A little over a year ago a screenwriter named David Fried asked to write a film about my life as a dancer. I said yes, if I’m honest I wasn’t expecting much to come of it as he interviewed me, my dance partner and my coach. Fast forward to a couple of weeks ago when Julianne and I went back to Austin to attend a table read of the finished screenplay with my first ever dance party – the amazing Andy. It was a pretty interesting experience hearing people talk to “me” and have someone else answer, and hearing someone else play me. It also reminded me of something really important.
I think one of the most overlooked forms of size acceptance activism is to just live our lives without apology for our bodies or our size. Fat stigma, stereotyping and oppression are all around us – they try to silence us, tell us that we’re nothing until we’re thin – that we shouldn’t be seen or heard. By simply refusing to bow to this pressure, we can live our own lives, and help others find inspiration to do the same.In a world where just getting out of bed and not hating ourselves is a revolutionary act, leaving the house and doing things without hating or apologizing for ourselves is serious activism. Just going out to eat with our friends, going salsa dancing at a bar, going to see our favorite band perform and taking up just the right amount of space (which is however much space we take up), is an act of revolution. As unwilling combatants in the “War on Obesity” being FIP (fat in public) is a way that we can fight back.And we never know who will see us and be inspired. We can’t choose who we are an example to or when, but we can choose what we are an example of. Dancing is what got me into size acceptance activism (hence the title of the blog.) I didn’t originally intend to be a fat activist, I wanted to be a fat dancer, but it turned out I had to be a fat activist to get it done. I wasn’t trying to do anything movie worthy, I just wanted to live the life I dreamed of in the body that I had. A big part of my activism was, and continues to be, just showing up with my big fat ass and dancing.So now there’s this movie written about me, and I haven’t really talked about it on the blog because it’s weird to talk about because, well, it’s a movie about me. But after the table read the actors were asked for their feedback and they were so excited about it, I started to think about it differently. If it wasn’t about me, I would totally go watch it – I would absolutely love to go to the movies and see a fat main character with an inspirational story that doesn’t involve weight loss.We are working different methods to get the movie produced (finding a producer who is interested, screenwriting contests, pitch competitions, finding a star who is excited to play me – wow that is weird to think about). No matter what happens, it’s really been a great reminder about the power of showing up and living life without apology.Now I’m off to see if Adam Shankman or Rebel Wilson will take my call!Like the blog? Here’s more of my stuff:
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