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Body Haven September Newsletter - Welcome!

  - Saturday, September 10, 2022
 Events 

 Welcome to Body Haven! 

Hello to all returning members and a great big welcome to those who are joining us this semester! We hope that this message finds you well and that the first week of classes has been kind to you. We had a great time getting introduced to everyone at new student convocation last week and we can't wait to meet you! We have some really cool events for you in store this year. Thank you to everyone for getting involved! 

A little bit about us: 

Body Haven was created by El Concepción as a space to talk about fatphobia and the inequalities that fat folks face daily, how diet culture affects all of us and how it profits off of our shame and insecurities as well as creates a culture of eating disorders. Body Haven exists as a space to support each other in processing our emotions with regards to how this all affects us. This year, we hope to start organizing as a club and take action steps that will make a positive impact in our community here at Columbia.

We are looking forward to getting to know you this year and we sincerely hope you’ll be able to get something out of our time together as a club. ­ƒÆû

Body Positivity and Fat Liberation - What's the difference? 

An acknowledgement by Ellie Moody

You are probably way more familiar with the former than the latter - and that's because body positivity is much more widely known and accepted than the fat liberation movement. But these movements both sprouted from the same roots. The fat activists of the 1960s paved the way for the shred of size acceptance we see in media today, initially protesting the discrimination and lack of access to equal opportunities for fat people specifically. This early movement highlighted the abuse, mental health struggles, malpractice in the medical field, and called for equal pay, equal access, equal respect, an end to fatphobic structures and ideas. 

The concept of Fat Liberation was defined in 1973 by fat, queer, femme, and Jewish activists who called themselves the Fat Underground.
See (right): The Fat Liberation Manifesto, written by founders Judy Freespirit and Alderbaran (Sara Fishman). 

Today, the #bopo movement encapsulates more the idea of loving your own body versus ensuring that individuals regardless of their weight and appearance are given equal opportunities in the workplace, schools, fashion and media. The more palatable message of "love yourself" is something privileged people would much more readily accept. But as activist Aubrey Gordon once said, this idea reduces fat people’s struggles to a problem of mindset, rather than a product of external oppressors that need to be abolished in order for fat people to live freely.

Body acceptance as a social movement was built by Black women and communities of color, who are often left out of mainstream body positivity - the very spaces they created. In her article, “The Body Positivity Movement Both Takes From and Erases Fat Black Women” Donyae Coles explains how both white people and thin celebrities such as Jameela Jamil profit from the movement that Black women built.

“Since long before blogging was a thing, fat Black women have been vocal about body acceptance, with women like Sharon Quinn and Marie Denee, or the work of Sonya Renee Taylor with The Body Is Not An Apology. We’ve been out here, and we’re still here, but the overwhelming face of the movement is white and thin because the mainstream still craves it, and white and thin people have no problem with profiting off the work of fat, non-white bodies.”

Corporations have commoditised these body positive advocates and used their influence to push products, capitalising off the movement. The body positive rhetoric is being used in attempts to "appropriate and repackage feminist discourse for personal consumption" (Sastre 2016, 3–4).

While learning to love and care for the body that you’re in is important, I think that body positivity also fails in teaching that because it puts even more emphasis on beauty. We live in a society obsessed with appearance, and we cannot ignore the hierarchy of beauty standards that exist in every space. As of today, the ultimate message of the body positivity movement is: Love your body “despite its imperfections.” Or people with “perfect and imperfect bodies both deserve love.” As long as we are upholding the notion that there IS a perfect body that looks a certain way, and every body that falls outside of that category is imperfect, we are upholding ideals of white supremacy, eugenics, anti-fatness, and ableism.

Here at Body Haven, we recognize that body positivity plays an important role in self love for many and we welcome it alongside fat liberation. We view body positivity as a celebration of all bodies and embracing radical self-acceptance, something that indeed all of us can benefit from.

Thank you for reading, I hope this provides context for some of our discussions that will take place this year. We are so excited to have you here!
Ellie

Meet the Board

El Concepción
President

El is a junior film major and the president of Body Haven. The event they are looking forward to the most this year is the old Hollywood themed fashion show. They decided to create Body Haven with the help of Bri and former e-board member Kiera, because of their lifelong struggles with eating disorders and body image issues. 

Lorena Castro
Financial Director

Lorena is a sophomore at Columbia College Chicago and a fashion design major with a minor in dance. Being in the fashion and dance industry, she has seen first hand how these industries have not always been inclusive both ethnically and body-wise. Lorena is a proud Mexican Latina Woman. She is most looking forward to working together with her fellow Body Haven e-board members to continue to spread the message of inclusivity and acceptance of all unique and gorgeous bodies!

Monthly Affirmation:

My body is not the problem. It never was!

Artist Spotlight: "Make Some Fucking Space"

Chub Rub is a fat, femme, and non binary band based in Philedelphia who just released their debut EP, Make Some Fucking Space, containing powerful feminist folk ballads such as “Shrink,” which boasts the titular lyric: “If you think I don’t fit in, well/Make some fucking space.”

"This is what makes Chub Rub feel so victoriously ground-breaking: that they’re four femme people demanding 'fats to the front!' at their shows, performing alongside other explicitly body-positive acts like Thunder Thighs. By encouraging support and community among fat femmes, the four-piece addresses an aspect of accessibility and inclusivity in the DIY scene that is often ignored.”

—Amanda Silberling, for Audiofemme.com

@bodyhaven_ccc

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Bri Ramirez
Vice President

Bri joined BH's e-board because this is a topic with extreme importance to her. She believes everyone should feel empowered in their own skin. She is most excited to see new people and put on amazing events and meetings! Body positivity and fat liberation to Bri means feeling powerful and embracing who she is and what she looks like and truthfully being okay with it.

Ayla DeBord
SOC Rep

Ayla joined the e-board for Body Haven because during her freshman year last year she had so much fun being a part of the club and made new friends because of it! She is most looking forward to the annual fashion show in the spring. She was a model for it last spring and had such an amazing time. Body positivity and fat liberation to Ayla means that instead of "accepting" our "flaws", we change the narrative and reach for liberation of societal standards. This would mean that we realize there are no flaws for us to accept because we are already perfect in our bodies. In addition, fat liberation means uplifting the voices of fat people and realizing that although the body positivity movement is for everyone, it is fat people who NEED to be at the forefront of the conversation and those with thin privilege should listen.

Recommended Reading

This month's book recommendation is Fearing The Black Body: The Racial Origins of Fat Phobia by Dr. Sabrina Strings. Strings weaves together an eye-opening historical narrative ranging from the Renaissance to the current moment, analyzing important works of art, newspaper and magazine articles, and scientific literature and medical journalsÔÇòwhere fat bodies were once praisedÔÇòshowing that fat phobia, as it relates to Black women, did not originate with medical findings, but with the Enlightenment era belief that fatness was evidence of “savagery” and racial inferiority.

Revisiting The Fat Liberation Manifesto 46 Years Later

"I returned to the Fat Liberation Manifesto recently to remind myself of what my political ancestors envisioned. And I wanted to share it with you..."
Article by Virgie Tovar

Ellie Moody
Communications Director

Ellie is a junior film major and became a part of Body Haven's e-board to meet likeminded people and make a difference at Columbia. Diet culture and anti-fat bias harms everyone and they are honored to be part of a club that provides a space on campus for students to leave that shame and stigma at the door - and deconstruct it together. They are most looking forward to having conversations and immersing themself in a supportive community! Body positivity + fat liberation to Ellie means giving yourself permission to take up space, as well as advocating for people in marginalized bodies who deserve basic human decency, agency, and visibility, regardless of health. 

EVENT

Fall Photoshoot

Friday, Sept. 16
5:00pm - 7:00pm
AIDS Garden (meet at Green Man Statue), 3003 N Lakefront Trail , Chicago, IL 60657, United States
Link
Add to Google Cal,Outlook,Yahoo,iCal

Join Body Haven for a Photoshoot in celebration of all bodies and the gorgeous glow of fall.
RSVP

Our next meeting, GAME NITE will take place on Sept. 30th. Mark your calendars! We will send out an update once registration opens.

ACTION STEPS

The FAA will finally obey an old mandate to set a minimum seat size for airlines, and they are currently opening a public feedback period until mid November. 

Here’s what you need to know:

“Comments should address whether, considering the existing regulatory requirements, (3) one or more of the following seat dimensions: width, pitch, and length, (4) have or demonstrably could adversely affect the safety of air passengers by delaying the group egress time (5) of an emergency evacuation.

The FAA emphasizes that comments that include technical data and information will be the most helpful. The FAA is not requesting comments regarding matters unrelated to the agency's determination under section 577, such as how the dimensions of passenger seats might relate to passenger comfort or convenience.”

The FAA is actually calling for the minimum seat dimensions necessary for a safe emergency evacuation. Not what we were hoping for, but let’s work with what we’ve got.

In your entry, emphasize that seat size is not a comfort/convenience issue for people in larger bodies. It IS a safety issue.

Include specific dimensions (in inches) in your demands, they will not look at “the seats are too small.” We are making demands for a seat pan of 25 inches or wider.