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It Got Fatter.

Dear Friends & Followers,

Six years ago this month, we started this tumblr almost as a joke. None of us ever anticipated that this project would explode in the way that it did, that we would be able to find and nurture a community of like-minded fat people of color both online and offline, or that so many people would be interested in hearing what we had to say about the intersection of fatness and racialization in the way that you all did. 

Over the past six years, It Gets Fatter has been able to present workshops, trainings and keynotes to audiences all over North America. We have provided invaluable space to fat people of color in Toronto through the Peer Support Program at the University of Toronto. We have contributed to changing the discourse around fatness and body positivity in meaningful ways.

Over this past half decade +, the landscape of fat activism has also changed considerably. When IGF started, “body positivity” was a fairly unheard of concept outside of tumblr and small groups on other social media. Today, body positivity is promoted by some of the most powerful corporations around the globe, and it is clear that body positivity and fat activism are not the same, nor do they share the same goals.

Starting today, It Gets Fatter will no longer exist, except on this tumblr as an archive and in the hearts and minds of everyone our work has touched. Thank you for supporting this work, and for all the ways you have shown up for us and for each other in challenging fat stigma and body shaming.

Asam

on behalf of the IGF Collective

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We worked for over a year with Action Health Canada to create this detailed resource for doctors, nurses, health care practitioners in better supporting fat patients. We hope this will be shared far and wide!

“We cannot afford to forget that, despite the media and general public’s constant use of “fat” as a metaphor for gluttony and excess, statistics repeatedly show that the majority of fat people in North America are both poor and racialized. This means that fat people’s health is not only impacted by the lack of adequate access to health care, but by a lack of access to affordable, wholesome and nutritious food as well. This is in addition to the impact of the stress that can come from dealing with other intersections of discrimination, racism, fatphobia, anxiety and/or depression, and from the lack of time and resources when working low-wage jobs where fat people of color are overrepresented. While everyone is entitled to quality care, doctors and health care practitioners can exhibit the same kind of biases that fat people experience outside the health clinic, which can jeopardize these really important relationships with doctors and with our own bodies. Fear of being stigmatized, shamed or constantly lectured on weight loss can cause many fat people to delay or forgo a visit to the health clinic altogether.”

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Hi, my photography professor who is chubby is always making comments about "unflattering" photos that for example show double chins, fat thighs, potbellies etc. These things are not inherently unflattering. I think that this is offensive and sad, how do I talk to him about it? What should I say?

Hey! Thanks for the ask. Please check out our FAQ or watch some videos to get an answer to your question. You can always pay us to come to your school if you want us to do labour for you :)Thanks! XOXO IGF

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I just tried to find other Fat Acceptance blogs and only found blogs that hate on fat people. Do you know any other blogs that you could recommend?I don't want to go looking and only find more hate.It is rather sad for me to find hate blogs like that

@bigfatscience @ok2befat @fat-posi-for-black-women @voluptuousvampire @fumbledeegrumble are some that come to mind.

- Mod Guillermo

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Check out this inspiring video submitted by @retrorocksy! Keep sending your submissions!

XOXO IGF

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She traced the marks that signified her growth

 and for once, she was unashamed. 

Wrapping around her shoulders, 

they look like raised veins, or a trees’ roots. 

Cradling her doughy hips, long thin marks, intricate, 

showing just how beautiful skin could be. 

Her largest organ proving itself to be way more than just protection, 

but art. 

Art made to house her soul, her energy, her spirit.

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how fat do i have to be? i'm 5"4' 150 lbs and as a trans boy those things combined are kinda demoralizing

How fat do you have to be? To do what? We’re not sure what you’re asking us. 

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Can we please stop perpetuating the idea that if you are not out you are somehow still “waiting” to have the “courage” to lead an authentic life? How many narratives of queerness are you erasing with this fake one-size-fits-all coming-out-of-the-closet narrative? Newsflash: there is more than one legitimate way to be queer, it is patently NOT safe for every queer person on this planet to be out, and telling queer people otherwise is violent and problematic as fuck.

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A bit off topic, but I was watching one of the videos on this blog and a victoria secret add came up- i simply found it a bit ironic and thought to share.

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Are there any online dating sites that you've noticed are decent towards fat people? Signed, an obese person thinking about putting herself out there

Do our readers have any suggestions?

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Stop telling people their body is “valid” without challenging the ways so many bodies and lives are invalidated every single day in the first place. Stop making verbal affirmations sound like the solution to *structural* inequality.

Asam / IGF

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Growth

It is Often horrifying In several different ways To suddenly glance upon mirrors and see the two layers of your flesh Better named “baby skin” Cracked open to reveal new skin already formed Blue Like shrimp veins Papery, but human.. It cracks like tile, The roots of trees Grabbing hard and growing fast in sheets of dirt Uncontrollable But we are ever wishing To hold it Rather than carry it Bind it Rather than wear it Wishing Slipping through your fingers like you were holding back the sea Unfrozen and unruly Vast and vastly polluted /My body/ It slips through our fingers Time, carelessness Any itching will held in the mind for vanity Oil, in the sea. I was blind to my body, Unfolding Like a venus flytrap Parting its jaws wide open Until it breaks at the seam And rolling back again to reform A thousand times Until I was full. Shameful but shameless, I hold it in my hands Like it was the whole word Or someone unborn Cradle it Shaking it Rooted to what I know Spilling like falls of change . A thousand times A thousand broken mirrors I sometimes - /we/ sometimes - Become afraid to change Horrified to what it looks like Old layered beneath new Like it was broken into But if tides one day pull north towards the sun Shining like we do Where else is there to grow But outwards.

By @femme4fatale

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ALL THIS GLORY (femme4fatale)

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My name is Hattie, I am 16 years old and a junior in high school. I am fat, I am bisexual, and I am Chinese. When I was younger my peers would taunt me with the nickname “Fattie Hattie”. Even though I’m over it, I still get anxious when people start rhyming my name. “Hattie Pattie Bo battie” because they most always stop abruptly and quickly change topic and it is evident that they have realized that my name rhymes with the cursed insult “Fattie”. It is hard to ignore me, I’m loud, I have pink hair and well, I take up more space than most people. It’s people like you that help me realize that “Fattie Hattie” doesn’t need to be an insult. It can be a term of endearment. Fat isn’t a bad word, fat isn’t something I have to be ashamed of. I am fat. It’s factual, I am fat and there is no reason why I shouldn’t be proud, and if not proud, at least okay. I am so grateful that blogs like this exist. Although everyday is a struggle to be accepting of my self and kind to my body, it is so much easier when you know you’re one in an army of many trudging through the mud of unrealistic societal standards and the cruelty of bigots.

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CALLING ALL FAT PEOPLE OF COLOR!!!

Are you Fat?! Are you a person of color?! Are you sick and tired of being made to feel bad about either or both of those things?! If you answered YES to the above WE WANT TO HEAR FROM YOU!! The It Gets Fatter Project is looking for submissions - video, text, drawings, audio, and other! - that discuss your personal journey to loving your body. We don’t just want to hear from folks who are well on their way - we also want to hear from folks who are just starting out. One of the main goals of this project is to create a community (virtual or real) of like-minded individuals so that all of us feel a little less isolated and alone when we face the many different forms of fatphobia that manifest in our lives. We want to hear about all the different ways fatness intersects with the other isms we already face in our lives - for instance, fatness & desire, fatness & ability, fatness & gender, fatness & queerness etc etc etc. If you don’t feel comfortable submitting publicly, you can also drop us a line via the tumblr ask or at itgetsfatterproject@gmail.com and let us know that you are out there. We hope one day we will all feel safe sharing our stories on the interwebs with this big wide world. XOXO IGF!!

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Listen to your body, even when it terrifies you.

- Asam / IGF (via itgetsfatter)

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New Workshops!

It Gets Fatter is a body positivity project started by queer fat people of color for all fat people of color. We are a tiny grassroots collective based in Toronto, Canada, and are now booking workshops for Fall 2016/Winter 2017! Bring us to your campus or organization! We present on a wide variety of topics, including Body Positivity, Redefining Health, and Queer Desirability. Our sessions are open to everyone, and we also provide closed workshops and peer support for fat people of color. We believe body positivity is necessary for any social movement that works towards social justice, as our bodies are the most vulnerable and often most targeted sites of oppression. We present nuanced, well-researched and thoughtful critiques of the medical industrial complex, body fascism, and the intersections of body policing with sex/gender/race/ability/class etc. 

We are committed to creating more spaces where these kinds of difficult conversations can take place! Keep reading to view a list of our current workshops, and email us at itgetsfatterproject@gmail.com if you have any more questions! 

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