Fame & Fortunate
I am thrilled to report that Big Fat Deal is mentioned in not one, but two nationally circulated magazines this month. That’s right, people. We are officially fancy.
First off, we’re in BUST Magazine, which you all need to buy immediately because as you can see, our hero Beth Ditto is on the cover.
Fatshionista reports on this article:
Not only does it have a lovely photo of Beth Ditto and her kitty cat, Rhoda, on the cover complete with a full interview inside but on page 18 they have a whole article entitled Wide Girl Web. It lists a small list of the “best plus-sized sites” on the internet. My scanner is on the fritz so I can’t share it as I wish but the places listed were: Joy Nash’s “A Fat Rant” on YouTube, Nation of Size, Big Fat Deal, NOLOSE, Shapely Prose, and last but certainly not least…LJ Community Fatshionista!
As if this wasn’t awesome enough, we’re also in Women’s Health this month, along with a bunch of weight loss blogs. Back In Skinny Jeans has a photo of the article, and if you look at the lower right-hand corner of her photo, you can see us, blurry but famous. Other blogs featured are Sister Skinny, Cranky Fitness, and Erin’s Lose the Buddha. Reader Latoya writes in to say she’s not sure if this is a good or bad thing:
All the other blogs focus on weight loss. Your blog is described as “The water cooler of weight loss.” And in their synopsis, they say: “Read scathing, no holds barred commentary on everything from a sorority guilty of weight discrimination to the contents of Anna Nicole’s fridge, and you’re bound to feel better about the numbers on your scale.”
I read the blog as part of my education on fat acceptance, so I couldn’t decide if this shout out was a good thing or a bad thing.
Latoya, you make a great point, and this is definitely not a weight loss blog. However, I love the fact that we can coexist with weight loss blogs, and that people who are losing weight or want to lose weight read Big Fat Deal alongside people who are happy at the weight that they are. I think our message applies to those people too: Don’t beat yourself up. Don’t set unattainable goals based on the bodies of celebrities. Don’t think you have to lose weight to be sexy, or happy, or active, or loved. I would much rather open up a dialogue with those people than to alienate them. And I’m happy to think that, while reading weight loss blogs for inspiration, Women’s Health readers might turn to us for a dose of self-esteem, common sense, and self-acceptance.
So welcome, BUST and Women’s Health readers. And BFDivas and new readers alike, I would love to know what you think about Big Fat Deal being listed alongside weight loss blogs. Is it a good thing or a bad thing?
Posted by mo pie
Filed under: Beth Ditto, Magazines, Meta
Email us
I think it’s a good thing. Like you said, maybe being listed with them, someone beating themselves up over weight loss and body image might visit this site and realise that there are people who don’t. Maybe they might read it and laugh or sneer or snark, but maybe they’ll stick around. Maybe they’ll start reading the other blogs linked in the sidebar too.
I think it has the potential to be a bad thing, but it’s essentially a good thing.
You might get people visiting, saying things like “why don’t you people even try to lose weight?” Which, you know, isn’t even the issue here.
But, like you said, hopefully we’ll be able to reach some people that have never even heard the term “body acceptance” or “size acceptance” and we’ll be able to teach them a thing or three. And that? Can’t be anything but a good thing.
I think it’s awesome – you guys absolutely deserve the exposure for what you do here, and I think people need a resource like this – the more who read it, the merrier!
I was really glad to see BFD on the list. I think given that the list was conceived as a “weight loss” blog list in the first place, it seems like a positive trend that they tried to include blogs that aren’t strictly about shedding pounds.
It’s funny, in my own mind, my blog (Cranky Fitness) is NOT about weight loss, it’s a blog about health and fitness and whining–but when you advocate eating healthy food and getting lots of exercise, people assume you’re all about weight loss. A lot of my readers are trying to lose weight, which adds to the confusion. But for the record, I try to keep the focus on health and not weight. (Though for some people, in some circumstances, these two things may be related and so ‘diet’ and ‘weight loss’ are topics I do deal with).
Anyway, glad to be mentioned in the company of such a great blog, and congrats on your multiple media mentions!
Though it may cause some jerks to drift your way, I think that it will probably end up being a very positive thing for others. I found my first FA blog linked on a diet site I was frequenting and that day I decided it was time to change what I was doing.
I’m sure there’s another me out there just waiting to be exposed to this.
I think many people have an inner fat girl, no matter what their size. I let mine get nurtured here.
Lisa
I don’t mean this in a bad way, Mo, but considering your WW journey and such, BFD may not be a weight loss blog per se, but it is not really NOT a weight loss blog either, IMO. (Though of course it is not a diet blog in the traditional sense of this is my weigh-in, this is how many calories I ate today, etc.) There is plenty of discussion here from time to time of how Jamba Juice and fast food have so many calories, and obesity is a health crisis, and is such and such a new weight loss approach effective, and so on. Probably that is actually a good thing because I consider that BFD lies somewhere between diet blogs and fat acceptance blogs, and that likely means that it fills a unique need for lots and lots of people.
But in any case, I think you take a very sane, balanced, COMPASSIONATE (and yes, self-acceptance- and self-care-promoting) approach that is incredibly rare online and you guys deserve all the recognition you are getting. Congratulations.
As spacedcowgirl says, it fills a niche I don’t see anyone else occupying right now. I’m very glad it exists, as Purity of Thought is a fine and inspiring thing but makes me tired after not all that long at all.
I think its a great thing! Just got my issue of Woman’s Health and when I read through the Blogs listed, this is the one I HAD to look at. Weight loss/health support is great but first and foremost a blog about being ok with just the way we are. That’s what I wanted to see first. Doesn’t mean I don’t strive to be healthy but its nice to ultimately read about realistic views and ideas that we all face. Way to go!
Probably that is actually a good thing because I consider that BFD lies somewhere between diet blogs and fat acceptance blogs, and that likely means that it fills a unique need for lots and lots of people.
Absolutely. As one of those who IS willing to alienate dieters (as far as my blog is concerned), I’m really glad BFD is here for people who are somewhere in between self-flagellation and all-out fat acceptance — and I think that’s a LOT of people. So many people just don’t know it’s possible to have a conversation about weight that doesn’t involve talking about how bad you are, and how you won’t really be good until you hit your goal weight, etc. So I’m thrilled to see you guys offered up as an alternative to calorie-counting, self-punishing blogs. Congrats!
Mo, you absolutely do the best job when it comes to providing a forum for people to talk about these issues in a positive, safe, inclusive environment. I think for many people – like myself – who started off on the whole weight-loss blog route, and subsequently lost weight, the whole process became unsettling and, not surprisingly, unsatisfactory in so, so many ways that those ladies at WW didn’t prepare us for. ;)
You provide proof positive that what’s most important is that acceptance starts from wherever you are. And that’s way more important than any other message and absolutely should be a part of any discussion about body image and inspiration.
It seems as if it’s a good thing, since that’s what you’re aiming for. But, that focus does put this blog between two pretty polarized communities. It might be a good idea to make that position easier for new or infrequent readers to find out about. Maybe you could add something under “What’s the Big Fat Deal?” so that readers don’t mistake this for either a place to air body-related negatively or a size acceptance blog?
I’m very glad this blog exists. I have a lot of love for my body, and after a period of abusing it with recreational overeating and not exercising I’m really happy to be getting it back on track to where I want to be – curvy and muscular and strong, and wearing a smaller size. It doesn’t mean I hate fat people, hate my body or hate myself.
I have never considered BFD’s general position to be incompatible with weight-loss, necessarily. Just tending to discourage body-prejudice of whatever form.
I’ve been reading since the blog was launched, though, and I got here via weight-loss blogs. In fact, Pound and Lose the Buddha were the first blogs of any kind that I read, and I found Mo through LTB.
Pound used to have something in its FAQ about size-acceptance and weight loss not necessarily being incompatible, and I’ve found that to be true; in fact, it was necessary for me to accept my body for what it was in order to start getting out there and exercising, and finding out more about ways to be healthier. Without which, I wouldn’t have lost any weight.
(That said, being healthier is worth it, for me, whether I lose any weight or not. So maybe I’m not a “real” weight-loss blogger. I also wouldn’t call myself a “dieter”.)
I would be sad if we start seeing mean comments that miss the point, but I hope that won’t be the case. I mean, how could anyone fail to understand “Affirmative Homelike Fluffily”? :)
Congrats! Women’s Health mag led me here :)
You’re a gateway blog, Mo! I was trying to figure out how I ended up in fat acceptance land, and I realized that what led me there was your blog. I used to read you years ago when you were a barista poet/student, and looked you up to see what you were up to these days. That led me to Shapely Prose, which led me to Paul Campos, which led me to giving up dieting and starting triathlon training (Fat Girl On A Bike’s influence!).
So right now, I am really happy and at peace with myself and would like to thank everyone involved, particularly BFD which got me started :-)
I was totally honored to even be listed on the same page as BFD!
“And I’m happy to think that, while reading weight loss blogs for inspiration, Women’s Health readers might turn to us for a dose of self-esteem, common sense, and self-acceptance.”
I totally agree!
(and no Crabby, in my opinion, you are NOT a weight loss blogger, lol!)
Congratulations, MoPie.
I come here everyday, and often wish there was as much comment traffic as there is on iblamethepatriarchy.com. I have to stop myself from visiting BFD more than three times a day.
This site is like, all the fat friends I’ve never had… You ever notice how in school and at work or whatever, there’s always a Fat Girl, but never Fat Girlssss? Here, I feel really comfortable being in a gang of Fat Girls. Oh, yeah. Get that visual. Gang of Fat Girls. Hell yeah!
Anyway, I walk the fine line between fat acceptance and weight-loss. Thanks to a lot of influences (including Fat Girl on a Bike), I’ve thought about my own feelings and prejudice about size. I just want to be healthy. At nearly 400 pounds, I am *not* healthy. At 400 *active* pounds, I could be happy with that.
And I will forever be grateful to Mo for turning me onto grande skim sugar-free gingerbread lattes. Such a snobby name for such an orgasmic little cup of coffee…
Good thing: You have more people visiting. And you write well so you soon have more fans.
Neutral thing: The weight loss thing. In an ideal world, it would depend on what you want. In the status quo of our current American culture, such as it is, it sucks.
But my follow up query would then be: what when the status quo itself — making women feel like crap, regardless of body size — sucks?
So to go against that SQ IMO?
Absolutely a good thing. Much like the blog itself.
Heh.
Everyone have a glass of champers. Take out the good stuff. It’s the holidaze.
xo
Hi Mo, I just found this website, and I understand everything that everyone is saying. But, I still don’t feel beautiful. I’m really scared that everyone just thinks I’m fat and ugly. I’m only 14, but I’ve been feeling like this since I was about 9. I weigh like from 160-165 usually if I concentrate on not gaining weight. Please, I know I’m talented, but I still don’t feel beautiful. PLEASE HELP ME!