Title (as given to the record by the creator): Shameless
Date(s) of creation: Unknown, 2000s?
Creator / author / publisher: Pat Wilkinson
Location: South Worth, FL US
Physical description: half-size photocopied zine of 28 pages, with drawings and type and handwriting at multiple angles
Reference #: Shameless
Source: Katie Tastrom
Links: [ PDF ]
NOTE regarding content: Many images and statistics in Shameless are loosely credited to Susan Kanos, or to Fat!So? (presented without specific attribution to the individual creators) and are referred to by the zine author as “‘stolen’” and as unwilling gifts. This archive is about preserving fat history and that includes crediting people for their work. To the extent possible, we have added attributions and we recognize that some of that work is by people of color and/or superfat people. Attributions for images are listed in the Image Descriptions. Many of the statistics (ex: pages 4, 10, 13) come from the Body Mass Index of Fat Culture by Sondra Solovay featured in each issue of the zine Fat!So?.
Page – Cover
[Image Description: On bright pink paper, a hand-drawn, undressed, small-to-mid-sized fat person with prominent leg hair wears a bolo tie, western hat, and boots. Stars eclipse their nipples, but full bush is featured prominently. The person winks, wearing gauges, underneath a hand-drawn banner that reads “Shameless.” Between their open legs, the words: “A Brief Intro to Fat Phobia and the transformative power of Fat Lovin. A heart dots the letter “i”.]
Transcript:
SHAMELESS
A BRIEF INTRO TO FATPHOBIA AND THE TRANSFORMATIVE POWER OF FAT LOVIN’
Page 1
[Image description: pink paper with no images]
Transcript:
[heavily stylized text] SHAMELESS
I decided to name my first sola zine after my goal in life: to become completely shameless. To me, being shameless is about destroying self-loathing, guilt, false modesty and all those internal voices that tell me I’m not smart, sexy, strong, brave, thin, successful, positive, or politically active/aware enough to meet the challenges at hand. Of all the sources of shame in my life the shame of my fat body has been the most omnipresent and difficult to conquer. It rears its ugly head most viciously when I’m doing things I really enjoy; dancing, kissing, biking, masturbating, dreaming, and fucking. After being consistently taught that my body is despicable and disgusting for 24 years and being a pretty good learner I’ve had it. I’m beginning a determined fight to love myself and accomplish complete and total shamelessness. On the way, I plan to take out some ugly, good fer nothin’ fat hatin’ lies. YEEEHAW!!!
[diagonally across the page] “Fat-bottom girls you make the rockin’ world go ‘round!” -Queen
Who I am
I am 5 foot 3 ½. I weigh 198 pounds. I ride my bike every day and eat lots of vegetables and like eating fish. I am good at fire dancing and a strong swimmer. I work as a nude model for art classes and quit smoking 120 days ago. I come from a white middle class family and am queer and a feminist. I read a lot and speak Spanish. I am also a self-identified fat persyn.
Page 2
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I am currently living in South Florida. LAKE WORTH DON’T PLAY!!!! Way down here people are a lot more willing to share their sick distorted ideas and prejudices about… everything. From race to gender, fat to queers; you name it they’re ready to bash it. The willingness of men to objectify me and expect me to appreciate it, car drivers who actively hate bicyclists, white people expecting me to join in racist stereotyping, and gays telling me that bi-sexuality is bizarre, threw a curveball at this west coast radicalized gal, to say the least. I grew up in Arkansas but the south looks real different through my eyes now. Seeing all the ugly isms staring me in the face and not glossed over by west coast lip service politics knocked me on my fat ass. But after recovering a little, it’s giving me fuel to fight. There’s something refreshing about being able to see the enemy, not the people but the hatred. I can yell back at the dudes who cat call me or dialogue with them if I’m feeling particularly spheroid. I have the opportunity to address stereotypes within my community and be listened to even if i’m not agreed with. Having a community that is generally respectful makes this a less painful experience than living in one that is competitive and judgmental. (Insert another shout out to the L.W. crew). Still, dealing with overt sexism and fatphobia on a daily basis is exhausting. I’m hoping that thru this zine i can offer some food for thought and a wider vision of fat lovin’ to a bunch of folks at once. Now that you know a bit about your authors agenda, background and bias I proudly introduce the first and only edition of Shameless.
[handwritten] *If you got thrown off by the word spheroid it’s because it’s totally out of place. It was a suggestion from the computer’s spell check program. I liked the way it sounded and left it in.
Page 3
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Fatphobia is not = body image
Fatphobia is fear, disgust, and hatred of fat. Body Image is the way that we perceive our bodies, which is often distorted and self-loathing. The two issues are intertwined but certainly not synonymous. The confusion about this seems to motivate many comments about how thin people, people with hairy bodies and big noses etc. are oppressed, too
[written in the margins by an arrow pointing from the word “too”] when fatphobia is being discussed
These complaints are valid. We are all suffering under fascist beauty standards. (No, I’m not using the word fascist lightly. The beauty standards we are pressured to live up to are quite similar to Aryan ideals.) Nonetheless when I talk about fatphobia, getting the “Get over it, I did” attitude from thin people is infuriating. Looking at the number of weight loss articles and diet centers as compared to hair removal, plastic surgery, and fat gaining ads, articles and clinics sets fatphobia apart. I imagine that some people got a little confused when I said “fat gaining” , I did it to make a point. The only articles I’ve ever seen about
Page 4
[Image description: Placed on the right side of the page, a hand-drawn illustration of a naked person with short hair resting on their back, legs up, with arms folded above their head.]
Transcript:
shakes. This creatively keeps up sugar addiction and cravings for sweets while teaching the dieter that she’s making healthy choices. When she stops she gains back the weight, and often more. The diet industry has a new addict.
*percentage of people who are satisfied with their health: 88
*percentage of women who say they diet for their health: 21
*Percentage of American women who avoid wearing a bathing suit: 88
Many of these things feel cliche and played out to say, but clearly the need to hear them still desperately exists within radical communities. When the joke “Punk Prom” king and queen are elected they are thin and often the most stereotypically attractive kids in the room. Anarchist folk still tell me ” You look good. You’ve really lost weight” (fortunately i haven’t lately)
[pasted sideways on the page] In one survey those polled would rather lose an arm than be “fat.” Another survey asked people whether they would be willing to gain ten pounds and keep it for the rest of their lives for a million dollars. Guess what their response was? You got it, “not even for a million dollars”.
Page 5
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Transcript:
Dixie
South of the Deep South
The climate is hostile
to
wimmin,
Bicycles,
and
fat.
Integral parts of
my life,
degraded daily
Waves of heat
and anger
Make me bolder as
Horns honk,
cars swerve closer,
Eyes assessing my body
like unwanted fingers
running up my spine.
“Sexy,
Baby,
Mami,
Gorda”
As if i’d asked for their
Opinions
On my wealth of sun-kissed
flesh.
I didn’t.
And I’m not asking now.
[pasted sideways on the page] Researchers placed TWO FAKE PERSONALS ADS, one for a woman described as “50 POUNDS OVERWEIGHT [sic]” and the other for a woman described as a drug addict. The drug addict received 79 PERCENT OF THE RESPONSES.
Page 6
[Image description: At the bottom of the page, an illustration from a rubber stamp of a naked woman in high, shiny platform heels bending over alluringly in “cheesecake” style. Her straight, short hair is in a bob and a beaded necklace hangs from her neck as she smiles. She is sporting a heart tattoo on her butt. Although no attribution is provided in Shameless, the rubber stamp is by Jack Keely, who owns the copyright. The image appears to have been taken from Fat!So? Issue 4.]
Transcript:
THINGS THAT ENCOURAGE FAT LOVING
(most of these things can be used to encourage general shamelessness)
masturbating and touching ignored or underappreciated parts of your body
-getting massages
-massaging other fat people
-taking good care of your body
-only having sex with people who respect and desire your body the way it is without criticizing
-telling people that you don’t appreciate fat jokes or “well meaning” diet advice
(sometimes just telling them to shut the fuck up feels good, too)
-fat positive art; create it, appreciate it, give it away, put it everywhere
-give fat people compliments (but only genuine ones)
-refuse to be weighed
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Transcript:
-reading fat positive books and zines
-not dieting
-remembering that possibly the most attractive thing a persyn can do is believe that they’re attractive
-look in the mirror and say “damn, i’m fine” out loud. This will almost inevitably make you laugh. Laughing is sexy, too.
-enjoy eating and do it in public
if you’re feeling really brazen and someone gives you the “oh-my-gawd i can’t believe she’s eating that” look, try licking your lips and winking
-wearing clothes that you feel sexy in, if you don’t have any acquire some
-tear down diet ads. replace them with something more interesting.
-getting naked with the lights on. by yourself. with a partner, swimming, etc.
the world won’t stop and if you’re naked with other people it’s highly unlikely they’ll be stereotypically perfect either.
-not dieting (yes, i know, but it’s worth repeating)
–ask out someone you have a crush on. it’s quite possible they’ll say yes.
-take a self-defense class. your weight can be used to your advantage
give yourself the love that you fantasize about receiving from someone else.
Page 8
[Image description: two small line drawings of a thin woman’s face. One is obscured, and the other shows her drinking from a glass. Both have straight, light colored hair. The women appear to be white and one is wearing pearls.]
Transcript:
I recently got an order from a zine distro. It came with a bunch of random stuff
[handwritten] I recently got an order from a zine distro. It came w/ a bunch of random stuff, including the article I cut this out of. [An arrow points to the article excerpt.] MISINFORMATION
12. The connection between weight and health problems is iffy. Yes, it’s documented that fat people are more susceptible to heart problems, cancer and lung problems than skinny people. But are health problems caused by fat, or is fat the result of health problems? Believe it or not, there’s no evidence that losing weight will make you as healthy as someone who’s naturally thinner.
[handwritten] This is an article in Sassy magazine stating reasons not to diet. I appreciate the sentiment but the delivery is lacking. Why do the people who wrote + reproduced this article think that stating that fat is a cause or effect of disease will make dieters less worried about being fat? Also, people do not get proportionally healthier the more naturally thin that they are. I’m not a science buff but I’m pretty sure that correlation ≠ causation, nor does 2 events happening in the same body mean they’re related. I’m 5ft 3in and got a yeast infection last week. Sigh, if only I was taller.
Fight Oppression
Resist Victim Mentality
I’ve been thinking a lot about quantifying oppression and the impossibility of doing such a thing. It’s confusing and awkward because we’re all oppressed and all oppressors in different ways. Sometimes, there seems to be a competition in radical activist and anarchist scenes to be “more oppressed than thou.” (bell hooks writes good stuff about this in killing rage.) Why are we compelled to build movements on isolating, victim mentality? We are much stronger when we focus on the power of our combined experiences and united strength. Victim mentality encourages self-pity; and pity–our
Page 9
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Transcript:
Own or anyone else’s–is limiting. It also leaves oppressors in power that they can either choose to cede or not. It encourages guilt and shame in people who would probably prefer to be loving allies. How can we find ways to continue raising awareness about suffering and oppression without portraying survivors of oppression as victims? Especially when those survivors are ourselves. Someone suggested to me that our movement wants to appear victimized because successful movements have been organized by oppressed people, not well-off white folks (which not all of us, but a lot of us are).
The realization that I’m neither blameless nor condemned, a survivor and a perpetrator, oppressor and oppressed is liberating. As bizarre as it may sound, it’s lifted a weight of shame and of rage off my back. I am not as bound by good or evil dichotomies. I can let go of white guilt and work on undoing racism from a more honest angle. I can fight sexism as a womyn who’s motivated by her desire for equality and who is powerful regardless of patriarchy. I can include trans people in the self-defense classes I teach because I’m genuinely concerned with their safety, not fearful that I’ll be criticized or called transphobic. I’ve got to cut this off. This is supposed to be a izne about fatphobia, not a critique of my community. BUt this line of thinking has given me inspiration for another issue of “shameless.
[handwritten bullet point sideways along the page] After speaking to someone about his idea she said that she was neither comfortable w/ “victim” or “survivor” as words to identify people who’ve been assaulted or oppressed. It made me think, many people haven’t just survived. Lots of us have gone on to thrive. I haven’t got anything better yet but I’d love to know if anyone else does. Mmm… the joys of language revolution have such limitless possibility.
[pasted at the bottom of the page] Percentage increase in risk of hip fracture for 150-pound woman who loses 15 pounds: 280
Percentage of people who fully recover from hip fracture: less than 50
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Transcript:
Connections to other isms
Capitalism- The diet industry grosses about $40 billion dollars per year (gross is a particularly appropriate term here)
-The average fat woman earns $7,000 less per year than thin
peers.
-In a field study, 50% of landlords refused to rent to fat people. All the landlords in study were willing to rent to thin tenants.
-Wimmin are 10% more likely to live in poverty if they’re fat.
Sexism- 30,000,000 wimmin in the U.S. are on diets. Only 10% of dieters in the country are men.
-25% of wimmin surveyed said that they’d avoided sex because they felt fat.
-Fat wimmin are 20% less likely to get married by their mid 20s than thin wimmin. (Sure, not all of us are seething with envy over this, but it’s still telling)
-Men are only 11% less likely to be married.
[written sideways on the page] ∗Number of dollars american businessmen sacrifice in salary for every pound they are overweight: $1,000
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Racism- Fat people are often poor people of color. The hatred of fat combined with the stereotypes and oppression that people of color deal with compounds suffering and is used to legitimate racist ideas i.e. “people of color, especially wimmin, are lazy and would rather get fat off of welfare than work”. [Arrow points to an aside in the margins: ASIDE. Most people on welfare ar white.] Because no one who is fat does anything active or worthwhile … right?
All of the above- Body mass Indexes aka the stupid weight charts in doctor’s offices were based on a poll by an insurance company. The people surveyed were overwhelmingly white males all of which could afford insurance.
[handwritten] continues on next page —
“If American men are obsessed with money, American women are obsessed with weight. The men talk of gain, the women talk of loss, and I do not know which talk is more boring.” –Marya Mannes
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Transcript:
These “ideal’ weights were set around a tiny portion of the country’s population. Not to mention, the weights used were the responders’ reported weights. Lots of people lie about their weight. The higher weights were originally indicated for men and the lower ones for wimmin. Who would condone basing a system that would effect how millions of Americans think about their body weight and health on such faulty data? Maybe, the same people who could get rich by overcharging fat people for insurance, selling dangerous and ineffective diet drugs, weight loss plans, and those most likely to be considered “healthy” by these standards. Hmmm… sounds like another plan from “The Man” to me.
[collaged magazine clipping, white on black text] In a survey of university students, 80% of women and 20% of men said they were “terrified” of being overweight.
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Some things I like about being fat
1) I get away with more illegal things due to the fact that the general public sees fat people as dumb, lazy and compliant. [arrow points to a handwritten aside] White skin privilege is also a HUGE factor.
2) I can float for as long as I want.
3) My sexual partners will never see me as a “trophy girlfriend”.
4) People get out of my way when I’m in a hurry.
5) I’m not seen as fragile.
6) My fat recently inspired me to start creating fat positive art.
7) i have no fear of getting fat.
8) i can be a great example of strong fat wimmin to kids I work with.
9) Soft bodies are great for hugging.
10) When I work as a nude model people tell me how much they like drawing my curves.
11) people rarely borrow my clothes.
13) my big breasts look good in a corset
14) i already have a lot of experience taking up space.
Percentage of Americans who call education one of the most important problems facing the country: 3
Percentage of Americans who are “very concerned about saturated fat: 61
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Some pointers on treating fat folks with respect.
– don’ t assume we have eating disorders.
-don’ t assume that we’ re lazy, gluttonous, desperate, lonely, sexless, inactive, weak, stupid, or using food to deal with an emotional disorder (generally, not assuming is good)
-Analyze your own fatphobia. i.e. if you wouldn’ t have a fat partner consider why.
-keep ignorant fat hating comments out of your conversations and publications.
-If you fuck fat folks, appreciate them the way they are. *If you like it in the sheets don’ t dis it in the streets.*
-Recognize that not all fat wimmin want to be called Earth Mothers.
*I have not given birth to anything, much less a planet.
-Make events fat friendly. Provide large, sturdy chairs. Consider fatphobic messages in fliers, presentations, and provided material.
-Don’ t expect all fat people [page is cut off]
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Transcript:
FAT PRIDE IS SAFE, EFFECTIVE, AND GOOD FOR YOU.
about being called fat. (It’s not an easy thing to do) [arrow points to an aside] Also, people’s definition of “FAT” differs enormously
-If someone does identify as fat, don’ t tell them that they’ re wrong, just “healthy,” “voluptuous,” “thick,” or use any other offensive euphemisms.
-don’ t come to fatphobia groups and talk about the trials and tribulations of thinness.
*Why do we have to keep saying this?!
-Recognize that thin does not equate health or fat the lack thereof. Good health is a mix of eating well, physical activity, healthcare, environment, and privilege.
-don’ t be shocked when fat people do difficult physical tasks.
-Be responsible for fat hating language you use in front of kids. Hatred learned young is hard to let go of.
– “Wow, you’ ve lost weight” is not necessarily a compliment.
-Don’ t pity fat people. Probably better not to pity anyone. it’ s degrading.
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[Image description: A grainy copy of an illustration of a nude with breasts wearing a tight necklace and bracelets.]
Transcript:
-Encourage zine distros to carry fat loving publications.
-Be conscious of using the word fat excessively with self identified fat people to increase your newfound comfort with the word. (imagine having any physical characteristic constantly pointed out, it’ s boring at best)
-Don’ t wait for fat people to address fatphobic comments. Anyone can identify and confront stereotypes .
Page 17
[Image description: A four-panel comic on the bottom of the page features two sets of characters conversing over a table of food. The first two panels feature what appear to be fat women in short-sleeve v-neck shirts with a box identifying the year as 1910. In panel 1, the person on the right holds a plate full of food and says, “I know you are stuffed, but that’s the price of beauty. Have some more.” The person on the left responds, “Will it ever change?” In the second panel the woman on the left responds, “Change! Ha! Will men sprout winds and fly?” Below, two panels feature thin people under a box identifying the year as 2004. Their plates and glasses are empty. The person on the left says, “I know you’re hungry, but that’s the price of beauty. Let’s clear the table.” In the second panel, the person on the left asks, “Will it ever change?”]
Transcript:
[handwritten] Beauty is a construct used to objectify everyone + eroticize whatever is currently less common. To hell with rich white dude’s beauty standards + everyone else’s for that matter CREATE YOUR OWN!
Hilde Bruch quotes a French physician who, in 1911, wrote:
One must mention here that aesthetic errors of a worldly nature to which all women submit, may make them want to stay obese for reasons of fashionable appearance. It is beyond a doubt that in order to have an impressive decollete each woman feels herself duty bound to be fat around the neck, over the clavicle and in her breasts. To her it is a true sacrifice because she gives up what the world considers beautiful.⁵
[collaged sideways] Lillian Russell, who was famous for her beauty in the late 19th century, would be considered very overweight by today’s standards
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F.Y.I
Fight yuppie indoctrination
-Fat is more about nature than nurture. If a kid has one fat parent they have a 50% chance of being fat. If they have two fat parents then they have an 80% chance of being fat.
-It’s not neciscarily that fat parents are passing along bad eating habits to their kids either. Studies of identical twins raised in completely different enviormments weighed within 5 pounds of eachother’ s adult weights.
-Fat is not a death sentence or a definitive sign of any type of health malfuntion.
*High weight corolates with higher likelyhood of some illesses and lower chance with others. Fat folk are less likely to get cancer, some respiratory diseases, osteoporosis, some types of cardiovascular disease, anemia, scoliosis or commit suicide.
*Fat people are no more likely to have clogged arteries than thin people.
-Those charts at the doctors office are a crock of shit for a lot of reasons. They’re also hypocritical. People considered in the “ideal” weight category have shorter life expectancy than those in the “overweight” category. Since when is dieing sooner ideal?
– Thin people have trouble gaining weight, similarly fat people have a hell of time losing weight. This is because of metabolism. Some peoples bodies bum thru fuel faster than others.
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-thinness is not healthy for everyone
-losing weight especially in the roller coaster style dieting leads to makes people more prone to some illness and disease.
-dieting does not work!!! 90-98% of diets fail. This is counting “success” as keeping weight off for 3 years.
-Models often meet weight criteria for being diagnosed as anorexic. Some say that a womyn who is 5ft. Should weigh 100 pounds and add 3 pounds for every inch above.
-History suggests that wimmin’s beauty is defined by what is most intangible. In a country where the average womyn is a size 14, setting our ideals as as size 7 or below continues that trend.
[handwritten written sideways] *I don’t identify as “a person of size” Everyone has a size. A size 0 is a size. Unless fat is something to be ashamed of why not use the word?
In a 1993 study 40% of 5th graders felt they were “too fat.”
i’m not going to be bothered with citing sources for all this info that i’ve generously offered up. do your own homework. there’s some quality books mentioned on the reading list.
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Transcript:
FAT AMERICANS ARE
Lazy, Disgusting, T.V. Junky, Fast Food Addicted, Car cultured, Rich Capitalist Pigs
RADICAL FOLKS, please take these stereotypes and stick them in a vegan, organic, refined sugar and wheat-free pie, chew on ’em, and swallow them down so that they can be properly processed into the shit that they are.
Sure, some fat people are all of these things. So are lots of thin people. We’ve established that thin people don’t eat less or corner the market on health, and that fat people are only slightly more likely to get thin and stay that way than short people are to get tall. Fat people meet job discrimination, are openly ridiculed and harassed, discriminated against in college admission, get paid less, and are more likely to live in poverty. Many fat people are people of color and wimmin. Here comes a big fat rant.
These facts are only slightly ignored when some self- righteous and usually thin activists decide to make fat capitalist and “fat pig” cop puppets, put similar icons in their zines or other publications, give fat car drivers hell and tell them to get a bike so they can get rid of some of that fat ass, mail unsolicited and ignorant fat hating propaganda from their distros, or use veganism as a suggested weight loss diet. I am angry. I am fat. I was fat when I was vegan. I haven’t owned a t.v. for 6 years, I don’t eat fast food (except when I’m really hungry and find it in the trash), I drive cars about twice a year and have depended on my bike for transportation since I was 19. Did I mention I’m still fat. Sometimes when I talk to people about fatphobia it encourages them to share all their fathating ideas with me, and make casual fat hating comments in my presence.
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[Image description: A thick, illustrated fat fist is upraised. Words say “Fat Power.” Although no attribution is provided in Shameless, this illustration is by artist Yuri Vann and was published in issue 3 of the Fat!So? zine as a centerfold sticker. Later, Yuri Vann’s image appeared in the book Fat!So? on page 47.]
Transcript:
My absolute favorite is when people I’m romanticly involved with get a wild hair up their ass to share their hatred of fat… with me. It is wrath invoking, but also a little confusing. Do they really think I’m thin? Do they think I think I’m thin? Do they think because I’m attractive, I’m not fat? Or that since I’m attractive it’s “voluptuousness”, not fat? Why is it that when we enjoy a persyn from a group that we have hateful prejudices about, that the respected persyn becomes an exception to the rule, as opposed to questioning the rule?
My second favorite is when radical activists air their fatphobia as if it is creative and funny. I was reading a bike circus’ zine and fantasizing about joining until I got to the quotes page that had a witty quote from one of the circus members about telling a fat motorcyclist to get a bicycle so the motorcyclist could get thin and healthy like him. The other brilliant quote was about g.e. foods making people fat. There was no evidence given that the statement was based on anything more than prejudiced assumption. I wrote an email to the circus that they never responded to. One more statement that fatphobia is not even worth addressing. Everyone, especially people who have chosen to focus their lives on equality need to assess the sources and validity of their stereotypical ideas.
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[Image description: Four photocopied images of different CEOs are placed at angles. They are identified as: “Phil Knight, NIKE CEO; McDonald’s Corp. Chairman and Chief Executive Jim Catalupo; Shell CEO Something Smith – I lost the paper with his first name; and Michael Eisner, CEO Disney.” They all appear to be middle age or older white men.]
Transcript:
Just to shore up my convictions that fat-hating stereotypes linking my fat body to rich capitalist dudes are erroneous I did some homework. I looked up the CEOs of the first big, bad, evil corporations that I thought of and found photos of them on the Internet. I win. The CEOs of McDonalds, Nike, Shell, and Disney aren’t fat. The CEO of Shell wouldn’t make a great poster child for Slim Fast (or PET A for that matter) but none of these filthy rich capitalists would be recognizable as the pigs in suits type puppets that so often fly over anti-globalization marches. Not even the former CEO of McDonalds who just died of a heart attack. I included their photos for your viewing pleasure.
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I am not the poster child for fat love, impeccable eating habits, or a bottomless fountain of fat knowledge. I still apply fat-hating stereotypes to myself and others. Sometimes, I eat dumpstered donuts + pastries when I’m not even hungry. I don’t follow any rigorous physical activity plan. I just bike or walk where I need to go. I swim because I like it. I have some disordered eating habits. Many fat + thin folks (especially gals) who grew up w/ anorexic + fat hating parental figures do, too. A big motivation for ts zine is my own therapy. I have no delusions that all fat people are portraits of health. Lots of people would fare better physically if they ate better and moved more. Some’d get fatter, some thinner. I’m also aware that Americans are getting fatter faster then other people. We’re getting taller, too. We also hate fat more. Makes me think of prohibition. Food has become an ‘immoral’ drug. The chocolate that you “shouldn’t eat” is sexier than spinach that you “should.” I believe firmly that it’s easier to hate things into being than out. I think the solution to people becoming sizes that are unhealthy for their individual bodies is the same as the solution to fatphobia. STOP HATING FAT! Accept and enjoy that bodies come in different shapes + sizes. Food will cease to be “forbidden fruit.” People will begin to eat primarily for the nourishment of their bodies and the pleasure that brings. Of course, people will still eat occasionally for pleasure only, but won’t spiral into the depths of self-hatred and addiction for such a minor transgression.
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[Image description: At the bottom of the page, an illustration shows the outline of a fat body and drawings of fat organs and fat bones inside the body. An arrow points to the image with the words, “She’s not fat, she’s just big-boned. Although no attribution is provided in Shameless, this illustration is drawn by Marilyn Wann and appears in her zine Fat!So?, issue #4. ]
Transcript:
Anti Copyright Message
I “stole” a lot of the information used in this zine. I don’t believe that anyone owns information, certainly not me. Reprint, distribute, sell (if you can find people to pay for it), or claim as original thought, anything + everything with-in these pages.
A lot of the info in this zine, especially stuff w/ #s + %s were lifted from FAT?SO + Susan Kano’s book. Thanks, y’all, for your unknowing + unwilling gifts.
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[Image description: Pink paper. No image.]
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READING LIST
Fatlovin’ books
-FAT!SO? the zine and the book. Wann
-Making Peace with food: Freeing yourself from the diet and weight obsession. Kano
-Big Fat Lies: The truth about your weight and health. Gaesser
-Fat GiRL: The zine for Fat Dykes and the women who want them
-Fat Pride: A Survival Handbook Grosswirth, Martin
-Rethinking Obesity: An Alternative View of its health implications Ernsberger, Paul
-Shadow on a Tightrope: Writings by Women on Fat Oppression available thru Aunt Lute
books books on masturbation
(because enjoying your body and getting yourself off are huge steps toward self-love)
-For Yourself. Lonnie
-Sex for One: The Joy of Self loving. Betty Dodson
just damn good
anything by bell hooks
Doris zines
Zora Neal Hurston’s books
Summerhill by A.S. Neill
The Never Ending Story and Momo
By Michael Ende
RESOURCES
Fatso.com 1-800-0H-FATSO
-NAAFA 1-800-442-1214
P.O. Box 18860 Sacramento, CA 95818
myself- patwiIkinson@hypocrisy.org
Page 26 – the back cover
[Image description: Line drawing showing a fat chin and lips that appear to be wearing lipstick.]
Transcript:
A Big Fat Kiss to everyone who took the time to read this zine – xxxooo
May you become as shameless as you dream of being
