Wednesday, October 30, 2013

The Clothing Industry and not dieting in FatLand

Some FatLanders arrived in FatLand already possessing sewing skills. Others didn't. However, the sewing-talented were more than happy to furnish the non-sewing-talented with wonderful clothes for reasonable prices, and during the first couple of years, even less than that.

What happened is that a glorified cottage industry developed into a large, cooperatively owned, government-assisted FatLand industry which furnished many garments, both retail and wholesale, to both FatLanders and Other Siders. And not just to plus-size people in the USA, but to those in Europe and Asia, as well. The dilemma of obtaining quality plus-sized clothes transformed into the prideful boast of "I get my clothes from FatLand." And because FatLand did not import any clothes, clothing makers, suppliers and designers in FatLand were able to charge reasonable shipping rates to their clients in other countries.

What amazed FatLand clothing industries was that the non-fat (makes them sound like a salad oil :P ) people on the other side started to request clothes from them, as well. At first they were unprepared for this phenomenon, but after a few conferences with the FatLand Board and their suppliers of raw materials (also located in FatLand, since they had found a way to grow cotton artificially), some FatLand cooperatives were able to convert some of their sewing locations to smaller sizes. Ironically, when the next generation of FatLanders were born, FatLand found that they needed clothes for those of their children who were non-plus size, the first generation in a long time not to diet. Many of their children were still "plus," by the old Other Side standards, but often not as fat as their parents. Again, this probably happened because the children were not forced to diet - an eating behavior which, about 90-95% of the time, ends up making people heavier than when they began- and were not pressured to be thin. And of course it didn't hurt that in general, they were not made to feel bad about themselves and were able to participate in any kind of movement they wished, including sports. This constituted about 30-35 percent of FatLand children born to the first generation. 65-70 percent of the first "native" generation of FatLanders were still "fat," by the old standards, but they grew up much much happier and healthier than those of their cousins still on the Other Side, for the same reasons.

So the fat  "curve" in FatLand looked quite different from that of the Other Side, with people of many sizes of slim and heavy, and none of them stigmatized for their size. At least officially.

Next post:  Being slim in FatLand

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