New York’s Fat Beach Day gives plus-size people a space to be themselves

signalmankenneth said:
Fat Beach Day events are springing up across the US in an effort to fight back against fat-phobia, reclaim safe spaces for the community and honor plus-size culture. Today, one of these celebrations is being held to coincide with Pride month at Jacob Riis Beach in New York, a location deeply ensconced in the city’s activism space.

“We’re going through something culturally that is impacting us every day on an individual level and a systemic level,” said Jordan Underwood, the event organizer. “We’re really trying to open up a space for people to be themselves.”

Underwood, a plus-size model, artist and activist, described being bullied for their weight as far back as middle school. Consistent hate, cruelty and harmful rhetoric from fellow students led to them setting up a blog at 12 years old, which became a place where they documented their experiences and made sense of what they were going through. In many ways, this marked the beginning of their journey into what they denote as “fat activism”.

Now, they organize events throughout New York City and work with Berriez, a vintage store “curated for curves” based in Brooklyn, to organize Fat Beach Day.

There may be rain, but the pair aren’t bothered. The day – featuring food, drinks and free sunscreen from Vacation – is something they’ve been looking forward to and planning for months.

“I’m so self-conscious at the beach, and I’m never around people that look like me,” said Emma Zack, who started Berriez in 2018. “I’m so excited we’ve created this space for other folks with bigger bodies to have a good time.”

In an era in which weight-loss drugs like Ozempic are deeply ingrained in mainstream diet culture, and thinness is resurgent as the ideal beauty standard, events like Fat Beach Day are becoming powerful tools in the fight against these norms. They have become not just events but calls to action – public stands against the societal pressures to conform to these shifting criteria.

Vogue Business reported that in the autumn/winter 2024 season across fashion weeks, only 0.8% of models were plus-size, and 3.7% were mid-size, a notable decline from previous years. A survey published by KFF in May found that about one in eight adults, or more than 15 million people in the US, had used a drug like Ozempic or Mounjaro at some point in their lives, highlighting the extent of this societal shift.

“In the 2000s, there was this anti-fat, intense cultural swing that really parallels what we’re going through right now,” Underwood said. “It’s indisputable how insidious the fat-phobia was in that decade. Britney Spears and Jessica Simpson, both then a size six, were plastered all over the tabloids, accompanied by headlines that used words like ‘fat’.”

https://www.yahoo.com/lifestyle/york-fat-beach-day-gives-150514623.html
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I didn't get an invitation. They must have an 8 x 10 publicity photo of me from 1967.
Not sending a recent one obviously cost me an invitation to a nice day at the beach.
 
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