Fat Chicks Rule

Setting the fashion industry on fire

If the fashion industry went out of business, I wouldn't care. If everyone stopped subscribing to fashion magazines, I wouldn't cry. I don't follow trends, so I never know what's in or out.

High fashion and these magazines don't cater to me. They cater to what their advertizers want us to be: unnaturally thin, with flawless skin, glassy inhuman eyes, fully made up by a professional. Oh and photoshopped. They also want me to buy expenisve clothes, except I can't until I lose 100 pounds.  Before I started on my size acceptance journey, I believed a lot of this bunk. I thought I really could be unobtainable.

I know one place that does cater to me: The Fat Girl Flea Market, which I am happy to say is returning this year on April 30th. Yes this post is a shameless plug for the Flea but I wanted to tell you the difference between shopping at the Flea and shopping at Macy's. I don't shop at Macy's anymore. Do you know why? I feel like a leper. The local Macys has such a limited plus size section, it's nearly impossible to find anything with a good fit, leaving me to either not buy clothes or leave with poorly fitting one.  When I go to the flea I have lots of selection. If something doesn't fit right, on to the next thing.  With everything under $10 if I buy something then turn out I don't like it, I can donated it to next year's flea. At the flea I feel comfortable and happy with myself.

I know not everyone has things like the Flea or Re/Dress within a reasonable distance, if at all. I know some people only have Walmart as an option, but if you have other options use them instead of the stores that treat you like dirt.  As of now I only shop at Re/dress, Marshalls, and occassionally Lane Bryant, Torrid, and The Avenue.  I refuse to shop at a place that doesn't make me feel welcome for being fat.

People hearing without listening

I went to a body image conference on Friday night and Saturday. Although I had a good time, learned a lot, enjoyed the speeches especially of Deb Lemire, Deb Burgard, Erica Watson, Katherine Flegal, among others, I have my own issues with this conference. Namely something I wrote in my essay about fat chick lit: I referred o size 16 as the fat glass ceiling. In my essay I mentioned that in chick lit novels the average size of fat heroines was 16. Granted you won't find size 16 or 40 on the Howard Stern show, but you do find far more acceptance of someone like Cannie Shapiro of Good in Bed compared to Ronnie in Alt. Beauty (Ronnie weights 300lbs, Cannie is a size 16.) 

After a panel about medicalization and the body, people lined up for questions. Because I tend to be familiar with a lot of the issues, I like to ask a question so the audience would have something to think about. So my question was about Let's Move. I said while I'm not against encouraging kids to eat better and excercise, I am concerned about using it to make fat kids thin. I feel that it would create eating disorders, low self-esteem, and stigma. I was also worried that the diet industry was targeting children as a new cash cow. 

But to repeat. I am not against healthy eating, junk food in moderation, and enjoyable movement. 

So about five minutes later, we got a commenter with "Won't someone please think of the children?" She remarked that she worked with children and the essence of her comment was Let's Move is a great idea, we need to get children healthy and that all fat children had diabetes. 

Deb Burgard asked the woman for her sources. When the woman couldn't give any other than anedotal data, Deb told her, the official statistics for diabetes for children were very low about .26% (Rates for Adults are 8.3. And that .26% is mostly Type 1). Deb had to repeat no one was against healthy eating, and exercise, but felt it was unfair to target one group to change (when there is no proof that the majority of people who lose weight keep it off).

I believe that anti-fat bias is so ingrained that we only see fat never the message. No one on the panel taked about encouraging unhealthy eating or sitting on the couch, merely to remove weight as a health indicator.

We love the children! (unless they are fat.)

If you've read my book, you'll know I was bullied as a child. As an adult, I tend to not let insults bother me but as a kid they made me miserable. While being bullied, adults rarely interceded. Supposedly now there are more anti-bullying initiatives...

Unless you're a fat kid. In Georgia, a group has billboards vilifying and victimizing fat kids and NAAFA considers believes these billboards criminalize fat kids: NAAFA demands that the Georgia Children's Health Alliance immediately remove their billboards targeting fat children. Billboards depicting fat kids are extraordinarily harmful to the very kids they are supposedly trying to help.  They have also pointed out that a recent study has shown fat kids actually eat less and that same year a study from UCLA suggests our media and cultural obsession with achieving a certain weight does little or no good and may actually undermine motivation to adopt exercise and other healthy lifestyle habits.

Instead of having programs that make sure all children of all sizes eat well (this also means having only carrot sticks for lunch isn't healthy), we have fat children targeted by Let's Move and this program in Georgia. All to make them thin. (Programs like this have never worked and can cause an increase in eating disorders as fat children eat less food than their body needs and thin children eat less so they don't get fat.)

Even worse the Safe Schools Improvement Act (SSIA) an anti-bullying measure does not include language about physical attributes such as fat, thin, tall and short. Golda from Body Love Wellness has a handy link and form letter to contact your senators asking them to please add body size into the bill. 

I don't think we need to pass on body hatred for our children. Encouraging them to have more play and to eat better is a good idea but let's pass on trying to put children into a narrow cookie cutter, some children are natural slender, some are big. Some stay big, some slender out as they get taller.

And if you live in Nevada contact your state assembly member asking them to pass the Healthy Workplace Bill. 

The cookie cutter

On Friday and Saturday I attended a Feminist conference at Sarah Lawrence called Breaking Boundaries which had speeches, panels and workshops about the diversity of bodies. Although a lot of it focused on fat bodies, there was also focus on thin bodies, disabled bodies, and racial stereotypes. 

Our bodies are all very much the same, yet unique. However it seemed that society keeps us in a very narrow cookie cutter: thin, tall, able bodied, white, if female waif and dainty, if male, muscular. However most people don't fit into that mold. I think one of the more interesting aspects of the conference was a panel run by disabled poets. One of the points brought up is if you had a choice would you not be disabled?

If you had a choice would you not be fat? Some people would say that you have a choice. You just have to eat less and exercise more and you'll be thin and svelte.  Except with statistics stating that anywhere from 85-98% of weight loss attempts fail. Despite these facts fat people are often blamed for not being able to lose weight and keep it off. There is still plenty of prejudice but fat seems to be the only acceptable prejudice because it technically can changed short termed. 

One thing never considered to affect the health care of fat people is stigma. Yet in this recent study The discrimination that obese people feel, whether it is poor service at a restaurant or being treated differently in the workplace, may have a direct impact on their physical health, according to new research from Purdue University.  However when we see studies "proving" fat is bad, stigma is rarely incorporated or given as another reason fat is bad. Fat people are expected to make themselves thin and not change the world view. Whereas someone disabled, gay, African-American etc expects the world to change (Not that it neccessarily has but in theory we are supposed to have a loving accepting rainbow world unless you are fat.)

But back to the conference. There I met some very different people. I didn't agree with everyone but I think a common thread was feeling marginalized, and being forced into this narrow cookie cutter. These are smart intelligence people who aren't looking for special rights but equal ones.  A favorite quote of mine is: "No one is free when others are oppressed"

So would I prefer to be thin? Before 2002, you betcha. After 2002 when I began reclaiming my body as my own, only on occassion, usually when bra shopping.