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  • - I was doing an internship one time.

  • Somebody working there, he told me

  • don't bring snacks to work because you're gonna get

  • chubbier than you already are.

  • - I grew really fast.

  • Faster than most of my Asian-American friends.

  • - I swam all my life, so I have big shoulders.

  • It was normal for my family and family friends

  • to just tell me that I'm big.

  • - They're like oh, Diane, like, you got a little chubby.

  • Or like, they'd just say those small things

  • when they first see me.

  • - My thighs are bigger, my arms are bigger,

  • my boobs are bigger.

  • - In the later part of my childhood I was told

  • that I was chubby, and that it's a shame

  • because I used to be so skinny when I was a kid.

  • - I don't feel part of my body.

  • Every time I look into the mirror I see something different

  • in every mirror.

  • - Size-wise, and culturally, I was just, like,

  • just different from everyone else.

  • - For Asian women, in my experience,

  • is that we need to be thin and that means not muscular.

  • - You need like a tiny waist

  • but you still have to have curves.

  • - Going to Japan, especially, I get looks

  • that I'm not quite Japanese because I don't have

  • the nice, fair skin, I don't have a tiny, like, petite body.

  • - There's always something to fix.

  • - Usually when my mom makes comments

  • it's in the middle of dinner

  • and I just think that I was almost out of here

  • without her saying one comment about my weight

  • or how much I'm eating.

  • - It's funny, because my mom will be like

  • here's all this food, don't go hungry,

  • ooo, but don't overeat,

  • but finish all the rice on your plate.

  • It's like, I just like, everything came with a but

  • and it was really confusing for me.

  • - When I was living in Korea the pressures to look

  • a certain way came from every aspect of my life,

  • from my friends, to my family, to my relatives.

  • Um, even from like random strangers

  • who commented on my appearance.

  • - So many rules.

  • Rules and rules and rules,

  • so you could be like this cookie cutter like,

  • shape and figure, and things that they find perfect.

  • It's just like this vicious cycle (laughs cynically)

  • of like, trying to get to a point where I'm happy

  • with my body.

  • - I will work on my body however I please.

  • - When you are different, that means

  • that you're challenging the norm.

  • - You don't have to be thin to be happy.

  • - Like, you do things for yourself

  • and you be healthy for yourself,

  • and you can be thick, and that is okay.

  • - Being different isn't bad.

  • Being different is being you, and being you,

  • you're liberated and you are empowered.

  • - And I'm not skinny.

  • I can enjoy my life without looking perfect.

  • - For all you Asian girls who have big boobs

  • they're really great in the future, k?

  • That's all I'm saying.

- I was doing an internship one time.

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