Fat and Sassy

Since you've found this blog and have read this far, I'm guessing you're fat or are close to someone who is. Welcome to the Fatosphere! Here you will find all sorts of posts related to fatness (and probably a bunch that aren't, but hopefully you'll find them interesting anyway). I won't be able to resist bitching and ranting, but for the most part I want to keep it cool and just get some ideas out there. You know, radical ideas like: Fat people aren't necessarily lazy, sedentary, gluttonous, lacking in self control, etc. Some fat people are attractive (physically and personality-wise), just like some thin people are. Being fat will not necessarily make you unhealthy or shorten your lifespan. That kind of thing.

There are other blogs out there that deal with these concepts too, and along the way I hope to point you to some of those so you can be exposed to lots of good info to counteract the fat hatred that you encounter (or your fat friend or loved one encounters, if you happen not to be fat yourself) on a daily basis in a variety of ways, most of them subtle and sinister. I admit to being somewhat of a conspiracy theorist (not only about the diet industry), so as we go along I'll tell you my ideas about who is responsible for the current state of affairs where everyone feels fat and gross, the 'ideal body' keeps getting thinner, people are becoming simultaneously fatter and more desperate not to be fat, and nobody has any reliable information about the relationship between fatness and health (but a lot of people think they do).

I also happen to be a liberal, and I am extremely irritated by some liberals who claim to be open-minded and yet have an irrational hatred of fat people (the folks at Adbusters magazine come to mind). So I want to offer other liberal fat people some reassurance that being fat does NOT make you a spokesmodel for the megaconsumerist bigger-is-better mentality that liberals (including myself) love to hate. Surprise -- you can live an active, environmentally conscious life and leave a 'small footprint' even if you have a 'big ass'! You'll be hearing a lot more from my big ass very soon...