Category Archives: Work

Things are happening!

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This summer is going to be jam packed with so many amazing things I cannot wait for everything to happen. I thought I would give a rundown of where I will be and what I will be up to the next few months.

1. I just had an article about trolling posted on Bitch Magazine’s blog. You can find it here – Trolls Don’t Just Want to be Rude—They Want Power Over Us

2. Body Policing: Hit From All Sides – I’m co-hosting a tawk (that’s what they call it) on Thursday June 5th at 8pm to discuss trolling, #notyourgoodfatty and other fun fat stuff. Please join us!

3. The Allied Media Conference June 19-22 – I posted about the conference organizers raising funds for the Abundant Bodies track and I will be involved in three different workshops over the weekend. I am not only talking about visibility and surviving fat hatred in one workshop but racism within fat community in another. Lastly, I am part of a round table / session talking about how to create an inclusive fat community.

4. I won the Netroots Nation scholarship and will be going to that conference in July 17-20. I’m so excited about it and thank you to everyone who voted.

5. Finally, I am presenting a paper about trolling at the Society for the Study of Social problems in August. It is held in San Francisco so it will be nice to travel a bit as well.

I hope to connect with fat community all summer!

Call for Photos

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On March 25th I will be doing a presentation at Oakland University in Rochester Hills, Mi titled “Dissenting Bodies – Visibility, Fat Politics and Challenging Normal” during their Women’s History Month Series. Part of the presentation will center on people reclaiming their bodies by becoming visible. This will be very similar to what I wrote about in my post on selfies and how they can be used to challenge the gaze on your body by having control over how your body is visible.

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Photo example, totally going to be in this presentation..

Since the theme of the series is to discuss feminist expression, I really want to tackle visibility by challenging feminist discourse on body image and reframe the discussion around people who don’t conform to beauty ideals. This will be done to show how focusing on what beauty ideals are and not the social consequences of what it means to live in a deviant or non-normative body has built body positive spaces around people with the most privilege, while also creating a movement that is often considered depoliticized or disconnected from systemic / institutional oppression.

A lot of the discussion will be about how fat bodies are viewed in society and imagery of fat people in the media but I want to start the discussion with how the bodies of marginalized people are viewed in society differently depending on the identities they possess. This is something that has been severely lacking from feminist politics and I want to give context to understand how constraints of visibility while they can differ between people all have a common thread, which is to restrict or limit difference.

If you want to be part of this presentation, send your photo to me via email (as an attachment) to fatbodypolitics_260b@sendtodropbox.com

I’m going to collect photos until March 10th and I should have more information about the talk soon.

**Just an fyi, the sendtodropbox email sends all of the email attachments and puts them into a dropbox folder. It’s super awesome and free.

Update:

I want to emphasize that I am not just looking for fat identifying individuals but anyone who feels that they don’t conform to white thin cis heteronormative able bodied ideals. I’m also being purposely vague on how people decide what it means to be visible for them since that can be defined differently depending on who you are. Some people are incredibly uncomfortable with taking photos of themselves, which is totally valid so people have used other means of being visible.

Here is an example,

 

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Or even part of your body like this photo via fatheffalump

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Please submit and share. ❤

Waitressing While Fat

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Since I started this blog 5+ years ago, I have consistently gotten traffic from search results where people ask if they can waitress while fat. Over the years I have seen people in the restaurant industry that came in all shapes, sizes and abilities. What I have never witnessed was someone not able to do their job because their body made it impossible, unless there was an underlying issue or injury.

Before you ask if you can be a fat waitress / server etc, you should be asking if you can stand for long periods at a time (depending on the place I have worked up to 16 hours straight), talk to people, remember orders, and work fast. None of those things require you to be thin, but create a level of service that works for you.

While your ability to do a job is not limited by your body, the kind of place you want to work might change because of it. I don’t want to work at a place that is filled with thin model types, like hooters. Not because I couldn’t work there, though I wouldn’t fit into their uniform, but because the environment that I would be walking into is not the place where I can come in and just do my job. I’m hired to give a service not be objectified, or become part of the scenery. Some people are completely ok with doing that because it works for them.

I’m not; I’m not here to be pretty or to flirt with them while they look down my shirt. I’m here to give them their fucking food. I might smile, but that is only because I feel like I should or I am in a good mood.

What you should be asking is what kind of environment do you want to work in? Because it is your mind stopping you, not your body.

Crafty Update, New Etsy Store Items

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If you weren’t aware, I recently added a page on my blog that links directly with my Etsy store ‘FW Originals.’ There you will find all of my random bits of craftiness that you can buy and enjoy! I’m adding a few pairs of crochet earrings and a few valentine sets to go along with my button earrings and other items. I’m hoping in the next few weeks I will also have some crochet hair pins in the store as well!

(Click the images to see the listing on etsy)

If you live in the Detroit area the Spiral Collective is now carrying some FW Originals products. They are located at the corner of Willis and Cass just south of Wayne State’s campus.

Off to craft…

The Search for a Mannequin

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Now I normally wouldn’t worry about little things like a mannequin, that I was searching for to use with my etsy store, but after much thought about how to shoot some of my crochet items I realized it was necessary. What I didn’t think about was how small the mannequins are, proportionally this thing is tiny, my crochet vanity wraps seem to fall off the back.

In other news now that I actually have a light box (tutorial to make one here) and a mannequin to use, I’m hoping my store will stop its major failing and someone will actually buy something.