I'm going out on a limb here and starting a new thread. I love the idea of an Alternachick forum, but as it is a tad slow, I thought maybe I would try a conversation starter. This forum has bios posted, but who has time to read through seven pages of bios? So this thread is for anyone who wants to jump in and talk about themselves about being alternative and maybe how that has affected your lifestyle. If it bombs, hey, I tried my friends.
In other words:
Why do you consider yourself alternative and, if it has, how does this correlate with your previous lifestyle and present change?
My location has a lot to do with me categorizing myself as alternative. I live in Alabama--and have tattoos, a nose ring, radical socialist views, I am an active feminist and a non-believer among many other things that stand out as being different (and dead wrong) in the south. I am sure if my latitude and longitude were different, I wouldn't be so different. Also, the south is known for its obesity problems. There are lots of places I go where I am smaller than many people there. Fried food and sweet tea aplenty. I suppose being overweight is accepted by society as the norm here.
Me surrounding myself within a feminist and slightly hippie (for lack of a better term) community has helped me keep a body positive attitude. I preach "love your body" as a feminist, and at the risk of being trite, a "hippie" community has really great clothes that are carefree and stress free. I have lots of floor lengths skirts, t-shirts, wraps, etc. and have never worried about fitting into my business suit. Make sense? My alternative lifestyle has given me a wonderful "F-you if my body doesn't suit you" attitude, but now I realize that my body doesn't suit me.
What say you?