Fat Talks Back at WOW2013

Women of the World (aka WOW) is an annual festival at the South Bank in London. It's a mainstream feminist event and visiting it feels a bit like listening to an extended episode of Woman's Hour – not everyone's idea of heaven! But WOW is a big deal, it's hosted at the Royal Festival Hall, one of the jewels of London, and many people come. There are panels and presentations, activities and performances.

This year, WOW bit the bullet and invited a bunch of us to do a panel on fat. Corinna Tomrley chaired, and I participated, alongside Isha Reid and Caroline Walters. We called the panel Fat Talks Back because of the history in mainstream feminism of marginalising fat within broader discussions of 'body image,' 'beauty,' 'dieting' and so on. We thought of the space as an opportunity to speak for ourselves.

I know the hard-working organisers had no intention of pushing us to the back, and they made every effort to make space for us, but I also had a sneaky giggle to myself because the room was in quite an obscure place in the building, and I was reminded of how the fat clothes are always pushed to the back of the shop. This made it especially delightful that we packed out the room. I don't know the exact figures but I think over 100 came, and it was standing/squatting room only.

Corinna organised the panel so that the three of us gave prepared answers to three questions:

• What is fat activism for you or, how does your fat activism manifest itself for you?
• Mainstream discussions about fat and size tend to focus on the concept of ‘skinny’ vs the ‘average-sized UK woman’ (apparently size 14-16): what does this mean for fat activism? And women who are bigger than a size 16?
• How/does fatness and feminism intersect for you?

Our answers were pretty diverse and reflected our interests: Isha in fatshion and blogging; Caroline in teaching and academic life; me in fat feminism and activism, and psychotherapy. I was glad of this because I think there's a temptation to try and simplify the experience of being fat, or an activist, to single narratives, when actually there are many different ways of expressing this stuff.

After this, we answered some questions from the floor. If I had a penny for every time questions from the floor start with "Yes, but is it healthy?" I would be richer than Croesus. It's especially bewildering when health has not been a part of the previous discussion. It's as though talking about fat can only ever be a discussion about health and, even then, a discussion of how fat can't really be healthy, with the subtext that we must be deluding ourselves. Am I frustrated about this? Yes. There is a lot more to be said about fat and feminism than "Yes, but is it healthy?"

My favourite question came at the end; someone asked about the emphasis being put on thin privilege within fat activism. I answered that I thought this was a shame, that you often come across fat activism that focuses on how terrible it is being fat. I think being fat is often terrible, but that activism is about joy, power, strength, making lives liveable.

The session lasted an hour, and there was so much more that could have been said. From the quiet and respectful audience, the packed room, the comments and discussion afterwards, I really got a sense that people were hungry for this stuff and wanted to talk more, but perhaps didn't know where to start, such has been the overwhelming silencing effect of obesity epidemic rhetoric in the last ten years or so.

You can watch the session here, in the WOW YouTube channel. There are technical issues in the first minute or so, but the rest of it looks fine.



Meanwhile, check out some pics on the Fat Talks Back event page, read Isha's round-up, and visit the Storify. By the way, the image comes from the gorgeous drawn minutes of the festival, but I can't find any more information about this project.

Get a load of the Yorkshire Rad Fat Collective

One of the Yorkshire Rad Fat Collective's events
pic courtesy of Lolly Likes

A few weeks ago I came up for air from thesis-writing and got excited to see that a new fat activist collective has formed up north. I had to know more, so I asked some questions.

Please introduce yourselves

Hi! I'm Kirsty and I'm answering these questions on behalf of the Yorkshire Rad Fat Collective, which is a newly founded group that meets and runs events in Leeds, West Yorkshire. I am otherwise found at http://fattyunbound.blogspot.com.

How did you get started?

We're really new as a collective (we only had our first proper meeting the other day). Emily and I began by organising a couple of fat clothes swaps in Leeds, which have gone really well and gave us a sense of the importance of creating a body positive space where everyone is welcomed. We decided to run a clothes swap because we'd seen similar things going on in London and wanted to bring the fun up North. We'd both gone to local swaps and been frustrated at the lack of plus size items, so we decided to run our own. After the second swap, there were calls for us to start a Facebook group so we could all keep in touch outside of the swap, to talk about politics, resources, clothes and our own local experiences. Now we're meeting up reasonably regularly and planning other things that we can do as a group.

What are your plans?

Lots of things! We'd like there to be more clothes swaps, of course, but we're also focused on forming a community where we can share skills, strategies and resources for other awesome fat people. Things we are planning immediately include an open blog (this has *just* been created at http://radfatcollective.tumblr.com and is open to submissions from everyone!). We'd like to keep up reasonably regular socials, and are planning a day of fat swimming frolics soon which might even involve water slides (!). I'd also like to run a regular crafternoon where we can do more skills sharing.

What kind of rad fatness might be associated with Yorkshire?

I guess the main reason we're called the Yorkshire rad fat collective is because we wanted there to be a specifically fat positive space in Yorkshire. One of the things I love about Yorkshire is that it has a massive DIY focused community – people are much more able to do their own thing up here as it's cheap to hire spaces and possible to live on less money. I see this as informing the activism and community I'd like to build with the group.

What does 'collective' mean to you?

I guess to me, I see it as a space where everyone can make decisions and which is free of a hierarchical structure. All of us come from different backgrounds and have different skills and intersections between us and our bodies, so I see a collective as a space to bring together that difference in a way which (hopefully) still gives everyone a voice and provides a valuable support network to those who need it.

Anything else you'd like to say?

Come and hang out with us! Join the group on facebook at https://www.facebook.com/groups/255778594515036/ and tell us what you'd like to see happen locally.

Evans, Workfare and fatshion boycotts

Arcadia, which owns Evans, has been named as a participant in the UK government's Workfare programme.

Workfare is a generic term for programmes which force people to work for benefits. The fantasy is that a placement will lead to a job, but the reality is that corporations are now being propped up with free labour from people who will lose benefits if they do not comply. In theory, volunteering somewhere where you will make contacts and develop skills is a good idea. In practise people on Workfare placements find themselves forced to do the work that nobody else wants to do. When the placement ends, there is no guarantee of paid work, the company can simply 'employ' someone else, and the government picks up the bill. Workfare people are likely to be people who are already marginalised in terms of education or prospects, the scheme ensures that they will stay that way.

Evans is the UK's most visible plus-size clothing brand. Like most high street retailers in the West, Evans' company's clothes are produced cheaply in developing countries. The conditions in Arcadia's factories are unlikely to be swanky, and although the company has an ethical standard of allowing unions, many of its clothes are produced in places where there are no unions, as well as in China where independent trades unions are illegal. Evans' ethical trading standards look good on their corporate website, but reading between the lines shows that the company is anything but ethical.

Maybe this is not so surprising when you take a look at the boss of the company. Evans is owned by Sir Philip Green, a man so rich that he has someone follow him around holding his wine glass at a party so that he doesn't have to tire his own delicate hands. Green does not pay income tax on his £1.2bn salary. Nevertheless, he has been employed by the government to support its destruction of services which ensure, for example, that the very poorest people can survive.

I know that Evans' use of exploited labour in the UK and the rest of the world is unlikely to stop fatshionistas from promoting the company's products. It is galling that the original Fatshionista LiveJournal community was intended to be a place where companies like Evans could be interrogated, but that fatshionista has often come to mean a kind of vacuous and pathetically grateful consumerism that ignores the ethical implications of fat fashion. This is not to say that there are no excellent and critical fatshion resources out there, I only wish there were more. Evans' use of Workfare, the latest in a line of appalling business practises, should be a call for a boycott. This could be an amazing opportunity to flex some consumer power to force the company to behave differently. Other companies have dropped Workfare following vociferous public criticism. But the question is, do fatshionistas have it in them?

www.boycottworkfare.org

Edited to add: I can't believe I neglected to mention the gorgeous Make It Work zine by Kirsty. It's just been published and is everything Evans isn't. Snaffle a copy today.

Body Love Revolutionaries Telesummits 2012

I'm taking part in a series of telesummits called Body Love Revolutionaries, about fat culture and community, organised by Golda Poretsky, which runs more or less weekly from 31 January to 28 February 2012.

On 23 February I'm going to be talking about fat and queer and, more than likely, femme with gorgeous gussies Bevin Branlandingham and Jessica Jarchow. We'll be online at 7pm GMT (use a Time Zone Converter to find out what that means for you).

What's a telesummit? I've never participated in one before but I think it's like a conference phone call where anybody can ring in but where there are invited guests who will say their piece and who will be available for questions and discussion. This particular series of telesummits is accessible via Skype, and possibly other free internet telephony applications, which means that people participating internationally and long-distance needn't rack-up huge phone bills. The downside for people outside North America, where the telesummits are being organised, is that the time difference can be quite brutal. Recordings of the telesummits will be available free for 24 hours after they take place, as long as you register, and then for a fee on a sliding scale.

Register for access details at http://www.bodyloverevolution.com

Here's the schedule for the rest of the telesummits, with a whole mess of links. All of the times are in Eastern Standard Time, use the Time Zone Converter link above for local times.

Tuesday 31 January, 8pm EST
Activism
Peggy Howell, Amanda Levitt and Marilyn Wann.

Thursday 2 February, 7pm EST
Health
Linda Bacon and Ragen Chastain.

Tuesday 7 February, 8pm EST
Fatshion
Marie Denee, Rachel Kacenjar and Yuliya Raquel.

Thursday 9 February, 8pm EST
Sex
Hanne Blank and Virgie Tovar.

Thursday 16 February, 8pm EST
Blogging
Marianne Kirby, Margitte Leah Kristjansson, and Brian Stuart.

Tuesday 21 February, 8pm EST
Fitness
Jeanette DePatie and Anna Guest-Jelley.

Thursday 23 February, 3pm EST
Fatness/Queerness
Bevin Branlandingham, Jessica Jarchow and me.

Tuesday 28 February, 8pm EST
Politics/History
Paul Campos and Amy Erdman Farrell.

You can add yourself to the Facebook Event and tell all your friends, and Tweet about it with the hashtag #blrev if you're so inclined. Golda's got it all covered.

Call for DIY fat fatshion crafty zine contributions

Kirsty is putting together a zine, it looks really good and you should contribute, if you can.

MAKE IT WORK: A DIY fatshion craft zine

She says:

"Make It Work" has been a mantra within fatshion communities since I can remember, and I'm interested in exploring it as a radical premise of fat positive politics. [...] I want this zine to be about sharing the resources, skills and knowledge that we've gained, and for it to provide strategies for people to move forward with.