| Image from the proceedings of the First Feminist Fat Activists' Working Meeting |
It attracted 17 participants. A number of fat feminists lived fairly locally including Karen Stimson, Judith Stein, Aldebaran and Sharon Bas Hannah. Some had set themselves up as the New Haven Fat Liberation Front. There was fat community forming in the Boston area. Others came to visit, including Judy Freespirit. There were workshops, talks and fat women's cultural entertainment in the evening.
The event piggybacked on a women's health conference that was also taking place concurrently. The following day there was a keynote panel about fat feminism with the title F.A.T. (Fat Activists Together). It was another first, the first time a feminist gathering had placed fat politics at its centre. From this gathering F.A.T. (Fat Activists Together) became the first national US coalition of fat feminist activists. Their work helped to establish a constituency for fat feminism and was pivotal in getting Shadow on a Tightrope published.
Judith Stein made audio recordings of the keynote panel. Stimson used the tapes to make a radio documentary called Nothing to Lose. Material from the proceedings was collated and disseminated. I have seen copies of this work in various archives. I have a digital copy of it but I can't remember where it came from!
The Largesse online archive is invaluable here, Stimson's archival gifts to fat feminist activism are visionary. She offers a full personal account of the gathering and uploaded Stein's recordings as digital audio files. There are also sound files of the evening's entertainment. I defy you to listen without feeling delighted and moved.
Largesse is no longer live, but you can still listen to and download the talks via the WayBack Machine. Remixers, here is where you come in: these talks need to be sampled, set to a deep bass and danced to by fat feminists everywhere.
WayBack Machine: From the Largesse Archives: Voices of Fat Liberation MP3 Audio Files
WayBack Machine: Fat Feminist Herstory, 1969-1993: A Personal Memoir by Karen W. Stimson
| New Haven Fat Liberation Front 1978 |
via Obesity Timebomb http://ift.tt/28S8Mc9
