NAAFA Community Voices Blog
Sharing thoughts and ideas from fat community.
Image shows a young black woman with blonde hair and wearing glasses, a pink sweater and a laptop on the desk in front of her.
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Moving Women’s Fatshion Forward Through The Years - Part 2
Fatshion (the term currently being used for fat fashion) and fatshionistas (those that love fat fashion) are something we see on social media every day. But what do we know of the history of women’s fat fashion?
This is part 2 of a 2-part review of the history of fat fashion visibility.
Moving Women’s Fatshion Forward Through The Years - Part 1
Fatshion (the term currently being used for fat fashion) and fatshionistas (those that love fat fashion) are something we see on social media every day. But what do we know of the history of women’s fat fashion?
This is part 1 or a 2-part review of the history of fat fashion visibility.
#isupportnaafa - Angela Livingston
I love all the programs aimed at rounder bodies, directed toward the needs of fat people, and created for the various identities of the fat community (we are a diverse community!). Also, people who are fat allies, those who have an attraction to fat people, and those who simply want to understand fat issues are able to learn about the fat community through NAAFA’s literature and online resources. That is the reason that I think NAAFA is truly needed for anyone who is able to see wonderful fat bodies of various sizes of fatness as worthy of respect and love.
I Lost My Queer Identity the Day I Said I Do
From a young age I had no doubt that both boys and girls were beautiful to me. Growing up in a home where my parents were also foster parents, I was exposed to lots of different types of kids. Not only the privileged kids that I went to school with, but the children who didn’t come from a “stable home” with two parents who paid attention to them and showed them love every day. I learned that people are interesting and loveable no matter how they grew up.
Asexuality for Pride Month
According to Meriam Webster, Asexuality (Ace) is: not having sexual feelings toward others : not experiencing sexual desire or attraction. Basically, it is an inborn absence of sexual desire.
Fat Liberation or Body Positivity can be hard spaces for Asexual people to navigate sometimes because for many, body liberation also includes sexual/sensual aspects of their lives. For myself personally, talk of fat sex/pleasure or images of those things makes me uncomfortable.
Finding safety in Queer spaces can be hard for Asexual people. When you are Fat and Asexual, it also comes with all the Fat bias, weight stigma, Fat hate too.
Asexual people are not wrong or broken or looking for attention. We are here and we are valid.
Pride And Prejudice And Love And Liberation
Happy LGBTQIA+ Pride Month 2022!
This month and every month, I’m proud to be a queer and nonbinary trans person, a fat-attracted person married to a wonderful superfat queer gender non-conforming / butch / mas(s)culine-presenting woman, and an ally in the fat liberation movement.
I am not writing this piece to receive “ally cookies” (rewards from an oppressed community for supporting them in ways that everyone should as part of being a mensch, a good person). My kavannah, intention, is to show other thin people some ways they can begin, maintain or grow their practice of allyship with the fat community. Whether we are LGBTQIA+ or not, wherever we are and go in life, we can and must share the good news of fat liberation. We must center fat voices, and we must add our own in solidarity. It is not always safe, or without cost, but it is far safer and less costly for us than for fat folks.
Mental Health Awareness Month: My Journey to Becoming Fearlessly Just Me
When I was 10, the doctor told my mom that I was 30 pounds overweight. At the time, I weighed 120 pounds and according to the infamous “chart”, I was supposed to weigh 90 pounds. It would impact the choices I would make along the way in everything from relationships and job-related experiences to how I view weight loss.
I was diagnosed with Generalized Anxiety Disorder and was told that what I was experiencing was depression. At that moment, I was speechless. There was a name to what I was going through. And it made me reflect on my life as a whole. My therapist told me that I probably developed this as a child because of that experience when I was 10 and she said that she was in awe that I had dealt with this for so long on my own.
So every year, when May rolls around, I celebrate Mental Health Awareness Month by sharing my story. It continues to evolve. No one is perfect and it’s perfectly okay to seek help when you need it.
Remembering Dr. Cat Pausé
Dr Caitlin (Cat) Pausé, scholar, a mentor, a teacher, an activist, and a tireless advocate for fat rights, passed away in her sleep on March 26th, 2022. Dr. Angela Meadows shares her memories of Cat and the accomplishments she made in fighting for fat community.
“I AM MORE THAN…”
Happy Poetry Month! Poet, Vanessa Chica Ferreira, shares some of her poetry with us. She states, "Poetry for me is the ability to create, connect, release, contemplate, be petty, to remember, it is to heal, inform, be used for activism, to honor my mother’s memory. It is a shapeshifter that changes with my needs. Poetry helps me unlearn what I was taught about how to exist in a fat body. It gives me the courage not only to advocate for myself but also for others." Vanessa also invites readers to consider writing an "I am more than" poem themselves!
Driven to End Weight Stigma
In this piece for Women’s History Month 2022, Barbara Altman Bruno PhD gives us a glimpse into why she felt “driven” in working to end fat stigma and toward fat liberation. Dr. Bruno conveys some of the history of the fat acceptance/fat liberation movement from her perspective, the beginnings of Health At Every Size and her work in preserving our history for the future.
How A Doctor’s Allyship Is Changing My Life
Medical avoidance was the norm after my teenage years. The loathing and judgement from medical systems was too much. Avoidance put me in the hospital twice. I could not bear the thought of going to the doctors. I would cry at the thought of it. If for some reason I had to go, the entire time was panic-inducing.
Fast forward to 2020 and my forties. I was a few years into learning about Health at Every Size (HAES), weight biases, and Fat Liberation. I decided to take the leap and sought after a weight-neutral doctor. After researching in my area, I found one.
Following Dr. Ernsberger‘s Path: How Giving to NAAFA’s New Scholarship Supports Fat-Positive Science
The Dr. Paul Ernsberger research scholarship fund was established through the generous gift of one of Dr. Ernsberger’s colleagues. In this blog post, Dr. Richard Koletsky, who was Dr. Ernsberger’s research partner for many years at Case Western Reserve University, gives us more insight into their work and why it’s essential that Paul’s approach be carried on by the next generation of researchers.
Collecting Care Rationing Stories to Advocate for More Inclusive Healthcare
During emergencies like the COVID-19 pandemic, when hospitals are overwhelmed with the number of people needing help, they turn to “care rationing.” Care rationing means medical providers limit the types of care they provide to certain people.
Sometimes care rationing means that people will be denied life-saving care and instead will only receive care to help them be more comfortable. When care rationing happens on the basis of certain characteristics, it can be unlawful or wrong. Because COVID precautions often mean patients are without their usual support systems, care rationing can happen behind closed doors without input from family members, friends, support workers, or community. It is important to share stories of discrimination so that all people receive fair treatment.
FAT PIG - The Opera
Fat Pig, is an unprecedented operatic performance that you have to see. Victory Hall Opera presents FAT PIG: a new chamber opera featuring the first romantic lead in opera to be written specifically for a plus-size woman.
The world premiere chamber opera written by Matt Boehler, commissioned by Victory Hall Opera, will be held for two performances only; January 22 & 27, 2022, 8:00pm ET at V. EARL DICKINSON THEATER AT PVCC, 501 College Dr., Charlottesville, VA 22902.
Fat Girls Rock! So why aren't there more in Rock Music?
Finding a famous plus size female guitar player in the history of rock music can be a rare challenge. There are way too many slim female guitar players on Instagram and Tiktok. I barely see any fat girls screaming with an electric guitar. Fat liberation and plus size positivity needs to be seen in rock music. It is crucial. I live for rock music and I’m very passionate and vocal about being a fat girl in rock.
#FIGHTFORINCLUSIVITY: A Call to Action for Fat Fashion Equality
#FIGHTFORINCLUSIVITY is a social media campaign created by plus model, fat fashion influencer and fat activist, Saucye West to challenge plus size consumers to take their power back. As Saucye always says, “The consumer is the real influencer.” This is a call to action for consumers not to shop with brands retailers and designers that do not offer clothing past a size 3x/4x and to support brands and indie designers that are truly inclusive.
FATT Chat #4: Vanessa Chica
Welcome to FATT Chat! The acronym stands for Fat Acceptance Tales & Techniques and underlines the very intention for this series. The hope is to create fat visibility with first-person fat liberation stories, as well as foster fat acceptance in others by sharing fat positive resources and strategies. In FATT Chat, you’ll find interviews with NAAFA members and non-members alike who will share their personal stories of fat acceptance and the real life techniques that have and continue to help them in their own lives. You’ll also find all resources discussed in an easy-access list at the end of each interview.
With that, please enjoy this FATT Chat featuring Vanessa Chica!
FATT Chat #3: Trevor Kezon
Welcome to FATT Chat! The acronym stands for Fat Acceptance Tales & Techniques and underlines the very intention for this series. My hope is to create fat visibility with first-person fat liberation stories, as well as foster fat acceptance in others by sharing fat positive resources and strategies. In FATT Chat, you’ll find interviews with NAAFA members and non-members alike who will share their personal stories of fat acceptance and the real life techniques that have and continue to help them in their own lives. You’ll also find all resources discussed in an easy-access list at the end of each interview.
With that, please enjoy this FATT Chat featuring Trevor Kezon!
On Being Fat and Trans
Though it comes with difficulties, being fat and trans is not a life sentence of misery. In a lot of ways, being trans has helped me to accept my fatness, and being fat has helped me to accept my transness. I feel lucky to have the perspective I do have, and to have access to the community that I do. I love to talk to other fat, queer people; there is a shared understanding and connection that I have found to be almost instantaneous and universal. I am learning to love and accept my body for its fat, queer, trans self, and to allow my fatness to be something I use to enhance my preferred gender performance.
Pride and Pronouns Part II: Gender privilege and gender respect in NAAFA Community
The first time I heard the term “cisgender” was at a diversity training for educators in the early 2000s. A well-known speaker used the word in a way that assumed everyone in the room knew what it meant. We should have, but the obvious discomfort in the room showed that many of us didn't. I raised my hand. “You used a word I don't know there,” I said. “What does it mean?”
I don’t remember the exact words the speaker used, but he basically explained that someone cisgender is a person whose gender “matches” their sex. I knew the concept, just not the word. A lot of people are raised with the idea that the words ”gender” and “sex” mean the same thing. I learned it that way, and I have no doubt many of you did, too, whether you are cisgender, transgender and/or nonbinary. But, those words don’t actually mean the same thing. Sex relates to bodies and physiology; gender relates to identity and expression.