We’ve all seen the photos that go with scary screeds about ZOMGOBEESITEEEEE! They tend to look like this:
… or like this:
No heads. No human expressions. According to media standards all we are is bellies… and an occasional pair of buttocks. It’s propaganda that dehumanizes us and makes the world fear us.
But the fact is that we have heads, we have hands, we have feet, we have interests and friends and lovers and spouses and jobs and all the same things thin people have. I, for one, am sick and tired of being portrayed as a stomach or a pair of nether cheeks.
Enter Stocky Bodies.
It’s a fabulous collection of stock photos of fat people doing things like exercising, hanging out with friends and lovers, shopping, getting tattoos, making jewelry, and just generally having lives.
As the creators state on their site:
Our images challenge oversimplified and demeaning representations of weight prejudice by showing subjects engaged in everyday activities, such as bike riding, shopping for fashionable clothes and performing their jobs. The documentary imagery to be shown through the library is a non-stigmatising view of what it is to be fat and live an affirmative life.
You have to sign up and agree to terms of use if you want to use the pictures, but the process is painless and free… as are the pictures.
The brainchild of Dr. Lauren Gurrieri and Mr. Isaac Brown, they gathered together Australian FA activists to act as the subjects of their photos. In fact, you may have recognized the ever-awesome Kath of Fat Heffalump up there riding her bike.
So far the only thing I can think of that would make it better is more photos!
I have an irrational fear of one day seeing my disembodied butt or stomach lumbering down the sidewalk on a news broadcast.
This is great, but I agree, they need more photos. Do they need submissions?
Comment by thinposter — July 3, 2012 @ 12:25 pm
If I happened to be the subject of one of the abdomen shots you featured, Twistie, I’d at least like the opportunity to have my t-shirt printed with a retort before I was photographed. Something like the following:
You know what’s heavy to bear? Fat Intolerance!
Approach with kindness. A person lives here.
And for the more pugnacious, I’ve seen pictures on the web of this one:
I’m fat. Now fuck off!
Comment by Desideria — July 3, 2012 @ 5:11 pm