A PLUS-SIZE woman who loves showing off her curves online has insisted she won’t listen to trolls who say she’s “looking for an early death”.
Julia Sena, better known as Jewliah online, regularly shares shopping hauls, recommendations and vlogs, as well as posing in shorts and bikinis in a bid to show that all bodies are beautiful.
But doing so has opened her up to receive criticism from trolls.
“I have received everything any fat person would get when it comes to content creating,” Julia told What’s The Jam.
“The worst ones are the people who comment when I’m going to die because of how ‘unhealthy’ I am.
“Who knew loving your body regardless of your size was going to start problems?”
There have been times when these comments have negatively impacted Julia throughout her career, but she now takes them with a pinch of salt.
“I can honestly say they don’t hurt me in the ways they used to,” she added.
“I’m a strong believer in taking my mental health seriously and that helps me navigate the not so pleasant words I receive daily!
“Once I stopped listening to other people’s opinions, judgement and validation – it’s been smooth sailing.”
While it has been quite a journey to self love for Julia, she insisted she wouldn’t have it any other way.
“I grew up in an environment where how I looked was always a problem,” she admitted.
“Whether it be my bigger size and larger curves or my tanned skin and naturally curly hair.
“Society always made me feel I was ‘less’.“
But now, she is in a very happy place where she knows her value isn’t determined by her body.
“I normalise the talk of weight by being very transparent on how much I weigh online – which is over 330lbs right now!” Julia said.
“I always like to add ‘our weight doesn’t determine our worth’ because many of us do that.
“I consistently hear online and offline, people say ‘I would do that, if I was smaller’ or ‘I would wear that, but I need to get snatched first’.
THE BMI (Body Mass Index) is a calculation that's made using someone's height and weight.
To work out your BMI, you first need to note your weight in pounds (there are 14 pounds in a stone).
Once you have that, divide the answer by your height in inches (there are 12 inches in a foot).
Then, divide that answer by your height in inches again.
That will give you your BMI.
If you have a BMI of under 18.5, you are “underweight and possibly malnourished”.
If it’s between 18.5 to 24.9 , you “have a healthy weight range for young and middle-aged adults”.
If it’s between 25.0 and 29.9, you’re overweight.
And a BMI of over 30 means “you are obese”.
While BMI has long been used as a measurement within the NHS, there have been calls to abolish it for some time now, as it doesn’t “take into account muscle mass, bone density, overall body composition, and racial and sex differences,” researchers at the Perelman School of Medicine in the University of Pennsylvania.
“If we keep pushing off our desires and dreams simply for not looking like the beauty standard, which is pretty much unachievable for the majority of people, when do we actually start living life for us?”
Julia also purposely uses the word ‘FAT’ when describing her bigger body, as she said it’s become a word used to “dehumanise and belittle” others.
She donned a short floral skirt and black top in a recent Instagram video, which earned more than 714,000 views, and captioned it: “As your favourite fat Filipina, it’s my duty to remind you that your weight DOESN’T define your worth”.
But trolls were out in force in the comments section once again.
“This is unhealthy,” one person said.
“No shape just a blob,” another cruelly wrote.
“Looks like an early death to me,” a third commented.
As someone else agreed: “Yea we know, gross.”
“Don’t change the fact that it’s obese,” another raged.
However, others showed their support for the body positive influencer.
“Stunning,” one wrote.
“You fine af,” added another, while a third called her “gorgeous”.
“An absolute honey,” wrote someone else.
“You look absolutely beautiful,” another concluded.
