Stacy Bias: Press

This horrible mention appeared in the Willamette Week On August 23rd 2006.

"Are you a fatty? Want to be in a book? Waddle over to a computer, grab your typing stick (those sausage fingers hit too many keys at once, don't they?), go to stacybias.net, and fill out the contact form for your chance to contribute to Bias' FatGirl Speaks, a short-fiction anthology inspired by her event of same name."

Which resulted in a huge call to action, highlighted here on BigFatBlog:

http://www.bigfatblog.com/archives/001885.php

And the resulting publication of my letter (and thankfully several others) listed below:

http://www.wweek.com/editorial/3243/7935

"While I appreciate the mention of the call for interview candidates for my book project (seen in Words, Notes from the Margin, Aug. 23), I am rather baffled as to how Ms. Starr thought that her lowbrow, dehumanizing, grade-school-bully-taunt tone would in any way present a fetching case for involvement? Was her intention in bringing up the prospect solely for the purpose of providing a platform for her to hurl childish insults, perpetuate ridiculous stereotypes and openly mock a large percentage of your readership? If so—well, bravo, I suppose.

However, I'd encourage the WWeek and its staff to reconsider providing a platform for hate speech. As a form of media, you are uniquely positioned in the public eye, and as such, have a greater responsibility to take care in causing harm. I realize that self-loathing is lucrative, in that it's harder to sell your advertisers' products to a happy and satisfied consumer, but perhaps it's inadvisable to be so blatant about taking your readers down a peg?

Ethics, WWeek. Ethics.

Hitting one key at a time with my "sausage fingers,"

Stacy M. Bias "

-- and the resulting apology from Karla Starr:

"Karla Starr responds: I initially wanted to use this space to tell people to laugh it off, but then I started reading my emails—all of them. And responding. To each one. There were only so many heartfelt stories about weight discrimination I could read before realizing just how many people I'd hurt—and how many others I hurt who never wrote. It's forced me to seriously reconsider my definition of humor and body image and appreciate the influence of my words. After experiencing firsthand the power of reading so many stories, my appreciation and respect for Stacy Bias' work and upcoming book has grown tremendously. I'd like to thank everyone for writing and helping to open my eyes; it's always appreciated, at kstarr@wweek.com. I sincerely apologize to Ms. Bias and everyone I hurt with my words, which perpetuated the notion that weight discrimination is the last acceptable form of prejudice—regardless of your past or present size, it's never OK. "

--- So if y'all think you can't make change -- Think again! It's possible!

SWIM FAN AC-free club Holocene wisely shuttered its doors last Sunday in the face of P-town's Hades-like temperatures . The silver lining of the closure? Cupcake , the club's monthly queer-friendly "fatty fete," which was scheduled that day, relocated to North Portland's Peninsula Pool for a two-hour bout of aquatic chub love called the Chunky Dunk Pool Party . According to Fat Girl Speaks/Cupcake organizer Stacy Bias , more than 70 people showed up for the afternoon swim, "in their sexy suits and trunks with sunscreened tattoos glistening and perfectly coiffed Esther Williams hairdos floating carefully above the water line." Scoop hears there was even a freakin' cannonball competition. If you now feel as if you've missed the plus-sized social event of the summer, don't fret. Bias is busy planning Chunky Dunk II and III for two Sundays, Aug. 13 and 27 . Visit fatgirlspeaks.com if you wanna be part of it.

WE SMELL A TREND First Saint Cupcake opens and now this? Last Sunday, Scoop gorged itself on another sweet lookin' feast at Cupcake , plus size celebrators FatGirl Speaks ' new monthly dance party at Holocene . Supersized, super-sexy go-go girls , including FatGirl founder Stacy Bias , made for double the booty shakin' while free homemade cupcakes and drinks rimmed with graham-cracker crumbs lent the queer-friendly fete for fat positivity some very good taste. Get your flab on every fourth Sunday at Holocene.

Cerebrally chapped bookworms found relief in July when local webmaster Stacy Bias debuted Literati Lip Balm, a puckery library of lip smackers titled after lit heavyweights like ShakeSpearmint, PoeMegranate, Alcott Apricot and Brontë Berry. "I'm a writer and an editor, so this was the next logical step," says Bias, who edits technodyke.com and created the super-sized local celebration FatGirl Speaks in '03. The Literati series is a follow-up to Bias' first, racier line of lip balms, Pussy Pucker Pots (think Labia Lemon and Chocolate Nipple Ripple). But whether she's championing gay rights or literacy, a portion of sales go to local and national nonprofits. Bias' only lip-service problem? Finding ways to highlight enough women authors. "That's hard," she says. "because not much rhymes with Dickinson." Get schmeared with the written word at In Other Words (3734 SE Hawthorne Blvd., 232-6003) or at www.literatibalm.com.

Queer Window
Back that Azz Up
BY BYRON BECK | bbeck at wweek.com

[April 30th, 2003] Some people need to think before they shoot their mouths off--myself included.
In Washington, D.C., Sen. Rick Santorum is under fire for equating homosexuality to bigamy, polygamy, incest and adultery. In Portland, Marty Davis, the editor of Oregon's largest queer publication, Just Out, is feeling heat, too. Not for saying something as stupid as Santorum, but for far more subversive comments that could end up being just as damaging. And while the senator might lose his position of power, Davis won't. She owns Just Out.

In a March 7 editorial, Davis sent shivers down the backs of fat dykes everywhere by saying that they need to lose weight, as she herself had done. In a column a year ago, Davis remarked that the laissez-faire attitude the lezzie community has toward weight needs to be broken and that she'd step forward as an example. To school the schleppy legion of heavyweights, Davis wrote, "Look at yourself. Look at what you're eating. If you're fat, you can't eat that stuff anymore." She went on to encourage a fat vegan to eat a steak.

Now, I like Marty. She's got balls and she tends to say what's on her mind. She's a lot like Stacy Bias. Bias, the mastermind behind the popular TechnoDyke.com, is putting the final touches on "Fat Girl Speaks," a celebration of women of size. Saturday's event will include a fashion show, music, workshops and a kissing booth--but don't expect to see Davis there.

Her decision to opt out of FGS might have a lot to do with Bias' March 21 letter to the editor published in Just Out, which called Davis' comments irresponsible and said they disregard the ideas that "fitness and fatness are not always mutually exclusive."

At 5-feet, 10-inches and 350 pounds, Bias should know. She says she started FGS due to the barrage of images of perfect bodies and the fact the media doesn't give happy people of size a voice.

"It took me 28 years to be happy with myself," she says. "That doesn't mean I don't have health or fitness goals. But health is my aim, not weight loss." Bias describes Davis' remarks in terms of the ignorance some people have toward homosexuality. "It's like telling a lesbian she just hasn't found the right man," Bias says.

I had to ask Davis to respond.

"Many, if not most people, are overweight for the same reason that I am," says the 54-year-old, who is halfway to her target weight. "It's the consequences of choices made. You can continue with these choices or you can make new ones. I've chosen the latter. Make choices or make excuses. It's up to you." Refusing to be labeled fat-phobic, Davis says, "I view it as a health issue--period."

Bias, on the other hand, wishes Davis would recognize that the world isn't so black-and-white. "Not everybody is going to follow the same socially acceptable path to fitness that is crammed down our throats every day," she says. "What Marty needs to learn is that the most progressive, radical, feminist act that any woman could do in this world is to love themselves and their bodies just the way they are. As long as you're OK with yourself, nothing else matters. That's the perfect platform for change."

I guess it's true what they say: Size really does matter.


Fat Girl Speaks
Hollywood Theatre, 4122 NE Sandy Blvd., 281-4215, www.fatgirlspeaks.com . 4 pm workshops begin, 7 pm fashion show, 8 pm evening show Saturday, May 3. $3- $6 sliding scale.

Myth America Show
BY BYRON BECK | bbeck at wweek.com

[May 5th, 2004] I've come face to face with the most beautiful woman in America. And guess what? She weighs 375 pounds.
Stacy Bias shatters any illusions I had about fat chicks. The fearless leader of the lesbo-centric website TechnoDyke, Bias is sophisticated and accomplished, a big flirt full of energy and confidence. Instead of sugarcoating her size, this 5-foot 10-inch, big-time beauty celebrates her fatness and wants other girls to do the same.

"Don't postpone joy," says Bias, sounding like an anti-Oprah, "no matter what your size."

Just as gays and lesbians transformed the phobic word "queer" by claiming the label as their own, this 29-year-old thoroughly feminine femme made it her mission to transform the f-word--that's F-A-T--into something more fun.

Her Herculean efforts resulted in last year's hugely successful Fat Girl Speaks, a celebration of size, self and sexuality.

This year's fatty fete will be at the Roseland Theater, where 800 plus-size women are expected to partake in live performances, fashion shows and workshops--including one devoted to keeping fit.

That's right, fat people can be fit, too.

I found that out when I met Bias and her personal trainer, Maria Callahan, at Loprinzi's Gym in Southeast Portland. This old-school weight room proved to be the perfect spot to crush the misguided myths I had about fatties. Like the notion that big girls aren't sexy.

"Big girls get plenty of lovin'," Callahan says.

"But fat femmes have a hard time," Bias says, explaining her belief that it's easier to be a big, butch dyke than it is to be a large lipstick lesbian. "Fat butchies get to work out their daddy fantasies."

They also clued me to the fact that big gals are strong.

"Fat girls need to take action to empower themselves," says the rock-solid, 220-pound Callahan, who will lead this weekend's Fit and Fat workshop. "It's all about finding out what you can do at your size, not what you can't do."

Sadly, all women, fat or skinny women, get plenty of messages about what they should think about their bodies. Not too many of those messages are healthy. "No matter what her size, every women thinks she has 20 pounds to lose," says the 38-year-old Callahan.

Likewise, dangerous new television shows like The Swan and Extreme Makeover encourage women--and men--to take drastic measures when it comes to weight loss. These mesmerizing shows send the message that if you are fat, then there must be something wrong with you, something that can be fixed with a suction tube, peer pressure, and low-carb bread.

In its own sweet way, Fat Girl Speaks works to transform the message of self-loathing into an attitude of self-loving. And I respect that. I also have a newfound respect for all those people who accept themselves the way they are--weight and all.

"We're fat," says Bias, matter-of-factly. "So let's have a party."


Fat Girl Speaks Roseland Theater, 8 NW 6th Ave. 1 pm workshops, 7 pm show, Saturday, May 8. $10 advance, $12 at door. Tickets are available at www.fatgirlspeaks.com or In Other Words Bookstore, 3734 SE Hawthorne Blvd., 232-6003.

Queer Window
Surfing to Lesbos
BY BYRON BECK | 503 243-2122

[May 22nd, 2002] The Portland-based web port known as TechnoDyke.com caters to girl-loving gals (it strives to include bi and trans sisters/brothers as well). And since its inception two years ago, this Internet isle for lesbos has come to play an important part in the lives of many Sapphic community members--which comes as a bit of a surprise to its creator, a 27-year-old Web designer and decade-long Portlander named Stacy Bias.
"It started as a hobby," says Bias. "I was on the verge of losing a job at Egghead.com. I had three months of work with nothing to do. I thought I'd make a podunk home page."

Far from being podunk, this Mom-and-no-Pop op is the second most viewed lesbian-specific site on the Web, just behind the mega-popular, mega-funded, LesbiaNation.com--judging by the number of unique visitors it sees each month (around 40,000).

So why does Stacy think her site has clicked into the hearts and minds of lesbians everywhere?

"A lot of LesbiaNation's content comes from syndicated columnists who contribute their pieces to different websites," says Stacy about the much more mainstream web-catcher. TechnoDyke's content may not be as polished, but it maintains original voices. And it's a place to talk to the people who accept you about the people who don't."

It also veers away from more naughty websites.

"We're more about the woman, and less about the vagina," says Stacy about her website's hip, tip-filled content. But that doesn't mean that the girls who gather here don't talk about sex.

"We're not that wholesome," says Stacy. "We are very sex-positive. We just talk about sex in more progressive terms, and we don't have a lot of naked pictures."

Alongside respectful smut talk, TechnoDyke offers an easy-to-access list of updated daily features including astrology, personals, free email, message boards and tons of interviews with queer celebs like Amy Ray, Kate Clinton and Pat Califia (who came out on this site as transgendered). Two of the more thought-provoking and popular columns are Fat Girl Speaks and a new drag forum where readers find stories on everything from packing their "packages" to how to pass as a man.

But it hasn't been easy. And the future of TechnoDyke seems to be uncertain. SuperStacy has help from a handful of volunteers and writers she pays out of her own pocket, but essentially she's a staff of one.

"I've been working 80 hours a week for the last two years," says Stacy, who's now on the verge of losing another day job that she's not allowed to talk about. "It's always been hand-to-mouth."

While Stacy refuses to give up, she also refuses to charge a fee for the site , which means there's not a whole lot of cash rolling in.

"I'm not in it for the money," says Stacy. "There are a million other things I could be doing, but every time I think about quitting, something wonderful happens. Like when I got a letter from a young woman who finally found the courage to come out after getting support on the message board. It all gives me the strength to put in another 80-hour week."