I have little to no blogging inspiration at the moment. I’m tired, the whole flood thing across my whole country now, but very much here at home in my very back yard is weighing heavy on my mind, and I am so, so behind in reading Fatosphere blogs that I feel really cut off from everything that is going on out there.
But I want to give you all an update on Operation Baldy. In the few days since I posted the last update, about $300 has come in for the Flood Relief fund, with pledges for about $200 more and another $50 for the Cancer Council of Australia. Bringing the total raised so far at about the $2000 mark (give or take for the exchange rates). I am absolutely gobsmacked at the generosity of people, both near and far. You are all amazing people, every one of you that has donated. Whether it’s $5 or $500, every dollar makes a difference, and every one of you are generous, kind hearted souls.
Just a quick aside, if you’re in Brisbane, there is a canned food drive starting tomorrow in the Brisbane City Council libraries (running for a month). This food all goes to Foodbank, and all canned food is accepted, even canned pet food. If you’re near a library, how about popping in with a can or two. And tell them Kath said hello and that they’re doing an amazing job despite all the fallout from the floods.
So I’m less than a week away from The Big Shave. I oscillate between wanting to just get rid of my hair now, and seeing my pink locks and thinking “NOOOOOOOOOO!!” Of course Murphy’s Law states that the week before I shave my head completely bald, my hair is looking the cutest it has in ages. Ugh! I’m getting nervous that I’ll look really, really stupid with a bald head. But I’m trying to compensate by thinking of all the enormous earrings I will be able to show off.
Of course I’m still taking donations, and will be for some time yet. If you can help, click here for the details on how to donate.
In other news, I have booked in for another tattoo on the Friday after The Big Shave. I had some inspiration (and some holiday leave loading!) and found something so awesome to get tattooed on me, that I couldn’t wait another second. I showed my tattoo artist, Victoria from Wild at Heart the reference material and by her reaction I knew she was the one to do it. The piece is a sekrit (but for a few trusted people) but let’s just say it’s a beautiful fat positive piece that represents my learning to love my body and accept myself as I am. I can’t wait to share it all with you when it’s done.
While I’ve got you, it’s a new year, so may I ask you what kinds of topics you’d like to hear about on Fat Acceptance blogs? What things are first and foremost in your mind at the moment when it comes to Fat Acceptance? What gaps do you think we have when it comes to topics and discussions? Perhaps I’ll glean some inspiration and get back into the swing of things if we start a conversation here.
Fat Heffalump 
You are so brave! I’m nervous for you too. At least it will grow back and you’ll have lots of good stories to tell. “Remember 2011 when we had the floods and I shaved my head? What a crazy year!”
Yeah, and it grows really fast too. I have about three inches of regrowth at the moment, and I only bleached it last time about two months ago, a little less. I’m looking forward to dyeing it crayon colours while it is short.
I really needed to hear this! I’m 31 and have yet to meet the love of my life. Another one of my friends is getting married and my mother (a size 14-18 herself) keeps reminding me that it’s because I’m fat the reason why I haven’t had a boyfriend. I consider myself to be a fairly attractive looking girl but it’s been 7 years since I had a boyfriend. What should I do?
Buy a copy of Fat!So? by Marilyn Wann, read it, and believe it. A lot of us big women are in great relationships. Get yourself an attitude of flabulousness and all kinds of people will find themselves attracted to you.
Good Luck! I hope that book liberates and inspires you as much as it did me.
This should get you started: http://www.fatso.com
The Fat!So? book is a great tip! (Btw, I have many “skinny” friends in their late 20s, early 30s who haven’t met the guy of their dreams yet.) And if I had listened to my mom’s dating advice, I’d still be single, lol.
Piper I’m 38 and have yet to meet the love of my life. I’ve had some fun along the way though.
And here’s a really big lesson in life. Sometimes parents don’t really have our best interests at heart. My father told me nobody would ever love me, and yet that was not true. My mother told me I’d never accomplish anything, and that’s not true either. I remind myself that at my age, my mother had an 18 year old daughter. While I don’t think I’d have ever been abusive or hurtful, I’m sure I’d have made mistakes in the advice I gave my daughter if that were the case.
I can’t answer the “What should I do?” more than live your life to the full, have fun, do what you want to do and bugger what your parents or anyone else says.
I agree that you are brave!
Nah. Battling cancer is brave. Rebuilding your life after losing everything in a flood is brave.
Shaving your head and asking people to pay you to do it is just foolhardy!
A friend of mine shaved her head once. It did not suit her. But…she had fun doing it, took pictures of the entire process. Laughed her head off. Agreed that she would never, ever do it again, but never regretted trying it. So have fun, revel in it even if it looks horrible, and feel great that you will have made a difference.
Topics of particular interest to me:
1. How do I shut down medical professionals about my weight, without making them hostile or labeling me non-compliant or uninterested in my own health?
2. Examples of fun physical activities that cost little to nothing.
3. How to get past self-consciousness when participating in physical activities. I don’t care about being seen in a bathing suit, for example, but I hate it if I try something physical and I can’t do it and people see that.
4. Parsing through news articles on fat, nutrition and physical activity research. How to read them critically for good information without getting caught up in and over-annoyed with the lies and misinformation.
5. I’m not sure how to phrase this one. As an example, if a friend of mine mentions to me that she’s thinking of putting her young child on a diet because of the childhood obesity epidemic – how much do I say and how do I say it? Its her child, I don’t feel its morally right for me to interfere in how she’s raising it (especially being childfree), and yet I couldn’t stand aside and do nothing if she hit the child in front of me. Where do you draw the line between advocacy and interference?
6. More fat positive roll models.
7. Triumphs and good news.
8. Dealing with procrastination.
ROLL models – I love that!
LOL…sometimes typos are funny, so I won’t apologize for my bad spelling :).
Thanks for the topics Sarah, I’ll note those down and see what I can do with them.
Kath, glad that you have come through the floods, and thanks for this chance, as I can’t yet figure out how to fit my questions into 140 characters.
My first question is about fat acceptance and poverty.
I often have the feeling that the FA people are all well educated, and therefore not from a marginalised class. However, the fast majority of fat people are poor, and I wonder if you think there is a disconnect between what FA people are saying, and what fat, marginalized people would be saying if they had a public voice.
writes well about it, I think, but I would like to know what you think about this.
That’s an excellent topic eelt. Let me think about it for a bit and I’ll see what I can come up with.