Monthly Archives: January 2014

Sunday links, 1/26/14

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I love Jill Scott.

Fa(t)shion
–Re/Dress’ spring vintage lookbook is fabulous–and it includes their new masculine/butch styles.
-Despite all the hype, European brand Mango’s new plus size line doesn’t have many interesting styles, and has a fairly small size range.
-This year’s Big Thrifty will be on May 3rd, at a new, larger space in Malden.
-And for New York fatties, the Big Fat Flea will be May 4th.
–16 things teen girls wore in the winter of 1996, as told by the Delias*s catalog.

Fat Acceptance
-Caitlin Thornton interviews the always awesome Mary Lambert about body image, makeup, and fashion.
–Fat and bad knees.
-So much yes to Marilyn Wann’s rant about people who claim to be fat-positive but brag about their weight loss.
-Why it’s important to focus on children’s health, not their weight.
–Things that are still a diet.
–The tyranny of “the normal”: why the BMI is and has always been a hot ton of oppressive bullshit.

Climate and Sustainability
–“We can’t trust capitalism to fix this” global warming mess.
-A conversation with George Monbiot about the great rewilding.
–Why, not what: the heart of climate activism.
–Solar wins: how sunshine will save the planet (really!)

A beautiful short film about reclaiming our energy and economy from fossil fuel companies:

Our Power Film // Black Mesa Water Coalition from Our Power on Vimeo.

Everything Else
-Nicolette Mason is the best. After Jezebel’s ridiculous stunt of offering $10K for unretouched pictures of Lena Dunham, Nicolette decided to raise the same amount of money for women’s empowerment instead.
–Food gentrification and the culinary rebranding of traditional foods.
-If you can, donate to Youngist, which publishes the voices and stories of millenials (and, unlike many outlets, actually pays its authors).
-I like this daring new approach to fighting for a fairer economy.
–“Nobody knows my life but me”: an elegy for Dr. V.
–Afterthoughts and aftershocks: why a dozen different editors failed Dr. V.
-Sarah Kendzior writes brilliantly about the cruelty of the mainstream media (but unfortunately uses some ableist language to do so).
–Reimagining freedom: one student’s take on the Zaptatistas’ Escualita.
–Remember that famous about obedience to authority? Here’s how Stanley Milgram got it all wrong.
-Sick of Dan Savage’s asshattery, and want some better advice about sex and relationships? Check out Cardinal Rules.
-Suey Park writes about the importance of community in activism. I love these beautiful words she quotes from Jeff Yang: “These threads won’t weave themselves, nor will these chains break of their own accord, and unless we join hands and swim together, unless we become each others’ sidekicks, the river of memory will sweep us away. “

Fatness is double-plus ungood.

Posted in Fat acceptance by

Last night, in my internet travels, I came across this New York Times op-ed from a former hedge fund manager who left the world of finance when he realized it had turned him into a greedy, wealth-addicted jerk.

Although I couldn’t wrap my mind around the sheer enormousness of the numbers the author, Sam Polk, was talking about (multimillion dollar bonuses? It’s like a completely different reality), I liked some of his observations. Like this one:

I made in a single year more than my mom made her whole life. I knew that wasn’t fair; that wasn’t right. Yes, I was sharp, good with numbers. I had marketable talents. But in the end I didn’t really do anything. I was a derivatives trader, and it occurred to me the world would hardly change at all if credit derivatives ceased to exist. Not so nurse practitioners. What had seemed normal now seemed deeply distorted.

And then I got to this part:

But I was lying to myself. There were plenty of injustices out there — rampant poverty, swelling prison populations, a sexual-assault epidemic, an obesity crisis. Not only was I not helping to fix any problems in the world, but I was profiting from them. 

Right, because fat bodies are an injustice, not the stigma and discrimination we face. Not the $60 billion industry devoted to eliminating us. Nope, just the fact that we exist.

Let that sink in for a second. Fat bodies. Are an injustice.

The exorbitant salaries of the financial sector that the author left behind aren’t the only thing that’s deeply distorted.

And when he left it, guess what he did? Did he devote his life to helping people who had been harmed by Wall Street’s predatory practices, perhaps by fighting foreclosures or supporting living wage campaigns?

No, he started a non-profit “to help poor families struggling with obesity and food addiction.”

Food addiction. Food addiction. Not hunger, or food insecurity, or lack of access to nutritious food options, but food addiction. And fatness. Because heaven forbid poor people ever enjoy food or be anything less than thin. Because clearly what poor people need isn’t money, but rich people telling them how to eat.

I just …my head spins trying to make sense of it.

All the sense I can make is that power distorts thinking, twists the urge toward compassion into condescension. Into a sick sense of superiority and a savior complex.

Polk says he finally feels as if he’s making a real contribution. Well, he’s certainly contributing to fat hatred, to a toxic culture of moralizing about food, and to the lack of respect for poor people as humans with intelligence and agency.

Note #1: Chris Maisano has a great analysis of what’s wrong with the op-ed, which he calls “chicken soup for the neoliberal soul”: an individualistic approach that erases the need for collective action.

Note #2: Hedge funds always make me think of hedgehogs. The world would be a much better and cuter place if we could replace all hedge fund managers with hedgehog managers.

Monday links, 1/20/14

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Female sumo wrestler (source)

Remembering Martin Luther King, Jr.
–Letters from a YSI jail. 
–Most of you have no idea what Martin Luther King actually did.
–MLK Boulevard: a snapshot of King’s dream deferred.
–This piece by Ta Nehisi-Coates isn’t directly about MLK, but it’s relevant and so important. 

Fa(t)shion
–An ASOS maternity fit review and a SWAK rant. 
-I’m disappointed but not surprised to hear that ASOS has often stolen designs from indie designers. 
-More tutu options: this shop, which makes custom tutus in any size for an extra $10, and this plus size tutu.
-Re/Dress will soon be carrying menswear/butchwear!
-Skorch’s Royal Issue is now live.
-The Advanced Style hat party looks like so much fun.
-Ragen writes about fashion-bashing and Gabourey Sidibe; Melissa reminds us that it’s ok to cry, that brash indifference to fat hatred can be great but shouldn’t be the only socially acceptable response. 
–San Francisco finds new life for old clothes through a recycling program.
-Evie from Work It, Own It, Use It! is selling some super-cute clothes. I’m especially in love with this floral cardi, but it’s too small for me–one of you should buy it so I can enjoy it vicariously. Same with this Domino Dollhouse bow out skirt, which I love love but wouldn’t wear because I don’t do high waists or zippers.

I love this short documentary about the Sapeurs, a subculture of stylish men in the Congo.

Fat Acceptance
–A world without fat people…
–Chris Christie and pulling the red handle.
–Research, the media, and “obesity”: a case study.
-Melissa debunks yet another myth about fat people, that we want to force everyone to find us attractive. 
-Brodie writes about the lack of fat representation in the media beyond characters who are walking jokes.

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OOTD: Floral and yellow

Posted in Outfit of the Day by

Dress: Eloquii via Gwynnie Bee, shoes: Naot, cardigan: Lane Bryant, hairclips: Claire’s, earrings: Artifaktori, necklace: So Good, bangles: Deb and Torrid, pearl stretchy bracelets: Deb

This is what I wore to celebrate Thanksgivukkah (aka, Thanksgiving and Hanukkah, which coincided in 2013) with my family. You can also see the dress in my New Year’s OOTD post here.

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Repost from Glorify: Making fatshion accessible to all, required for none

Posted in Other Fa(t)shion by

A recent Facebook conversation I had with a few friends about fashion reminded me of this post I wrote last March. It was originally posted at Glorify: Basecamp for the Fat Acceptance Web, which unfortunately no longer exists, so I decided to re-post it here.

Making fatshion accessible for all, required for none

It’s an uncomfortable reality that fatshion, which is liberating for so many fat people, can also be alienating–even heartbreaking–for others.

I think it’s important to both 1.) make room in fat acceptance for all voices, not just the ones who are into fatshion and 2.) keep pushing to broaden the accessibility of plus size clothing, in terms of both cost and size.

Some fatties just aren’t into clothing, and that’s totally ok. It’s important to share the voices of a wide range of fatties with different experiences and focuses–which is something Glorify does really well.

At the same time, we can’t stop pushing to make fatshion as accessible as possible for those who want it.

On the Cost Front

Clothing swaps and bargain shopping events, like the Big Thrifty here in Boston, are a good way to make awesome clothing affordable to the many fatties who can’t afford the newest ASOS Curve or Domino Dollhouse designs. (Not to mention a great way to build fat community and model a sustainable economic system.) They’re becoming more and more popular–I read about a new event every week!

The downside is that such events usually take place in cities, which leaves out rural fatties. One alternative for them is online clothing exchange communities like Fatshionxchange. Most of the clothing is super-cheap, and there are some gems to be found.

I’ve both sold and bought clothing on Fatshionxchange, and I’ve gotten some great items for way cheaper than their list price. Unlike buying directly from the manufacturer, though, there are no returns or exchanges–so it works best for buying items of a brand or style you’re already familiar with.

On the Size Front

Kath of Fat Heffalump has been a leader in advocating for clothes for supersize fatties. She has offered to help plus size companies expand their lines, has gotten both Autograph and Target Australia to expand their plus size offerings, and started a Super Sizes Facebook group as a launchpad for more activism. She also has a thread for recommending companies that carry sizes above 3x/24.

A while back, Ariel of Kiddotrue started a campaign to expand ASOS Curve’s size range, although unfortunately it never took off. Should we try again with ASOS, maybe with a petition or emails in addition to a Twitter campaign? Is there another strategy that might work better, or other brands that might be more receptive?