An Edmonton woman says she was fired from her job at plus-size retailer Addition Elle after referring to her customers as "fat." She was using the word not as an insult, but in the context of body positivity. The store, however, didn't see it that way.
She wrote about the ordeal in a Facebook post and shared her disappointment that the company saw the word "fat" as "a swear word."
"I'm fat. I'll always have fat on my body, and that will never change," she wrote.
"And I'm okay with that. I am okay with being fat. I'm okay with not hiding behind euphemisms like curvy or shapely. I refuse to let a three-letter word define the course of my life, or how loud my voice is."
She wrote that she'd been excited to work for Reitmans, parent company of Addition Elle, which caters to women like herself. But the firing left her questioning their values.
"If a company like Reitmans Inc. will fire someone for using the word 'fat' to describe my place in their company, what does that say about the company?" she wrote.
"For me, it tells me that, despite the leaps and bounds of the body positivity movement, internalized hate and stigma against fat bodies still runs rampant."
She described on Twitter how taking back the "fat," a word that has been used to hurt people with bodies like hers, has been a positive force.
I thought that body positivity meant taking back the labels that have been used to hurt us. Like the word fat has been for me.
But according to a company that contributes to the accomplishments of women like me, that isn't the case.
After reading Levitsky's story, other customers began leaving comments on Addition Elle's Facebook page saying she did not deserve to be fired.
On Tuesday, Addition Elle wrote that firing Levitsky was a mistake and that she was welcome to return to work.
