Rosebud of the Month August 2018 | Jasmine Grimes
My name is Jasmine Grimes and I’m a fat and body positive content creator and closet cosplayer from the SF Bay Area.
I style, create, and post a whole array of photos as a way to let my creativity run rampant. Recently, I have been posting a lot of cosplays because I think it’s important to show what characters would look like as a fat black woman. Representation is so important, and in nerd spaces, just like in the rest of the world, people are still having a hard time acknowledging and recognizing the quality of work that comes from marginalized people. I hope that my work, as well as the work of other marginalized creators (see the hashtags #blackcosplayerhere created by Belle Briggs and #cosplayanyway created by Izzy Saeko and Avery Byrd help to change that perception. I honestly think the term slut was created by cis men as a way to shame and control women. If you notice, anyone can be a slut. It doesn’t matter what your sexual history is, what you wear, your age, body type, or race. Most of the people who throw around this term know nothing about the woman they’re talking about. (Even if they do, what gives them the right and power to label anyone?). They just use it to shame any woman who displeases them (regardless if the woman is actively trying to get their approval or not, with most cases being that the man is not even on the woman’s radar). It used to be that this fear of being labeled a slut helped to make women afraid to explore their sexuality, and I’m so happy that’s not the case anymore. I will always find it interesting that a lot of men claim that women lose their value when they have sex with multiple partners, but those same men are sleeping with Sue, Jane, and Mary and it’s somehow deemed more acceptable simply because they’re men. They are just sowing their oats and are praised for their sexual prowess while women aren’t seen in the same light when they do the exact same thing. It’s sexist bullshit.o Nowadays, I hold slut in the same regard as I do the word fat. There is nothing wrong with it, it’s other people who are putting negative connotations on the word. I think that’s why the reclamation of the word is so important. Anyone can be a slut, and because the criteria is defined by any person at any given time, there is no reason to be afraid of it or to not embrace it. I’m a slut. Okay. And? So are you.
