Grounding the Fat Galaxy: Our Fat n' Proud Mission Statement

Greetings from the Gribb portion of the Gribbski fat n’ sassy dynamic duo! Like my counterpart, my goals in creating this blog are to empower fat women by reclaiming fat as a positive adjective, discuss body image and weight issues in the media and other fields, and create a safe and welcoming environment in which people can discuss/debate feminism and body image. I am inspired to write this blog by notable figures in my life, from my close friend The Wider Writer to extremely influential teachers who changed my worldview. I have a Bachelor’s Degree in English with 9-12 teacher certification, and the best parts of my education focused on feminism, body image, otherness, and the pervasive influence of images, the media, and mainstream entertainment on social development. I have struggled with weight my entire life, hiding every snack wrapper in the bottom of a garbage can so that my parents wouldn’t see, skipping lunch at school so I wouldn’t have to eat in front of people. Already I want to correct myself—it is not weight I have struggled with my entire life, but rather people’s treatment of, reaction to, and concept of weight. Every time I skipped a meal, tried a new diet, or wronged my body by trying to do right, it has been for someone else. When I met The Wider Writer in college, my self-concept began to change for the better. From both my education and personal experiences, I hope to inform, persuade, and give hope to those struggling with body issues. The Bigger Blogger is the alias I coined to encapsulate these goals—I will blog about Bigger issues, Bigger people, and the Bigger picture. Fat and proud! 

Hello from The Wider Writer (the other half of Fat and Proud Gribbski)!  I have always liked to write.  I think it all started when my third grade teacher, Mrs. Young, jokingly challenged us to write a 100-page book.  Because I never said no to a challenge, I began writing an epic centered around Voxer the fox and all his animal pals.  The main conflicts were basically what you’d think an eight-year-old girl’s life troubles would consist of, because what else would a talking fox be worried about?  My friends loved the idea, and so we formed the writing club at recess.  Since then, I’ve been writing on and off.  Recently, it has been more on the off side, as I’ve been completing my degree.  Writing in college, especially when you’re an English major, isn’t so much fun as it is work.  Interesting work, but still work.  I have not, however, always been “wide.”  To cut a long story short, I essentially had the misfortune of discovering dieting and obsession over body image that a lot of young girls often have shortly before puberty.  More specifically, my cycle consisted of hating myself, blaming someone else, and then binge eating.  Repeat cycle.  So I progressively gained weight and continued some form of the cycle all the way through my first two years of college.  When I transferred to the university I receive my degree from, I met The Bigger Blogger, and together we started the journey towards body empowerment.

This blog is to document our journey down the path of body acceptance, no matter how our bodies may change.  We hope to share that journey to help other people who may be struggling and to get advice from people who have been there.  We hope to make this experience interactive, so please comment or send us things! We will always have awesome links at the bottom of our page.  Please check those out!

The following are daily themes to guide our journey and discussion of body image:

Fat Myth Monday: We will discuss commonly held misconceptions about fatness.

Taggin Hash Tuesday: We will share some of our favorite fattags and the stories behind them. (We hope to get some shared from readers!)

Whatever Wednesday: Basically our junk drawer. Here we will discuss other things happening in the world that aren't necessarily fat-related.

Throwback Thursday: We will share stories from our own youth about fat struggles, and please feel free to share yours! Hopefully most of these fat memories will end with an empowering message.

Fat Shaming Friday: Here we will share experiences with fat shaming, and how that affects body image and self-concept.

Student Saturday: The space for discussion on one of our common interests: education and youth. Here we will discuss the impact of a fat-hating culture on youth and other education issues.

Dear Someone Sunday: Here we will address a letter to someone--our past selves, future selves, the reader (that's YOU!), an admired figure, a friend, an enemy--anyone!--that has influenced our journey to self-acceptance.