So you might remember that Today Tonight did a story last night on fat fashion within Australia, featuring an interview with moi! Well someone has kindly uploaded the video to youtube, so here I am in all my television glory.

By the way, it's actually not all about me. They also talk to Fashion Hayley as well.

ETA: The youtube video was removed. Once I can get another version I'll add it back in. ETA ETA: Finally found one!

Hello, welcome Today Tonight viewers! We hope that you enjoyed tonight's story on the show, and extend a warm welcome if you find yourself sized out of straight sized fashion. You're not alone!

If you are keen to connect with Australians who are interested in size acceptance and fat activism, please leave a comment! We have a whole heap of posts on the site since starting it a few months ago, so have a browse so you can bring yourself up to speed.

Here at Axis of Fat, we do not tolerate hate speak and fat bashing. If you are tempted to do so anyway, please leave a comment so we can delete it and block your IP address. Fat people put up with this hurtful and unproductive discrimination on a daily basis, and this is a most ineffective method of delivering your nastiness.

Cheers!

Hi guys,

I thought you all might like to know that I'll be appearing tomorrow night on the Australian current affairs program Today Tonight. If you aren't in Australia, I'm hoping to be able to link/embed a copy of the story once it has gone to air.

Otherwise, tune in at 6:30pm tomorrow night and check it out. I'd love to tell you more about the story, but I'm sworn to secrecy. Lets just say that I wouldn't post it on this blog if it didn't have something to do with the blog theme. ;)

I’ve seen a lot of the body image stuff that’s been happening recently in the media (magazines, news, tv) and haven’t really commented on any of it anywhere. Sometimes it’s nice to digest developments instead of bashing out an immediate response on my keyboard.

I’m very happy that body image is getting more and more play in the mainstream media, because Maude knows we’ve been talking about it online for years. The tricky thing about mainstream media is that instead of getting a bunch of like-minded people discussing the topic rationally (like in our fat-o-sphere vacuum, maybe), every person gets access to the topic and has the right to bash out an opinion even if they’ve never really thought about it before. It sounds kind of condescending, but many people don’t actually question their conditioning and resort to those pre-formed notions when talking about weight, body image, fashion and health. Let me illustrate this: a magazine hires a plus size stylist to write a column about her plus-size fashion experience and many people outside the body acceptance vacuum hammer out knee jerk opinions: What about her health? Blah blah blah health insurance! Fat people are TOTES GROCE! The hoi polloi aren’t even commenting on the actual topic: fashion. Instead they are falling back on the “go to” reaction to a fat person made visible.

So we have all this cultural conditioning, but the people outside the vacuum aren’t really aware that they have it. I’m trying to figure out if the awareness campaigns are genuine attempts to make people aware of their body image conditioning or if they’re just paying lip service to those inside the vacuum. I’m actually starting to think that the media is appealing to the masses, and limiting the scope of “acceptance” in order for people to deal with such a revolutionary notion. And that’s hurtful.

I’ve noticed that many stories on body image and acceptance also have this glaring caveat: it’s a wonderful thing to love your body, but not if you’re too fat. When Ellen had an army of plus size models on her show she bought into this notion and I was left with a bitter taste in my mouth. So, as a “deathfatty” I’m supposed to hate myself into an acceptable weight range and it’s only then that I can love myself? I don’t think it works that way Ellen! Not on a practical or academic level. It’s so arbitrary too, do I get a hand written invitation from some “deathfat” panel once I cross the threshold of acceptable body type? I will not, because as it stands no one can agree on that - well they can agree that slender is acceptable but where's the line in the sand?

It sounds a lot like many stories in the media are aiming this body image talk at women who are at a “typical” body weight and are aiming thinner. Are fat people totally co-opting this body acceptance talk? If we are, I don’t think it’s an intrusion. There’s this awareness campaign I’ve been seeing here and there called “End Fat Talk” and while I totally agree with it, I get the impression it’s not aimed at people of my size, it’s aimed at people who think they’re fat. I don’t mind co-opting this message. Actually I don’t mind co-opting any body acceptance message. We have a great privilege as blog authors, internet connection users and people who can communicate ideas and as part of that privilege I get to discuss these things that matter to me, with you.

We can’t exclude anyone from the body talk, I don’t think that’s fair. It’s the reason why many in the FA movement reject the notion of the “Real Woman” and thin woman as enemy. We’re all in this together.

Well hell-oooo Axis of Fat!

I'm Omega. Yeah, as in Ω ..

I'm a goth. I'm a steampunk. I'm a DJ. I'm a feminist. I'm a mother. I'm a geek. I'm poly.

Oh - and I'm fat.

I have been gifted by the fates with a classic hourglass figure. Regardless of my weight, my waist is always 10-15 inches smaller than my bust and hips, which are always the same size. It was true when I was a size 8, it was true when I was a size 20, and it's true now, when I am a size 16.Omega, being a poser despite the signs..

I have bright, bright, BRIGHT red hair. It's been this way well over a decade. A lot less people freak out and point since I moved to Melbourne from Brisbane a year ago.

I have two amazing partners, and a wonderful nearly-teenage daughter, and a cat, and two rabbits, and a vege garden... I have a job in Communications that I enjoy, and I have enough hobbies to sink a battleship. My world is filled with love and laughter. Life is good.

And that's exactly the mantra I was repeating to myself while listening to two of my co-workers talk about me. Our office bathroom is right next to the tea-room. You can hear through the wall. They didn't realise I was in there.. and were saying..

(for clarity, let's call them Office Bimbo 1 & 2.)

OB1 = Omega's jacket is nice.

OB2 = Yeah.

OB1 = It's such a shame. She obviously spends a lot of time on her appearance. But still she's just..

OB2 = Fat?

OB1 = Yeah. I mean, no matter what she does, you know...

OB2 = Yeah. I know. I'd rather die than be fat.

OB1 = Yeah, me too.

Now I'd like to be able to tell you that I burst out of the ladies loo, enjoying their stunned mortification for a moment, and then said something blistering and witty and wonderful that rocked their skinny little bodies back against the wall with its sheer awesomeness.. and then I sauntered my sassy large ass right out of there with a triumphant wiggle.

But.. I didn't. I just sat there. Till they went back to their desks. And then I went back to mine.

I have to work with them, you see. And - as much as their opinion annoys me, they have a right to it. No matter how stupid and ignorant it is, they're entitled to it. I mean, I'd rather DIE than be that stupid, know what I am saying?

But gaaah.. they'd rather DIE than look like me? That's pretty harsh.

Can you blame them, though? I mean, the range of "acceptable" if you listen to our media is pretty slim. narrow. not much wriggle room. (ha - see what I did there?)

Take this for example. This ad is currently holding pride-of-place on a huuuuuge billboard outside Flinders St station at the moment. I have seen it on buses and plenty of other places too. It's for Kayser Lingere..

It's selling underwear for different shapes of women. Great idea! But the models they have chosen...

Well, look for yourself:

Kayser ad - pear

Kayser ad - hourglass

Kayser ad - column

Kayser ad - apple

Now.. if you are anything like me - you will ask yourself.. are these the same girl?? (I dont think so..but they are so similar, it's hard to tell)  Is this photoshopped? (to within an inch of its life).. why oh why do people still think it's okay to chop off the heads/faces of people in ads?!?

Their slogan? Perfect Fit. Whatever your size. (so long as it's not more than an 18, or you're fresh out of luck.) Sorry. I added that last bit myself. Told you I worked in Communications.

Don't get me wrong. These women are gorgeous. Toned and terrific, every one. And now that the pixel wizards have waved their wand.. utterly flawless... but they are very, very similar. There are as many variations of smaller women as there are of bigger ones. Why, then, did Kayser choose these four, almost indistinguishable models when demonstrating different shapes?

Thank heavens they 'shopped in cute little props to signify what "shape" they are meant to be, because otherwise I would find it very hard to tell.

Is it any wonder that young women would "rather die" than deviate from this "norm?" Not that is the norm anywhere outside the magazine ads. and the billboards. and the bus ads. Is this the message we want to be sending?

All right, let's look what our friends at Kayser have to say about MY shape. The aforementioned hourglass. Here's the description from their website. The brackets are mine.

THE HOURGLASS SHAPE

The hourglass woman is considered the most feminie. With an ample bust and bottom she attracts a lot of attention. The hourglass woman must make the most of her curves, which are in all the right places.

(Now that doesn't sound so bad, does it.. no siree!)

ARE YOU AN HOURGLASS?

Think tiny waist, voluptuous hips & generous thighs....

(In what alternate reality could the model they have chosen be described as "voluptuous". We fatties have been using that word to avoid THE EFF WORD for years. And generous? If this is their idea of "generous" I wouldn't want to work there come Xmas bonus time, that's for sure...)

.....the shape that most women want to be.

(Really? Can someone tell the girls in my office that, please??)