Who The Glove Fit

and how society tends to respond to it. “I grew up a thick girl, struggling to find clothes and not feeling like I really fit in,” she says in a soft-spoken voice right before her time on camera, through deliciously long lashes. It’s clear that she isn’t the girl who doesn’t fit in anymore. Wacuka has modelled for clothing lines in Kenya and magazines, all focused on pushing forward her particular message of revolution and self and size love: that the peculiarities and negativities of a previously unaccepting world should be ignored in totality, and thick thighs obviously save lives. As a model and body positivity activist, she reaches out to change her community the way she changed how she used to look at herself. “Other than my friends, I only follow people who look like me, and delete everyone who doesn’t. I surround myself with people who look like what I believe.”

I only follow people who look like me.

A heart-breaking incident she adds is the fact that a lot of the messages that she gets from her 8,000 or so followers are sometimes from high school girls, who don’t really know how to deal with not looking ‘perfect’, in this Instagram-laden highly filtered world we now live in. “It’s all conditioning. We have been conditioned since time immemorial to believe that being thin is the beauty standard. C’mon people. It’s 2022. Diet culture is so ingrained in us that we’ve been conditioned to hate ourselves. I always want to tell those girls that it is never that serious!” And that’s exactly what she does; when the glove doesn’t fit, she finds something that does or changes the look entirely.

The protection of survivors of sexual assault. “I feel like too much responsibility is put on sexual assault survivors. Imagine having to speak up, having to provide evidence, having to protect yourself while also trying to heal? I just want every survivor to know that it was never their fault and that people believe them. Because most times, survivors are scared of speaking up because they’re scared no one will believe them. Listening and believing survivors should be everyone’s response when a survivor comes out with their story. So if I can help in any way by posting on Instagram or Twitter about consent or believing survivors, then I’m glad.”

“I would say I am a bold person, yes. I’d say I am bold about how I defend things, the things I believe in. I believe in my community.” Her boldness and her dedication are what have opened up this life to her, where she curates an aesthetic for big, beautiful girls; an aesthetic that is really who she is in all her glory, that they can see themselves reflected in, and find themselves comfortable in, to then find their own style. Whatever style that may be, is what counts.

I’d say I am bold about how I defend things, the things I believe in. I believe in my community.” Her boldness and her dedication are what have opened up this life to her, where she curates an aesthetic for big, beautiful girls;

an aesthetic that is really who she is in all her glory, that they can see themselves reflected in, and find themselves comfortable in, to then find their own style. Whatever style that may be, is what counts.