantly, it's healthy.
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I believe I owe all the best parts of my adulthood to embracing my imperfections and showcasing them.
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We were a small group of weirdos and baby punks and gays and free spirits who had to use our imaginations a lot. We only saw pictures and read zines, so we could only interpret the aesthetic and message of punk scenes around the world. We were basically the duck-billed platypuses of punk.
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It's funny how something so normal and mundane that you see every day-your body-can be controversial. The shock value is intense. It's like carrying an art piece around with you all the time.
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I find inspiration everywhere. I love challenges and my favorite thing is to find something ridiculous and be like if it's all that I have available to me, I am gonna make it look the best that I can.
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For years now I have run a kitchen-sink punk salon in my house, called Salon du Gay. In the early days, people would pay for a riot grrrl bob or a passable bleach job with a mixtape, $3 or a selection of baked goods - whichever they could afford. More recently though, with Gossip doing well, I've performed these punk hair transformations for free.
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I'm constantly thinking about what I'll do next. I never count on music being a career of longevity. I mean, longevity is key, and I hope that it lasts, but you just don't know, because it's not in your hands, you don't make the decision.
Beth Ditto
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When I was a teenager I would lock myself in the bathroom for hours, bouffanting my hair like Patty Duke and trying to recreate Barbra Streisand's flawless eyeliner, only to comb it all out and wash it all off before stepping out into the world a butchish bisexual teen.
Beth Ditto
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We have to stop this idea that we have to be a certain shape.
Beth Ditto
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Do I ever think Gossip will be really massive in America? No, I don't think it'll happen - and that's fine. It's kind of nice because I get to experience everything at once. I get to come home and it not be weird, like in Paris or something. It is nice to be completely anonymous.
Beth Ditto
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My life hasn't been conventional and it hasn't been linear. I've had to make it up as I've gone along, which has taught me a lot. If you don't accept the obvious options that are laid out for you, it's up to you to work out where you're going and to create your own specific rules and goals.
Beth Ditto
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As with most phobias, the fear of flying does make some sense, but if ever there was a fear worth quashing then this is it. After all, life is short, and there's a great big world to explore out there.
Beth Ditto
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I was born fat and have always been, which was just fine and even healthy and cute until I turned ten or so. Puberty hit like a hurricane and brought a new set of rules. All of a sudden it was my fault I was chubby.
Beth Ditto
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Sometimes love can mean letting go and loving each other from a distance. Maybe that's what you're feeling?
Beth Ditto
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I'm shameless, and I love a pun. There's a lot of Beth puns.
Beth Ditto
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I have no control over what people think of me but I have 100% control of what I think of myself, and that is so important. And not just about your body, but so many ways of confidence. You're constantly learning how to be confident, aren't you?
Beth Ditto
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I want to make the IKEA of clothes for fat girls and boys. Cheap, affordable, basic - but ethically made. Basics, you know? Like Spanx - I'm still confused as to why retailers haven't ripped them off yet and done it well. It's because they don't understand the basics behind it. I love Spanx. I'm wearing 'em right now!
Beth Ditto
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You know how people love to glamorize poverty? There's nothing glamorous about it. But it did make me really creative. Those days, I was literally taking t-shirts in the day and sewing them back together to make dresses for the night.
Beth Ditto