Fat Matters

My last blog post, in response to a controversy generated by blogger Jim Dandy Goodness, as a result of my letter in the London Free Press, has gotten some flak. It's this paragraph that caused the problem:

"There are no overweight and slow athletes on the Thames Fatales. To be brutally honest, that was one of the reasons I co-founded LOCO Roller Derby, a recreational derby organization that fosters the sport in women of all skill levels without as much risk of injury (www.locorollerderby.com). We take all the retired, fat, slow derby girls (including myself, by the way) and skate Friday nights for fun. Some of us are better than others, but we don’t pretend to be elite athletes."

Basically, some ladies in LOCO feel like I called them fat, and they don't like it. Let's unpack that.

People see being fat as a bad thing. I don't. I've been fat my entire life, and only recently have I begun to explore body politics and embrace my fat and love my fat. Being fat isn't a bad thing. Neither is being skinny or tall or short. Some people are fat. I am one of them.

The word FAT is a loaded gun. People use it to hurt others. People use it to denigrate themselves. People have an irrational fear and hatred of fat, fueled by many reports that FATNESS causes health problems, ruins society and is generally disgusting. These attitudes are explored by much greater minds than mine at blogs like The Rotund, Fatshionista, Shapely Prose and my latest indulgence, the Fatcast. Educate yourself a little bit, and you'll discover that FATNESS is a bigger issue than you realized, and that body acceptance and body love are issues that affect people of all sizes, not just the morbidly obese like myself.

Part of my journey into body politics includes embracing the word FAT as a valueless descriptor. I am fat. There is nothing wrong with that. I no longer use that word to mean a negative thing.

In the paragraph in question, part of the reason I used the word fat was because I was being honest and there are fat people in LOCO. There are skinny people too. There are some terrific skaters that would kick ass in competitive skating, and there are some not so good ones too. I also used that word--let me confess--because I know that some skaters in another league have used the word FAT to try to tear down what LOCO is and what LOCO is trying to be.

It is essential to LOCO and everything our recreational derby organization stands for to embrace body acceptance and love and discard these criticisms as basically idiotic. The whole point of recreational derby is to allow women of all shapes, all sizes and all abilities to play roller derby. There is no contest, no bar to measure up to, where we are the fat, slow, bad skaters versus the thin, fast, awesome skaters. That's not the case. We are simply the organization that is open to fat, slow, bad skaters -- because we don't give a shit how good you are. We just want you to know you can play. You're allowed to play. Our program is open to any woman over the age of 19 who can get skates on her feet. Hell, if you're without the use of your legs and you can find some way to skate, we'll see what we can do!

As a co-founder, when I envisioned LOCO, I thought of all the things that initially attracted me to roller derby. I thought of the female companionship, the sisterhood, embracing a sport (a feminist act in itself), building a community and having a lot of fun. These were the founding ideas of LOCO: fun, friendship and fitness. Let's add another f-word to that list: FAT.

I'll tell you why FAT matters. It matters because fat people are told they are garbage their whole lives. They are told that they are less than perfect, that the only reason they are less than perfect is their own lack of willpower or fortitude. They are denied the right to dress like the rest of society, date like the rest of society or enjoy physical activity like the rest of society, and especially denied the right to enjoy food like every other human being on the planet. They are shamed, blamed and left out. Just like many visible minorities, fat people are discriminated against.

LOCO Roller Derby is, first and foremost, open to everyone. It is a place for all women, no exceptions. With that in mind, I embrace my fatness as a derby girl, and the fatness of any woman I skate with. And when I say that LOCO has fat skaters, that's a good thing. It means we don't turn people away or weed them out by socially ostracizing them or using any of those other nasty means society has used to get rid of the scary fatties. Bring it on! We love that adipose tissue!

To members of LOCO who were mad about what I wrote, I wish I could apologize, but all I can say is that instead of worrying that people are going to think you are fat because you are part of the "fat, slow league," then you need to get over it.

If you have any questions or comments about this, please message me, because I would love to offer you some resources including the book When Women Stop Hating Their Bodies and help you start to liberate yourself from the fat-loathing culture we live in. After all, this blog isn't just about derby. It's about a BIG ASS derby girl. That's me.

Vansterdamn
XXX