Aidy Bryant.. I love her. 

I have a problem: I tend to start watching 5 TV shows at once. For example, I’m watching Queer Eye season #3, Castle Rock and The Good Place simultaneously. When I was at C2E2 with my friend, she couldn’t stop raving about Shrill and how honest it was at portraying a young woman going through her professional career. Specifically how this young, plus size woman, is facing obstacles in her personal and professional life based on her weight. It was heartbreaking at times to see how plus size women are treated today, but it’s necessary to demonstrate how we need to let plus size women exist without judgement.

Shrill stars Aidy Bryant, who recently starred alongside Amy Schumer in I Feel Pretty. Aidy plays Annie Easton, a plus sized woman working in Portland. She’s been having on / off sex with Ryan who refuses to have her meet his friends and sneaks her out the back door every time she comes over. Annie also receives off handed remarks from her boss at work and her mom about trying to lose weight. As she has unprotected sex with Ryan, she gets pregnant when she discovers that Plan B doesn’t work as well because of her weight.

Does Plan B not work as well on woman who weigh over 175 lbs.? I did research and many gynecologists say that in “woman who weigh over 175 lbs.” the morning after pill has been more likely to fail. I’m shocked because I never knew weight played a role in how the medication worked. There is even research saying some morning after pills won’t work on women who weigh more than 150 lbs. which by the way, on some days I do weight around 150 lbs. Would the pharmacologist let me know this information if I needed to purchase this pill? Probably not.

Annie decides to get an abortion which is shown to some degree on the show. I’m pro choice which means I’m for a woman’s right to choose what she wants to do with the fetus. I’m not going to debate anyone on this because my opinion won’t change. I’m glad we are representing this on TV because many woman have abortions and it’s still treated as a shameful act when it shouldn’t be the case.

Annie goes through many other experiences and slowly learns to not give a fuck. The episodes where Annie stands up for herself are my favorite because I was rooting for her. This show is based off Lindy West’s book Shrill: Notes from a Loud Woman which is a book all about fat representation and obstacles Lindy faced in her career due to her weight. This series is full of body confidence and features a fat woman living her truest life.

I’m someone who has thin privilege. Thin privilege is the idea that I’m thin enough in society to pass meaning I’m not approached or mocked for my weight. Except one time I was at the gynecologist and she made a comment about how I had been gaining weight. The point is that I’m not the target audience of Shrill. However, Shrill is a great show highlighting women of all different sizes, races and backgrounds. The only way these types of shows keep being made is if they are profitable. So let’s keep consuming media starring other body types to show Hollywood that beauty is found at every size.