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An Interview with Rowen Graham AKA Binky Lastrange - Thick thighs and twinkly eyes!

   
www.instagram.com/binkylastrange

      22 and living in London the fabulous Rowen Graham, also known as Binky Lastrange on insta , spends her time reading classic novels and making room in her heart for Harry Potter and hairy hobbits. Partial to a bit of singing too, Rowen's posts sing from the rooftops that it's okay to be yourself and confident in who you are without change. Sassy selfies and great captions inspire ladies to love themselves and wear whatever they want, bare whatever they want. An Instagram following in the thousands is proof that Rowen's hard work in spreading body positivity is changing many lives! 



I was lucky enough to have the pleasure of grabbing myself an interview with her , we talk all about her confidence and her decision to be body positive.

All images are Rowens and are linked to her Instagram page to give her the credit she deserves and also because it's easy for you to all follow her!

So, Rowen, let's start from the beginning! How did you decide to start blogging about your journey?

 I already had an IG account and was posting but it had no specific topic to it. I just posted a picture once with a bit of chub in it and it got quite a good response which led me onto body positive pages so I decided to flow with it.


There are a lot of body positive pages on Instagram, they're very inspiring! Did they help you choose to practice body positivity?

Yes, life is just too short to spend your life hating yourself and I realised that if I hated myself that much I would have starved myself down to a size six, so I decided to love what I have and not to pine over what I don't. 
www.instagram.com/binkylastrange

The pressure these days to lose weight is just ridiculous, is this what prompted you to begin to promote self love?

 In all honesty it's because of those nasty gossip magazines that spread poison like wild fire. Going into a shop and seeing public and published bullying has always bothered me, "get the perfect body" bull crap ... there is no such thing ! Everyone's idea of beauty is different so not just one type is perfect, they are full of sniping gossips who do nothing but put others down. Women didn't fight for our rights to abuse each other and put others down ad it's an insult to their memory. 


Yes, totally agree here! Published bullying makes it incredibly hard for us to love ourselves the way we are. Is this why you believe self love so important?

 I don't believe you can truly enjoy life to the fullest if you don't love or have confidence in yourself. I used to let my weight get in the way of things and it stopped me from doing a lot, but I don't now and I am much happier for it. 


I know weight holds a lot of people back from experiencing things, even myself. Do you have any advice for others who are looking to practice self acceptance and being body positive?

 Being kind is the key, not just to yourself but to others too. Although body positivity suggests your outer shell I believe it's a state of mind, so having a true high opinion of yourself as a person is so important. Little things such as helping a friend or a stranger when you don't have to, compliment yourself. All this small things really do make a change. Following honor curves help me.
www.instagram.com/binkylastrange

 I love honorine from honormycurves, she was the first person I followed in the body positivity gang. Instagram can be a hard place to post, negative comments etc is this the hardest thing you have to deal with when learning to accept yourself?

 Negativity, being name called is horrible and no one has the right to do it. I used to let it get to me but now I just delete a nasty comment with no reply. No one happy would ever need to put someone down for somthing to trivial as how they look. So like your parents always told you after someone called you a name at school, ignore them, they are jealous and unhappy. 


It's really hard to ignore them though, at least I find it is! Always suggesting diets and ways we can restrict ourselves. What are your thoughts on the dieting industry?

Used in the correct way I see nothing wrong with it, some people never want to be fat like I have no interest in being skinny and that is perfectly fine ! It's when people start to look at skinny rather than being healthy, starving themselves as well as other things that ruin them mentally and physically and that's where I do not agree with it at all. 
www.instagram.com/binkylastrange

Yes, I have been down the latter road myself and it's life ruining. I've missed so many opportunities and ruined so many great ones, has loving yourself given you any great opportunities?

Not really opportunities but my sex life with my partner of over three years is now incredible ! Being free of clothes and confident enough to be naked helps you release. But also the beautiful messages I receive on a daily basis helps me stay motivated. 


Awesome stuff to hear, that there are actually supportive, compassionate people out there! Do you have any inspirational people , books or articles to recommend to anybody looking to learn body positivity?

Honor Curves, she doesn't just promote self love, she acts it, she goes on advetures and puts herself to so many new things and I am in awe of her ! So you can imagine my excitement when she followed me on IG! But also Ricky Gervais, his character as Derek is just everything a person can be and his quotes are second to none. 
www.instagram.com/binkylastrange

Ahhh, I love Ricky Gervais. His stuff is golden, I haven't seen Derek but I will make a note of it and get round to watching. Have you made any notes on inspirational quotes or mottos? I see a lot of those on instagram!

Something Ricky wrote for the series "Derek" which I am a huge fan of ! "it's more imporant to be kind than goodlooking or clever" it's true. But I also use my #thickthighstwinklyeyes . 


Thick Thighs Twinkly eyes, I like that. Sounds like a song title, do you have a favourite positive song?

One song is hard to choose but when I am feeling down I stick on sacred spirit volume 1, it's just brings me back to earth and to forget about first world problems. 
www.instagram.com/binkylastrange

I haven't heard of that before, another thing I'll make a note of and have to check out! Speaking of earth, if you were an out of this world self love superhero, what would you name yourself and who would you give the gift of self love too first?

 I would call myself lady thunder thighs and I would clap self love to whoever needed it most !

4 comments :

  1. Dear Lord she is STUNNING! Every post of yours I read on body positivity makes me want to stop beating myself up and embrace my shape. I think next payday I'm off to buy some clothes to suit my hourglass figure and just rock who I am. Lovely post as usual dollface - you've done so well being such a new blogger! You should be proud and also be proud for showing such positivity and empowering woman.

    Chloe Mary Davis | www.lovefromlucky.com

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  2. Oh my god she is beyond gorgeous. I love all your posts on body positivity. I really need to hear these kind of things. I am definitely learning to love myself more
    Beth x
    Mermaid in Disguise

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