Friday, March 28, 2014

FatLand and Rape (or lack of it)

One statistic that has remained blessedly low in FatLand is that of rape. Only two rapes have been reported in forty years. The Medical Board, who compiles such statistics, sent the neighborhood helpers out into the field to try to determine if there were rapes that were going unreported. The helpers returned and said that they could not find any evidence of underreporting or unreporting.

There are many causes of rape, but "rape culture" seems to be the most prevalent on The Other Side - the idea that women deserve to and should be raped. The upbringings of children in FatLand emphasize tolerance and non-exaggeration of sex roles, or lack thereof, which in turn leads to all genders and sexes feeling safe and welcomed in FatLand. Parents are also educated not to consider any preferences for gender expression -or lack- "wrong."

And if parents feel that their child is in need of medical or psychiatric help or counseling, or wish to see if s/he needs help, such services are either free or paid for under their universal insurance coverage.

The hatred and de-personalization that accompany rape culture cannot make headway under FatLand's culture of tolerance, educational systems and medical/clinical systems.

Monday, March 24, 2014

All The Lovely Ladies

Oddly enough, I have but a song for you tonight. It is by Gordon Lightfoot. Title:  All The Lovely Ladies

This song is dedicated to all the proud wonderful fat women who are being trolled or harassed online.

The trolls will slink away to their caves. You will prevail. Hugs.


https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qcAsiehfG-g



All The Lovely Ladies, ©1975 by Gordon Lightfoot

All the lovely ladies in their finery tonight 
I wish that I could know them one by one 
All the handsome gentlemen with loving on their minds 
Strolling in to take the ladies home 
Bless you all and keep you on the road to tenderness 
Heaven can be yours just for now 

All the gentle strangers who by nature do not smile 
To everyone who cannot hold a pen 
To all you heavy rounders with a headache for your pains 
Who dread the thought of going 'round the bend 
Bless you all and keep you on the road to better things 
Heaven can be yours just for now 

To all the lovely ladies in their finery tonight 
I wish that I could kiss you while you knit 
To all the ones who learn to live with being second-guessed 
Whose job it is to give more than they get 
Bless you all and keep you with the strength to understand 
Heaven can be yours just for now 

To all the little dreamers with a dream that cannot last 
To all the sleeping giants who must wake 
To every man who answers to the letter of the law 
And all the rest imprisoned by mistake 
Bless you all and keep you with the faith to let it pass 
Heaven can be yours just for now 

To all the lonely sailors who have trouble being seen 
To all of you with heartache that remains 
Maybe sometime later you might swim back into shore 
If someone could relieve you of your chains 
Bless you all and keep you on the land or on the sea 
Heaven can be yours just for now 

Thursday, March 20, 2014

Resorts

Was thinking about something on Facebook that looks possibly like a scam. The supposed manager/owner keeps on saying that a resort catering to fat people will be up and running in May. But originally it was supposed to be up and running in March. I can't find any mention of it on Google. The person who administers the FB page about this Resort, when asked, said, "Why should it be on Google?" Errrr, perhaps because a resort that does what you say it does -caters to fat people- should be big, big news (pun mostly not intended).

But then I thought, "This person seems to be playing on the longing of fat people to have a resort where they can wear swimsuits, perhaps even birthday suits, and no one will think the worse of them or harass them or make fun of them." And oh, we sure do long for a place exactly like that.  There was a place in Tulum, Mexico, that made those claims. The place was real. The claims were sort of half-hearted because the staff didn't really understand the people to whom it was supposed to be catering. They didn't say mean things out loud, but then again, they didn't seem to have much contact with their guests.

If I were to go to a resort that claimed to cater to fat people, I would want the staff not only to be kind to fat people, but to actively like, even love them. I would want that pool guy to flirt a little with me. I would want that bellboy to look at me and smile.

And this is of course besides wanting spacious rooms and bathrooms and sturdy furniture and guests who felt as I did and who were happy in their lovely fat skins as I would want to be in mine. Guests who didn't mind some risque bathing suits and perhaps staying up until all hours to watch the moon set and who actively liked jiggling.

Another reason that I created and wrote FatLand...

Sunday, March 16, 2014

Caring Villages

Not "old age homes," but "caring villages." In other words, people of any age can live in them, but they have to want to help other villagers when necessary. They get paid for helping, if they wish. So the arrangement is not age-specific, but encompasses people of all ages and all ability levels.

Yet another reason for FatLand's mortality rate being lower than that of the Other Side/USA.

Thursday, March 13, 2014

Fat Seduction

Novel  I want to write, but if someone else writes it, that's fine:

Two hot fat people seduce each other...taking a long, long time to do so :)

Sunday, March 9, 2014

Of Trains, Writers and Riders

Most writers like trains. Is that generalizing too much?

But they do. Something about the rhythm of the train, its sounds -ranging from gentle to textile factory-loud-, the way it moves at its clack clack pace across the land, pulling up at stations, greeting the sunset, awing with sunrise. The way it seats us next to one passenger (sometimes two in certain commuter trains), giving us at least minimal leg room. The way one can slide into sleep if one is near a window. The quiet pull of dark skies and fields and trees softening and yet faintly intriguing the night, making one feel safely between worlds as one looks out and rides at night. The bathrooms that are roomy enough, more or less (as opposed to airplane bathrooms). Of course some of this changes if one takes a roomette, which I tend to find stultifying and claustrophobic-making. But that's me. (Then again, many writers also seem to be claustrophobic. Maybe it has to do with being robbed of our significance once too often as children, when we were creating worlds and were being told that they were impossible.)

Amtrak has created a residency for writers. One applies and if one wins, one gets to take a trip on an Amtrak train and write about it, courtesy of Amtrak. You better believe that I am applying.

In FatLand 3: To Live Fat and Free, a little railroad is created which takes tourists, both FatLanders and Other Siders, around all the significant sights and then some. It also helpfully links places like the new Embassy Row and the main downtown area.

It has blessedly roomy seats.

Wednesday, March 5, 2014

Safe Houses on the Other Side

As mentioned previously, sometimes I write about things that happened on the Other Side during the repression and oppression of the Pro-Health and Diet Laws of the first part of the 21st Century, from 2010-2044.

The Fat Activist group FatandProud developed a system of Fat Safe houses. These houses not only had sound proof walls in their rooms, but they also had radar-dulling equipment that threw off any kind of detection devices used by the Health and Diet Law Admins and their staff. This was very important in keeping them from searching for fat people who had thus far eluded their grasp.

If one had a BMI over 30, one was bound to be taken by the Staff to a  Reeducation Center if one did not lose enough weight to bring one's BMI under 30 for a month. In other words, there was a small window of time during which one had some leeway. Choices were to leave for FatLand, to try to lose enough weight to bring and keep one's BMI down for a month, or to go to a Safe House. The Safe Houses were not luxurious, true, but they were a sight better than going to a Reeducation Center, having to eat under 1500 calories a day and having to confess every day that one was worthless and that one had seen the light of the Health and Diet Laws. The food in Safe Houses was also not gourmet; bathrooms and bedrooms were shared, but again...paradise in comparison to the Reeducation Centers.

At least half of the people staying in the Safe Houses elected to be smuggled out of the Other Side/USA - some to FatLand, some to countries in which being fat was not considered a crime.

The person who developed the Safe House system, none other than the President of FatandProud, was herself made a citizen of FatLand when she helped to kidnap Sandor Forman from the Other Side, where he was charged with reneging on a business agreement, which would have meant four years in an Other Side prison for him, no light matter for FatLanders to begin with because most of them had BMI's over the cutoff point.

She is now a FatLand hero.

Sunday, March 2, 2014

Reverse snarking

Yet another reason FatLanders relish living in their territory is that they don't have to face this kind of reverse snarking...


A lady bellydances beautifully on youtube. She has a beautiful, swingable belly. She shows it off to advantage when she dances. Most people are thrilled to see it and praise her dancing highly. But a surprising number say that she cannot dance correctly or well unless she loses weight.

Enter AnnaMargolin (my youtube id).

Um, it is called "belly dance." She dances amazingly and has what is required - a belly. Some slimmer dancers may dance well, but they won't have bellies to swing and swivel and sway. And hint, hint - a lot of people from the area in which belly dancing originated like..bellies.


This comment is just as body-shaming. Shame on you. Some people are slender, some are big. Get over it.
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+Merry Calliope Merry, some sports and dancing styles are simply more adapted and adaptable to heavier bodies. Sumo is certainly one. Belly dancing is in many ways another. Get over it.




Now, to my knowledge, there are a few sports at which heavier people have an advantage. I mentioned sumo. I also mentioned bellydancing, but mostly because heavier women will probably -not always- have larger bellies to sway and swing. Shotput would probably be another. There may be a few more. And this is out of thousands of sports. 

It is also the case, of course, that many fat people have been discouraged from competing or even participating in most sports. Ragen Chastain, one of the best known fat activists, had to endure all sorts of nastiness -eggs thrown at her, namecalling, derogatory remarks on sites and more- as she trained to walk a marathon. That she did so and completed it is a testament to her almost unbelievable strength of body and mind.

But when someone -some hater?- tries to take away from us the idea that there are sports and activities in which fat people have an advantage by saying that some people are slender and some people are "big" and that we should get over it, we have to wonder what deep hatred they must bear fat people. Good lord, when most fat people try to compete in all but a very few sports, they are laughed at and called every fat shaming name in the book. And now, at the suggestion that someone fatter might, just might, have an advantage in a dance named for the part she is displaying beautifully, someone tells us that we should not be just a little proud that fat people can do something a bit better than most slimmer people at times?   

Don't like the shoe being on the other foot, perhaps, for a change? 

It's kind of like someone saying when she hears about two rabbis arguing a Talmudic question, "Some people are Jewish and some people are Christian. Get over it."

That was not the question. It is to be assumed that Christian people who are interested certainly may argue Talmudic questions at times, and some of them may be quite good at it., However, since the rabbis who argue Talmudic questions have not only been trained in this kind of argument, but have probably come from a long, long, long tradition of arguing such questions, they might, just might have an advantage in Talmudic argument.

A fat, skilled, beautiful bellydancer is a key character in FatLand 1. Maybe FatLand 3 needs a rabbi.

I'll drink to both!