Fat Bubble: Anna Chapman
I have a faveeee to share with you today, and it’s Anna Chapman!
I *think* I found Anna on Instagram through my supervisor, Hilary Kinavey (and that should give you a hint on just how much Hilary affirms my work!). Look everyone, I fell in love with Anna immediately! So let me share a few of my favourite things with you:
Fat Activist Potato – Anna's fat activist potato videos are my favourite, everyone! They deliver great, insightful takes with real disarming humour. And, look, I’d use a potato filter now (and, just for your pleasure, I have – see below!), but I can think back to before I ‘came out’ as a fat person, when I was desperately hiding this aspect of myself and hoping no one else realised, and I would have been mortified to use a potato filter. And that’s because, in fatphobic world of apple shapes and pear shapes, I for sure would have worried that it would make people ‘realise’ that I was shaped like a potato! And of course I’m not shaped like a potato – I'm shaped like a Vicky Bellman, like a fat adult woman. But oh diet culture, the things you do to us, and the distortions you create. So I think of this light-hearted series of potato fat activist videos as being super fun, but also offering a moment of reclamation and rebellion too.
Anna has also started a hashtag that means a lot to me - #FatSelfCare. As Anna says, it’s specifically fat self care because fat people are often excluded from wellness spaces. Have a think – have you ever seen an advert for a spa or nail art or yoga or acupuncture that just incidentally features a person in a bigger body? Nope, me neither.
It speaks to my own thoughts of how my self care and joy and community is connected to my identity – it's fat self care, fat joy, fat community.
And it’s relevant that it’s fat because... this aspect of my identity was so often left out of what was built for me, and by me, for a long time. People in bigger bodies have to abandon this part of themselves so often, and so centering this aspect of our identity in the life we build for ourselves is such an aspect of healing. Anna evokes this all the time, and I just love it. She has very recently launched the amazing new website, www.fatselfcare.com, and I just know that this is going to be such a vital source of community wisdom and community care - I felt so extremely moved as I was exploring the website, knowing how useful and special this resource will be for so many people.
My fat self care tip: rosewater is so healing for sweat rash and rub irritation in folds and creases – it's naturally antiseptic, anti microbial, anti fungal, and smells so beautiful – using it feels like an anointing <3
Do go and connect with Anna’s account and her happy, colourful, joyful fat content!