This is our second week doing “Say Something Sunday,” a day dedicated to personal Size Diversity activism. I’ve got some suggestions below and/or of course you can do your own thing. If you do participate, we would love to hear about it in the comments (whether you do it on Sunday, or some other day!) If you have ideas of things to do for Say Something Sunday I’d also love for you to share those in the comments.
I did the math and if everyone who views the blog each week did one piece of Size Diversity Activism a week, it would add up to over 1.5 million body positive messages put out into the world this year. Multiply that times the number of people who might see each of those messages and things start to increase exponentially. To be very clear, nobody is obligated to do activism so if this doesn’t appeal to you that’s totally cool, I’ll be back tomorrow with your regularly scheduled blog post!
My ideas for this week (these are just suggestions, feel free to change them to make them work for you, and if they don’t appeal to you feel free to do your own thing!)
Post something like the quote below on your social media. Consider telling people that you will delete every comment that tries to disagree or argue about this because our right to exist should not be up for debate, then delete those comments:
Fat people have the right to exist in fat bodies without shaming, stigmatizing, bullying, or oppression. It doesn’t matter why we’re fat, what being fat means, of if we could be thin. There are no other valid opinions on this. It is not up for debate. Fat people have the right to exist.
Send a thank you e-mail, or letter, or leave a Facebook comment or Yelp review etc. to a company that accommodates you – whether it’s a restaurant with armless chairs, a clothing company that makes clothes you like in your size etc. Tell them why you appreciate what they do.
When you see sizeism happening in a group to which you belong (whether online or in person) interrupt it and say something.
Have a conversation with someone close to you who sometimes says things that are fatphobic. Let them know why it hurts you, tell them about your Size Acceptance practice, and give them concrete things that you’d like them to do to support you.
If you want to do more of this kind of thing, consider joining the Rolls Not Trolls group on Facebook, it’s a group created for the specific purpose of putting body positive things in body negative spaces on the internet and supporting each other while we do that. It’s a secret group so if you want to join just message me on facebook (I’m Ragen Chastain)
Happy Say Something Sunday!
Like this blog? Here’s more cool stuff:
Become a Member For ten bucks a month you can support size diversity activism, help keep the blog ad free, and get deals from size positive businesses as a thank you. Click here for details
Buy the book: Fat: The Owner’s Manual The E-Book is Name Your Own Price! Click here for details
Book Me! I’d love to speak to your organization. You can get more information on topics, previous engagements and reviews here or just e-mail me at ragen at danceswithfat dot org!
Dance Classes: Buy the Dance Class DVDs or download individual classes – Every Body Dance Now! Click here for details
I’m training for an IRONMAN! You can follow my journey at www.IronFat.com
A movie about my time as a dancer is in active development (casting, finding investors etc.). Follow the progress on Facebook!
If you are uncomfortable with my offering things for sale on this site, you are invited to check out this post.
