Saturday, August 30, 2014

Stray Animals

Sometimes FatLanders take it into their heads to feed stray animals. Not only is this encouraged, but the newly created FatLand Stray Animal Sanctuary comes around to help and then takes in animals that have gotten too big or too difficult for rescuers to take care of.

Thursday, August 28, 2014

Very few rapes in FatLand

There are very few rapes in FatLand. Why? First of all, FatLanders receive a thorough education in kinds of love. Sex is not called "sex." It is called pleasuring, pleasing, making love, love play, love passages, adoring. Notice that there is no opposition or even a dialectic between "physical" and "emotional."

Secondly, what people call "rape" on the OtherSide/USA is considered abuse by strangers and is treated as such. The legal minds of FatLand have come up with the classification according to the following line of reasoning:  someone who tries or tries and succeeds in doing something he or she was not given permission to do is no longer a friend or someone who bears any relation to the person who did not give permission. Ergo, he or she is a stranger, and subject to laws governing abuse by strangers.

Punishment:  Exile from FatLand.

Saturday, August 23, 2014

The Conversation

When FatLand kids are around 9 or 10, their parent(s) or guardian(s) sit(s) them down to have The Conversation.

The happy news is that The Conversation is a lot less foreboding than it was thirty years ago, around the time FatLand was formed.

The sad news is that they have to have it at all. I mean, TheOtherSide/USA has repealed the Pro-Diet and Health Laws, and now, in 2046, there are many businesses starting up in the USA and also in FatLand which feature gourmet food and big, luscious drinks There are businesses that now cater to fat people in FatLand which are actually gaining fans in the USA as well, so it shows that there are enough fat people left in the USA to purchase what these businesses are selling.

And yet..

In certain places there still exist anti-fat bigots.

So this is how the conversation goes.

"People come in all different sizes, and all sizes are fine. People start to feel sick if they starve themselves. This is why in FatLand, people don't talk about weight or needing to change their sizes. More and more people are starting to think the way people in FatLand think, but there are still some people left who think that only a few different sizes and one kind of body are the right ones to have. If you ever hear anyone who says things like this, tell me or tell your teacher. Someone who holds this view is called a bigot. It means they don't want most people to exist. They only want people of certain sizes to exist. In FatLand, if someone says things like this, they are fined. If they continue, they are tossed out.

So remember - all kinds of bodies are good. You have a wonderful body, and you are a wonderful person. (I love you.)


When kids are older, they are taken to the FatLand Museum and then to the FatLand Cultural and Historical Institute to see more of what went on during the time that the Pro-Health and Diet Laws were in force on the OtherSide/USA. They also get to read about the FatLand heroes and organizations who were responsible for rescuing many OtherSiders and keeping FatLanders safe, either in FatLand or on the OtherSide.

Then a long discussion takes place in class and usually in their homes.


Thursday, August 21, 2014

Fat?

In the FatLand National Museum, there is an exhibit entitled "Fat and Fear."  There is another exhibit entitled "Fat?" It is the second one I'm thinking about now. The question it poses is "Who is considered fat, and why?"

The ironic part of this is that even during the Pro-Health and Diet reign of anti-fat terror, not all admins and staff even agreed about who was fat, and who wasn't. Technically people were supposed to be considered overweight if their BMI was above 30, and overweight if it was above 25. Yet they ran into a problem very quickly. Can you guess?  Some people who had BMI's of x looked fatter than those who had BMI's of x+5 or even x+7.  The admins learned, to their chagrin and embarrassment, that it was very difficult to tell exactly what someone's BMI was just by looking at her or him.

They also learned later that they also could not figure out what someone's eating habits were just by knowing her or his BMI. People they scorned as fatties could be vegans. People they considered slim and trim could be scarfing down two gigantic steaks or burgers per day.

And even more embarrassing to the admins who were sincerely concerned about maintaining the health of the citizens of their nation:  they couldn't tell even from someone's "health habits" (eating and exercise patterns) how healthy he or she was. People who ate very little sugar developed diabetes. People who had never smoked developed lung cancer. People who ate sugar every day did not develop diabetes.

A couple of admins all but admitted that the classification of "fat" was proving to be problematic. And a study done in FatLand simply reconfirmed that the most important indicator for anyone's weight was genetic, and that setpoint weights was not very malleable. It also reconfirmed that every person has/had a unique nutritional blueprint, and that although this does change in some ways during his or her life, most of the foods which provide the most nutrients to anyone are those he or she likes most - unless, of course, this blueprint is affected by starvation or yo-yo dieting, which can set off eating disorders, including but not limited to bulimia, anorexia and binging.

What does all this have to do with who is and is not considered fat?  It turned out that the people most likely to be called "fat" and sent to Reeducation Centers (aka Fat prisons) were those who were not following the diet and exercise plans prescribed by the Health and Diet Admins, even if their BMI's were the same as or even a bit less than those who were following the prescribed plans. Of course all of them were harassed by both staff and anti-fat bigots, but if someone could show that he or she was following the plan and was being monitored daily by an admin, that person probably would not be sent to a Reeducation Center. A "bad" fatty, one who was not following the "plan," would be sent, and would be labeled "fat" much more readily.

Even these days, on the OtherSide/USA, someone who is wearing fashionable, costly clothes and accessories to match, someone who is concealing most of her flesh, and smiling -believe it or not, the "smiling" part is an important part of this- and is not seen eating in public, is less likely to be called "fat," even if she is the same size as someone else who is eating an ice cream cone, wearing clothes that are not fashionable, or are baggy, or tight, or someone who is fat and showing -gasp!- more flesh than the bigot thinks is "nice."

So if we stop to consider, "fat" is often more of a political term than anything else and connotes someone who is not controllable by the constraints of fashion and by anti-fat bigots.

Tuesday, August 19, 2014

Fat Women Portrayed Falsely as Racist(s)

I've seen it a few times in the last four months or so  - bigger women supposedly ranting racist remarks at someone in a video on Facebook. But guess what:  The first of these memes, the fat blond lady sitting next to an African American man and telling the stewardess that she'd like to be moved to another seat, turned out to be false (Snopes).

The second, another fat racist blond lady spouting off against  a Muslim kid, appeared on the site Loonwatch, an anti-anti Muslim site. It turns out to be false, as well. It went viral, though.

It seems that people really get into the idea of fat white women being racist. No doubt there are fat white women and skinny white women who are racist, and skinny white men, and fat white men. But there are people who hate fat women so much that they are willing to invent scenarios and memes in which they portray fat women as racists. My god. If they wish to find real instances of racism, whoever voices them, they can, I am sure, locate actual examples.

Or would these examples not be quite as satisfying because they might not feature fat women?

Yet another good reason to move to FatLand. Fat women are not made scapegoats in/of invented racist memes.

Monday, August 18, 2014

Does "bigger" justify shooting??

Somehow all the descriptions of Michael Brown, the teen who was murdered by a policeperson in Ferguson, MO, as a "big guy" are making me angry. Sometimes there is the supposition that perhaps the police needed to fire six bullets to take him down (errr, for what? Facing the police with his hands up?)

Intersectionality: Not bad enough that the Ferguson police force had/has a record of harassing black people who live in their town. They had to come up with reasons for the police to be afraid of an unarmed teen. Oh, sure...tell them that he was "big." Does that mean that it is somehow okay for police to target people who are bigger, as well? Did they think that Michael Brown would beat them in hand to hand combat?

Listening to the Ferguson police force trying to come up with reasons to justify their crime is like listening to George W. Bush trying to justify going to war in Iraq.

Then you think of the militarization of police forces all around the USA and you realize: These *are* the weapons of mass destruction.


And I think...it's not one day too soon for us all to go to FatLand, where no police-type protectors carry guns or other arms.

Friday, August 15, 2014

Monday, August 11, 2014

Bigot of the Week

In the years between its creation and the last months of the Pro-Health and Diet Laws on the Other Side/USA, FatLand hosted a weekly video series entitled "Bigot of the Week." They named the person who said the meanest, nastiest things about fat people in the world -or on several continents- during the week. It was a lot of fun and incorporated comedy and some pertinent music and songs, as well.

The show was abruptly cancelled when the Pro-Health and Diet Laws were repealed in 2044. But the FatLand researchers soon learned of other bigots who continued to attack fat people. So many requests to reinstate "Bigot of the Week" poured in that the video managers decided to put it back on the air.

So on one cool autumn night, "Bigot of the Week" returned, to fanfare and fan cheers.

Thursday, August 7, 2014

First rules

One of the first things FatLanders learn when they arrive in FatLand is that food that tastes good and makes you feel good is healthy.

One of the first things FatLanders unlearn when they arrive in FatLand is that food that tastes bad and makes you feel bad is good for you.

The second thing  they unlearn is that  food that tastes good and makes you feel good is bad for you.

The second thing they learn is that whatever weight one is is a "healthy" weight if one has fun with one's body!