Stacy Bias: Press

Amazing. Portland's Willamette Week recently promoted Stacy Bias's upcoming FatGirl Speaks book (mentioned here) with this poorly-worded crap:

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.

No foolin' - that is the actual text.

Stacy put a call to action on her LJ, and I highly recommend contacting Karla Starr, the column's author, and her editor too. That is, if we can all collectively waddle to our computers to do it. (@#@$@&*!!) Riiidiculous.

Update: Stacy has posted a couple of responses she received from the column's author. The overall tone isn't apologetic; it's ignorant. While she has said the words were supposed to be "funny"... it sounds a little like backpedaling. Stacy was invited to come in to discuss the issue (?!) but so far has refused. And, I agree with her choice - this should be a no-brainer, issue an apology kind of situation.

Karla also pulls the "I used to be fat, so I get it" card - but she clearly, oh so clearly, does not get it.

Update No. 2!: Well, a nice, nice turnaround has taken place here. Check out the comments: the current issue of the paper (no online link yet, apparently) includes very fat-positive responses, along an apology from
Karla Starr. She's also been answering all emails (per BFBers' experiences) and has definitely changed her tune.

Way to go to everyone who wrote in and handled this tactfully! And thanks to Karla Starr for listening and being open to discussing things further. Excellent.

Posted on August 28, 2006 in The Media.

Fatgirl Speaks: The Book

Stacy Bias, the person behind Fatgirl Speaks out in Portland, is working on a book about the fat experience and wants your stories.

[The book] will consist of a series of monologues suitable for stage performance, all around the topic of fat. Bias intends to interview 150+ women of size, all across the United States, and in Europe, Eastern Europe, Africa, Samoa, Asia, India and South America. Bias will be filming her journey in road-diary style, as well as recording audio of all interviews.

Fat PDX Gets Some Love

Portland is making a mark as the next San Francisco when it comes to fat lib. Stacy Bias, the woman behind FatGirl Speaks!, is getting press for her latest brainchild, Cupcake, which is "a body-affirming monthly party and social event that supports Fat PDX".

The positive article also mentions Leonard Nimoy's photography (discussed here last March):

While the pictures may seem shocking to some and merely titillating to others, according to activists like Bias and [Heather] MacAllister, any public display of bountiful beauty is, in this atmosphere of anti-fat prejudice, a political statement. That applies to dancing in a nightclub as well.
Compare this to the meat market mentality - which gets maligned from a Cupcake participant - that is pervasive in a fair number of other dances and events. Is it still a political statement if it involves hooking up?

Fat PDX is now an official not-for-profit, per the article, which means they'll be able to leverage that to boost their activism. And good on 'em. They are making a difference, and deserve our support!