Fattitude Seeking Intern

Fattitude is looking for a media research intern. This is a virtual, unpaid position – but we are very kind and we take good care of our interns. (Right Danitza Núñez and Jordan Ward?)

This current internship is a research internship –  this person will be helping us gather and catogorize fat-phobic media – headlines, images, video, etc. He or she will also have the opportunity to see footage that no one else sees – possibly write blog posts and/or become familiar with the other elemets of our process – editing, fundraising, etc. 

This intern will connect via google hangout once a week to review the content that has been accumulated. As far as time commitment – beyond the weekly meeting the amount of time committed is really up to the intern. We hope he/she will commit about 5-10 hours of his/her time.  We will not be hovering, and we are very understanding of academic and other schedules.

That said, in the beginning this intern may need to connect with us more often as she/he gets used to what to look for and how to categorize it.  We will also invite this intern to all events, etc. and he/she will be listed in Fattitude’s credits. 

Do you know anyone who would be interested? If so have them email a resume and a one paragraph explanation about why they want to work on this film to Fattitudethemovie@gmail.com

Subject line: Fattitude Intern

If you haven’t seen it watch the trailer:

Changing Hearts is Sometimes Easier than Changing the Patterns in Our Minds

I have recently been reminded that even when we “get” it, even when we are 100% on board with the struggle to undo our culture’s fat-hating tendencies, we can still easily slip into patterns that understand fat as negative and thin as positive.

Some of you may know me well enough to know that fighting sizeism is basically my main gig. I write about the fight for fat rights a lot and I’m making a movie about it, so as you can imagine my dinner table conversation is pretty saturated with all kinds of fat-positive chatter and discussion of why this or that is fat shaming.

A side effect of my dedication is that my husband has become ridiculously informed about the state of fat hate in our culture. He can explain to you why he feels we should reclaim the word “fat” and critically analyze scenes from any number of popular references that demean the fat body. He knows the names of people like Marilyn Wann, Virgie Tovar and Tess Munster. Honestly, he could and has handled spats with many a fat-hating and health-concern trolls. If you asked me if he was onboard with the work I do and the work other fat activists do, I would say, “Yes. Absolutely. 1,000%”

And yet, these two things happened recently, both in the same week — and after getting his permission — I want to share them with you.

First, me and my hubby were having dinner with a friend who we haven’t see in a while. The friend tells us that another friend is getting divorced. She left him. He’s sad. The conversation is filled with placations — “Oh, that’s sad.” “Yes, very sad.” “They seemed happy.” “Yes, they did.” It’s not so interesting. Then my husband says, “I saw him on Facebook recently. He looks great, healthy.”

“Really,” I reply genuinely. “That’s good. Has he been exercising or something?” I ask.

“I don’t know,” my husband says.

Admittedly, I’m a little slow, but it starts to dawn on me that something about this off-handed comment is suspect. “Why did you think he looked great and healthy?” I ask.

“He just did,” he shrugged. “In the picture he looked really thin.’

As expected, “OMG. Really?? Are you really standing here telling me that you think he’s healthy because he’s thin. You’re married to a fat activist. Really? Did it ever occur to you that his wife left him and maybe he’s depressed and not eating? Or something equally unhealthy.”

He rolled his eyes for a brief second but then quickly conceded that I was right.

A couple of day later there was another incident. But before I can explain what happened I have to tell you that I have a very sweet, big, fat cat who loves to cuddle. He sleeps on my head and pretty much follows me wherever I go. His name is Oliver — Ollie to those who love him. As I mentioned, he is a fatty. I often tell him that he takes after me. About a week after the thin/healthy incident, I’m in the kitchen; my husband is gathering his things to head off to work and I am cooing/mewing with this delicious cat of mine. The conversation went something like this:

“Meow.”

“Good morning to you to Ollie-bear.”

“Meow, meow.”

“That’s right you are my big, fat boy and I love you.”

Despite himself, my husband got offended. “Don’t do that,” he said.

“Do what?” I asked, confused.

“Call him fat.”

“He is fat. He’s a perfect fatty boy.”

Lightning flashed. “Sorry,” he said, and he was out the door and off to work. Later that evening when my husband returned home he brought up both incidents. I am paraphrasing — but basically what he said was that he was really sorry. He’d been thinking all day about the thin/healthy moment and the fat cat moment and how they proved that even when you want to shift your perspective and shake off the fat-hating lessons the culture has drilled into your brain, it is still easy to slip into the old familiar patterns.

And it is.

Clearing the mind of all the bullshit we’ve been taught to think about fat and fatness is a hefty endeavor. Like many well-intentioned spring cleanings, sometimes you get one closet done and save the other one for another day. It will happen though; one day you’ll clear out all the old roller skates and photo albums, wipe down the shelves and vacuum, and then there will just be this gorgeous empty space where you can house all the new amazing body positive stuff you’re acquiring.*

One day, you just break the pattern and the negative stuff you connect to fatness just doesn’t come up anymore. I guess the moral of this story is that change takes time. We have to be patient, and keep fighting the good fight.

*Metaphors aside, if you’re just starting your collection, I recommend Fat! So? by Marilyn Wann and if you’ve been around a while, did you read What’s Wrong With Fat? by Abgail Seguy?

What’s the Takeaway from the Walmart “Fat Girl Costumes” Debacle

By now, many of you may have heard that Walmart recently came under scrutiny because one of the pages on its website listed plus-sized Halloween costumes as “Fat Girl Costumes.” Lots of news outlets reported that Walmart wasn’t aware of the issue — and as soon as it was discovered they removed the offending words. Walmart also issued this apology from multiple Twitter handles, “This never should have been on our site. It is unacceptable, and we apologize. We worked quickly to remove this.”

People out there are debating whether this was intentional, overlooked or whatever, and news media, like CNN and HLN are saying things like “Walmart apologizing as they should…” and “who thought that would be an appropriate title for a public sales page?” It’s also worth noting that the ladies of The View used this mishap to raise awareness about fat shaming.

From my perspective, this is an opportunity to discuss the terminology that we use when we discuss bodies that are culturally deemed larger than normal — or rather bodies that I happily call fat bodies.

Basically, the reason that the news media, Twitter-ites and other gabbers are scolding Walmart is because we culturally understand “fat” as a dirty, shameful word and, in turn, when we call someone “fat” we are saying something nasty. “Fat” is a term that bullies and internet trolls use to illicit shame, humiliation and embarrassment; it’s a thing that all sizes of people say when they feel unsatisfied with their bodies.

To be honest, I believe that whoever designed that particular page of Walmart’s website was using “fat” in a derogatory way because very few people stop to think that “fat” is an actual thing that people are and that being fat might not be this terrible, awful, no good, very bad thing if the culture didn’t shame every fat person everywhere.

My point is that “fat” is a painfully-abused word, and one that needs some reevaluation.

I am fat. Not kinda sorta — I weigh around 220 lbs. and I wear a size 18. There are people who are fatter than me and people who are thinner than me, but there is no debate. I am fat.

Now, people can argue all day about the repercussions of my fatness, but that will not change the reality that I am a fat person, like many other people who are part of the earth’s human population.

By shying away from the term “fat,” we are perpetuating the idea that fatness is shameful. I refuse to be ashamed of my fat — or rather I refused to be ashamed of who I am. So, when I describe my body I use the facts, one of which is fatness.

And honestly, the other terms the culture gives me to describe myself are often troubling, sexist or derogatory. Take “plus-sized” for example — the term which the news media and many people view as Walmart’s appropriate choice. The term “plus-sized” is inherently prejudiced. “Plus” means more than something. More than what? Let’s be not beat around that bush:“plus-sized” is a term that implies more than “normal.” Only, if you think statistically, fat is looking pretty normal.

Give me any of the words you can think of to describe a fat body and I can give you a reason why describing me as that word implies something more than a description. Obesity? I’m a disease. Curvy? What does that even mean? Am I a street? Or is curvy like voluptuous, which implies that my body shape is characterized by luxury or sensual pleasure. Really? What if I just want to be a person, not a sex object?

The thing is, I get why Walmart shouldn’t have called the costumes that come in sizes 1X and higher “Fat Girl Costumes” and why people were offended. I acknowledge that “fat” is still a hateful word, even though it should just simply be the opposite of “thin.” And yet I can’t help asking: when will we realize that fatness is just part of life? That it’s not something shameful that needs renaming, so we can stop being offended that people are fat and move on to the idea that Walmart referred to adult women as “girls.”

Louis C.K and Megahn Trainor Just Aren’t Getting it Right!

A while back there was that Louis C.K episode with the fat girl that goes on a diatribe about life as a fat girl. Did you see it? You can watch it here:

When it aired there was a lot of noise about how amazing and groundbreaking this scene was and as a fat activist, I find that anytime popular culture takes up the voice of the fat person and allows that fat personal to express the injustice fat people face, it’s a win – even if that scene doesn’t even come close to portraying the reality of the fat experience – because right now very few representations are even acknowledging that a fat person has a right to feel angry or upset about the discrimination that he or she faces. So, conversation starters are good.

 

That said, when you break it down, the moment is problematic. I was interviewed by RH Reality Check about this scene and I had this to say:

I see a lot of good. For example, it is amazing to see someone on television acknowledge the fact that the way we lie about the reality of a person’s body size is insulting and demeaning. Regularly –  I refer to my body as fat and people try to tell me it’s not. Obviously, they are lying to me because they believe that being fat is something to be ashamed of, something ugly, something awful. Of course, in reality being fat is just a fact. It doesn’t have to have moral or aesthetic resonance – and the attempt to “hide” me from my fat points out that they believe that if I know I’m fat then I can’t possibly like myself.  So, I think the fact that this character, Vanessa, is on television pointing out the ugliness that is intrinsic in dismissing the reality of a person’s body size is amazing and I also really unheard of in the mainstream media.

That said, while Vanessa’s speech has great moments, it also relies on popular cultural lies – like the idea that fat women are not desired or that men are “ashamed” to be seen with fat women – and the speech makes some really limited assumptions about the issues that fat women struggle with and in turn obscures the systemic reality of fat discrimination. For example, I would argue that most fat women – who have dug their way out from under the bullshit that says they are not attractive enough to warrant love – have found that there are many people who find them attractive and who are desirous of their bodies. So, just strolling in public with a man willing to hold their hand isn’t the issue they are facing.  I think the conversation about fat discrimination is more concerned with the reality that fat people make less money than their thin counter parts, that they the often receive sub-par medical care and that they are assumed to be lazy or stupid.

Arguably, I also think this scene gives fat men an edge over fat women – which is debatable. It’s true that historic understandings of femininity have relegated women to the role of object and therefore “beauty,” and in this context long-term relationships are understood as defining and significant factors in a woman’s life and not a man’s.  This, of course, is an archaic idea and yet popular culture still perpetuates these stereotypical gender concepts. That said, ultimately fat men and fat women suffer. We can’t sit around comparing oppressions. Instead we need to work on eliminating the causes of discrimination.

I still think all this is true but the more I think about it – the more I am certain that this moment on Louis C.K. is emblematic of a the larger issues I see in when people are conceptualizing fat acceptance and body acceptance. Media that promotes body acceptance maintain the status quo when it comes to other social justice issues and questions.

Basically, I feel like (watch out ‘cause I’m getting all academic up in here) – the message of body acceptance that is being packaged by the media is not considering intersectional realities and injustices. In less academic-y speak, the fat acceptance movement and the body acceptance movement aren’t about one voice – a chubby white woman who wants to love her curves and have a straight thin man love them too. The body acceptance movement should be about “all” voices and all kinds of bodies. It should be about empowering people to be comfortable in their own skin and giving them a space at the table to voice their needs and desires. It should be about the fundamental feminist notion – “my body, my business” –  No matter what that body entails.

By the way, I’m having the same issue with “All About that Bass” Did you see this:

 

(Honestly, this ditty has a few issues like the whole “skinny bitches” bit), But really – “boys like a little more booty to hold at night.” Really? Why do we so often envision fat female empowerment as accepting that marginally fat women are pretty and desired by men? I’m not looking to be pretty. I’m looking to be valued and respected.

Sigh…

(Side note: That shit is catchy though, isn’t it? If you see me later, I’ll be humming “All About that Bass,” but that doesn’t mean I agree with all the lyrics, okay?)

BBC report on South Korean body builders

BBC report on South Korean body builders makes us want to cry. When will women just be allowed to enjoy their bodies and be respected? http://ow.ly/AKa2h

Social Justice, Mythic Foundations and Miss Piggy

This is going to sound odd, but I think I owe really big thank you to Muppets Covergirl, Miss Piggy. Let me explain myself.

Lately, I’ve been thinking about fat activists and other social justice-y types and wondering stuff. For instance, what makes someone the kind of person who can look at the status quo and see that even though it’s accepted as normal, it isn’t fair? Are activists just more sensitive – so called bleeding hearts? Or is there something about our experience and influence that affords us the compassion to identify injustice and the strength to stand up and fight for our rights and the rights of others.

To be clear, this isn’t a scientific or academic inquiry I’ve been conducting; it’s one of those late night contemplations and, while I’m wondering this on the grand scale, it’s also personal. I am on a journey through my past, hedging about trying to figure out why I am compelled to act, to speak out against weight bias and other injustice. I’m on quest to reclaim my history, my story from the people that hate fatness, to unearth the mythic sources that give me courage and insight, so that I can share them with others.

As many of you know, I have an academic background, and in a very academic way, I believe that human beings often rely on a mythic foundation – the ideas we perceive as universal truths. And that we gather these mythic understandings from symbols we repeatedly encounter in our lifetimes. These symbols can be overt, meaning they declare themselves as life-defining, for example, the messages, images and ideas we associate with religions. Or they can be covert, clearly influencing you, but not really claiming an ideological stance, like the characters, the stories and representations we connect with in the media. I believe that these mythic symbols lay the foundations of our consciousness and help us organize, define, frame and understand our world as we know it.

And so, I’ve been wondering was there something in my past – some symbol that allowed me to love my fat body, allowed me to see, and know that there was beauty, power, joy and fulfillment in my physical being despite what the world all around me was saying about being fat.

And then there she was… an image of Miss Piggy rolling through my social media feed.

As a child, I was obsessed with Miss Piggy. I had a Miss Piggy puppet that I carried with me everywhere. I slept with her. I ate with her. I watched her on TV. I listened to her ideas and I loved her. I don’t know if you remember but some of the things Miss Piggy says are badass.

Here are some awesome quotes:

“Beauty is in the eye of the beholder and it may be necessary from time to time to give a stupid or misinformed beholder a black eye.”

“Style comes in all shapes and sizes, therefore the bigger you are, the more style you have.”

“Never eat more than you can lift.”

“A bowl of fruit is sometimes served in place of dessert. This practice should be discouraged.”

“Too much exercise can damage your health.”

“I, moiself, have always enjoyed a good scrimmage.”

“Beauty is all about loving who you are and if you have problems with that may I suggest you try loving who I am?”

~ Miss Piggy

Miss Piggy is part of my foundation. She’s a powerful, strong, successful, joyful, beloved fat woman, and I think somewhere, deep in the recesses of my subconscious, the symbol of Miss Piggy crept in and helped keep me from ever really buying into the mainstream machine that spews cruel and unjust ideas about fat people.

So, really, thank you Miss Piggy.

Want more Miss Piggy? Check out this Buzzfeed article.

Can you think of positive symbols that might have contributed to your mythic foundations – symbols that could contribute to a future reality where weight bias no longer exists?

This post was originally published on Fierce Freethinking Fatties

 

URGENT! This Fat Filmaker is Being Harassed by Haters

URGENT! Fat Filmmaker Being Harassed by Haters.

So have you heard about the film I’m making?

. I’m gonna be honest with you… this is a moment of shameless self promotion – but I don’t think  you’ll mind because what I’m promoting is going to be right up your alley. Currently, I am in the process of producing and directing a film called Fattitude. Fattitude is A feature-length documentary that exposes how popular culture fosters fat prejudice and then offers an alternative way of thinking.  So far the film features the voices of some amazingly cool fat activists:

Last week we launched the landing page for our website and next week we will be launching a kickstarter to raise the funds to finish the film. The kickstarter will also debut our trailer.  I think when y’all see the trailer, you’re gonna flip.  If you’re interested in learning more about Fattitude in the up coming weeks bounce on over to our website and social media spaces and get connected.

Move Over Barbie, Here Comes Something Average…

If you’ve ever considered how representations of female bodies contribute to women’s negative body image – then you’ve realized that Barbie, the icon of little girl’s toys, may not be the best influence on a girl’s relationship to the reality of her body. Take a look at this comparison image that has been floating around the internet lately:

The numbers detailed are downright absurd. Her wrists and ankles are exactly the same size. Her bust is distinctly larger than her hips – and her waist is half the size of her bust. It seems like if she was a living woman she would fall over. Actually, we know she would fall over because her feet are permanently on tip toe so that they can fit into her plastic heels. That said, even if we put her unusual foot shape aside, Barbie is not a real shaped woman.

Because Barbie doesn’t even emulate the proportions of a living woman and therefore is an arguably poor influence on perceptions of women’s bodies, graphic designer Nickolay Lamm created The Lammily Doll. This doll and Barbie seem to come from two very different places. Acorrding to the Lammily Website:

• Lammily is made according to typical human body proportions and therefore promotes realistic beauty standards.
• Lammily wears minimal makeup.
• Lammily’s wardrobe isn’t composed of typical clothing for dolls – she is dressed with striking simplicity.
• Lammily is fit and strong.

Another positive attribute the  of the new doll that the website does not mention is that Lammily  represents more diversity than Barbie. She has brown hair and a darker skin tone than Barbie – which means that she can be understood as either Caucasian, Hispanic or of mixed race – whereas Barbie is pretty much descendant from Aryans.

Lammily was crowdfunded and she was a great success. Lamm initially posited that to manufacture his doll he needed $95,000. He raised $465,952. This kind of response points out that we are hungry for representations that actively reject impossible body ideals and embrace a more empowered image of womanhood.

While I know Lammily is a step in the right direction – I find that I am still disheartened because I don’t really feel like she looks like the women in my life. She still idealizes a certain age and health standard and this “average” seems almost as mythical as Barbie’s disproportionate one. Perhaps Lammily needs some friends – a black girl, a fat girl, a differently-abled girl, a trans girl, a pear shaped girl, a girl with thick thighs, a girl with a juicy bootie, a curly haired girl, and yes, a blond girl… Obviously I could go on for ever.

What I’m trying to say is that Lammily is awesome, but she is just the beginning. If we really want to forward positive representations of people’s bodies than we need to genuinely represent ALL bodies.

This was originally posted @Bitchtopia

As a Fatty, My Street Harassment Isn’t Your Street Harassment…

Check out my new post on Fierce, Freethinking Fatties! While I don’t think anyone should compare oppressions – they way a fat woman is treated by the public peanut gallery is more than just unwanted objectification. It’s often fat shaming and fat hate.

Fierce, Freethinking Fatties

Once a month I participate in Rarely Wears Lipstick’s “Ask a Feminist” series. The series is akin to the old ”Dear Abby” column. Basically, someone sends in or poses a question about living in a patriarchal culture and a group of feminists, including myself, give our insight on how we would handle that particular issue. The questions that come our way can be as complex as how to normalize intersectionality or they can be everyday issues like how to manage being ignored at work because you’re a woman.

This month the question that came our way was about how we would handle street harassment.

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