Marie Southard Ospina

In the days of yore — when Tumblr was the social media platform de rigueur and My Chemical Romance turned adolescent angst into a bona fide culture — I

As I waited for my ride home from an after-school newspaper meeting back in 2005, I heard my English teacher ask “Who is that?” in a shocked to

I was 21 years old when my mother bought me my first suit. The matching skirt and blazer were houndstooth print, terribly ill-fitting on my plus-size body

Upon hearing the news that the UK would be entering its first lockdown in March 2020, my instinct was to check social media immediately. I hoped to see how

During my third year of university, I spent a semester abroad in Madrid. It was there that I first saw Daniela, an older woman who lived in one of the flat

On 1st January, renowned plus-size blogger, advocate and influencer Callie Thorpe shared a photo of herself on the cover of Cosmopolitan. For its February

To fresh eyes, Hebden Bridge might seem like any other well-preserved former mill town in rural Yorkshire. Factories-turned-flats are scattered throughout

If you had asked me what I wanted for any birthday or Christmas between the ages of 14 and 24, I would have definitely requested a handbag. My collection s

When my firstborn was a few months old, I dyed my waist-length curly brown hair into a bright red hue reminiscent of a fire engine. Emboldened by the trans

In a scene from 2019’s Shrill, the television adaptation of author Lindy West’s feminist, fat-positive memoir, protagonist Annie (played by Aidy Bryant

After discovering the worlds of plus-size fashion blogging and fat liberation advocacy in 2012, I began taking steps to reclaim my own fat body, one of whi

“How are you?” I texted a friend a few weeks into the UK’s lockdown. When we last chatted, she (a social butterfly by nature) had been strugg

When it comes to dating, I was something of a late bloomer. Around the time my friends started losing their virginities and acquiring partners, I alternate

“I never used to let my daughters play with that stuff,” my neighbour, a pixie-like 69-year-old woman with an eccentric mop of curly grey hair,

I saw them before they saw me. As I made my way across the street to the local Co-op, I watched as one of the boys elbowed a mate and pointed in my directi

As a plus-size consumer, I am used to not being catered to in stores, but as the winter months drew in, I needed a size 26 jacket. I assumed it would be pr