After nearly five years of writing about the issues that matter most to fat people, we are doing something we’ve never done before: ask you for help.
We’ve supported a great number of worthy projects over the years because we strongly believe in supporting our fellow fatties as they create public awareness of what it’s like to be fat in a fat-shaming world. We’ve shared our personal experiences and we’ve interviewed experts who shatter the current paradigm of “eat less, move more.” And we’ve done all of this because, like you, we want our voices to be heard.
And we’ve most certainly been heard.
We led the fight against fat hate groups on Facebook, which are now virtually extinct. Go ahead, try to find a group like “There’s a weight limit on leggings & skinny jeans.” They’re non-existent.
And when the Strong4Life campaign began shaming fat kids, we responded immediately by blogging every single day about why stigmatizing fat kids is dangerous and wrong. We even managed to obtain the support of the notorious fat-shamer Dan Savage.
In the end, we convinced Alan Guttmacher, director of Eunice Kennedy Shriver National Institute of Child Health and Human Development (NICHD), to write a letter denouncing Strong4Life.
The fact that a representative from the National Institutes of Health (NIH) spoke out against the Strong4Life campaign even got the attention of the BBC and led to the premature ending of the horrific billboards.
We’ve meticulously documented and mercilessly mocked an entire season of The Biggest Loser so you wouldn’t have to. We’ve fought discriminatory employment practices at CVS Pharmacies and Michelin Tires. We’ve shamed Carter’s Children’s Clothing out of supporting fat-hating “health” campaigns.
We’ve done all of this because we wanted to have a strong platform to defend our rights and our integrity as fat people.
And we’re tired.
It’s not easy to maintain a daily barrage of in-your-face citizen journalism or to motivate people to join an ongoing fight to shift attitudes and behaviors toward fat people. It’s even more difficult when you’re asking people to fight the good fight based solely on the goodness of their hearts.
And so, we are asking you to help us ensure the future of Fierce, Freethinking Fatties by helping us bring our website into a new era of sustainability. We need a new website.
Not only will this new website be more functional and useful, but it will enable us to include advertising that will enable us to finally compensate our bloggers for the great work they’ve doing for years.
Personally, I have resisted the urge to monetize this site out of principle, but lately you may have noticed that the content is not coming quite as hard and fast. As I said, our bloggers are starting to feel burnt out and life has a way of interfering with these kinds of volunteer projects. We have some fresh new faces among the ranks who are eager to refresh our ranks, but we still need those long-time contributors to keep this ship upright.
If we can monetize the site to the extent that we can pay our bloggers per submission, then not only would our existing stable of bloggers have greater incentive to contribute, but we would be more able to attract more new bloggers would may provide a much-needed perspective.
I realize this is all “making the sausage” information that blogs don’t usually share, but I have always felt that our readers have as much a stake in Fierce Fatties as the bloggers do. That’s why we put new bloggers to a public vote.
As much as we take credit as the content-creators of this blog, it’s you, the readers, who have kept us going this long. For five years, the thing that has motivated most of us is knowing that you read each and every post, that you share our content with others, and that it has helped you and many others in the struggle toward self-acceptance.
And now, for the first time, we’re asking for you to help us back.
We have launched our $2,000 IndieGoGo campaign/contest.
Despite Santa having been fat since Thomas Nast created the red-suited image we know today, he has been blamed for being a poor role model and an enabler of fat kids everywhere.
We want you to vote with your money, even if it’s just one dollar, on the Santa you love the most: Skinny Santa or Fat Santa.
If you donate $10, you’ll have your choice (while supplies last) of the following books:
- Body Respect by Linda Bacon and Lucy Aphramor
- FAT: The story of my life with my body by Jean Braithwaite
- Read My Hips:Â How I Learned to Love My Body, Ditch Dieting, and Live Large by Kim Brittingham
- Viral Nation by Shaunta Grimes
- 10 Steps to Loving Your Body (No Matter What Size You Are) by Pat Ballard
- Dr. Deah’s Calmanac: Your Interactive Monthly Guide for Cultivating a Positive Body Image by Deah Schwartz
You can also get a life-coaching session with Tiana Dodson, a training program for eating disorder educators, a one-pound variety bag of caramels from Nirvana Sweets, or a customized knit hat from a long-time reader.
Any money we raise above the $2,000 goal and any money we don’t spend on website design will go to the 3rd Annual International Weight Stigma Conference, which is run by our Fierce Fatties alumnus Angela Meadows of Never Diet Again UK.
The Weight Stigma Conference is an inter-disciplinary event that brings together scholars and practitioners from a range of backgrounds (e.g., psychology, medicine, public health, allied health professions, education, sports and exercise science, social sciences, media studies, business, public policy, law) to consider research, policy, rhetoric, and practice around the issue of weight stigma.
We’re pulling out all the stops to make this fundraiser a success over the next 30 and we’re asking you to help as well. Even if you can’t donate, please spread the word about our Battle of the Santas and help us reach our goal of making Fierce Fatties a permanent part of the conversation about fat people.
A million thanks to everyone who donated their goods and services to this fundraiser. And a special thanks to Tessa Shackleford of DumbKat Press for designing the dueling Santas. Check out her Etsy shop for the twisted artwork for that deviant iconoclast in your life.
Filed under: Themeless Thursday
- Repost by dzzfashion.blogspot.com - Source link::http://fiercefatties.com/2014/12/11/gift-exchange/
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