This Tumblr Gives Fat Shamers Exactly What They Deserve
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One photographer is firing back at body-shamers with her Tumblr page, "Fat People Flipping You Off."
The Tumblr's name says it all.
Substantia Jones
It was created by photographer Substantia Jones, who has fought the societal stigma against overweight people through her various photo series. Jones created the Adipositivity Project, which featured nude images of a broad range of people in love, including heavier people, just in time for Valentine's Day this year. Like the Adipositivity Project, Fat People Flipping You Off aims to give heavier people a voice and allows them to call out their haters in a "satisfying" way, Jones told ATTN: via email.
"I regularly hear from people who feel angry or helpless or saddened by the sizeist bigotry they must daily endure," Jones told ATTN:. "We often must devote tremendous effort toward keeping the haters from messing with our heads. And much of that effort involves ignoring them. Ignoring them is usually pretty easy to do when you’re happy, but it isn’t very satisfying. We’re human. We at least occasionally need some satisfaction in this regard. Flipping off a deserving nimrod is satisfying. Sometimes enormously so. Fuckyouism in finger form. And nobody gets injured or sued."
Fat People Flipping You Off - tumblr.com
Though the idea behind Fat People Flipping You Off might seem simple, Jones spent a lot of time doing prep work and research before launching the Tumblr account.
"For more than a year, I took my own photos of fat people flipping my camera the bird, and questioned folks about their nomenclature of choice for the act," Jones told ATTN:. "I researched the origin and root meaning of the gesture to insure there wasn’t a more vicious (or sexist) meaning of which I wasn’t aware (spoiler alert: no one much agrees on the origin or meaning, but Digitus Impudicus appears to be as old as anger itself)."
Fat People Flipping You Off - tumblr.com
Though Jones lost a few fans who felt offended by this particular project, she insists the response has been "overwhelmingly positive."
"Folks are far more enthusiastic than I’d anticipated," Jones said. "People seemed to grasp the purpose and the need without much explanation."
Jones was also unsurprised to face trolling for this project, since body shaming is so common on social media. However, she told ATTN: that some of her other projects have received a lot more flak than this one has.
"I guess fat fingers are less threatening to trolls than fat bellies," she wrote. "Or big words."
Fat People Flipping You Off - tumblr.com
People who want to participate in the project can submit their images directly on the Tumblr page. Jones told ATTN: that participants seem to have "a target loaded up and ready to go."
"I’m happy to provide a place for them to vent for a sec, a micro-rant of sorts, then get back to their day, hopefully with a lighter load," she wrote. "Submitting is easy. Just be fat and angry. Ideally at the same time. Think about what pisses you off. A sizeist boss, an online jack-wad who’s a medical misinformation machine, the media’s denial of positive—or even neutral—visibility for fat people. Whatever makes cartoon steam shoot from your ears. Flip it off. Whilst snapping a picture. Share it with the world. Smile at your handiwork."
Fat People Flipping You Off - tumblr.com
"I adore the images that stand alone, without text," Jones told ATTN:. "But I do love the stories some of the flippers tell. The reasons for their displeasure are as varied as the fingers, themselves."
In February, ATTN: wrote about Jones' nude photo series centered on the love stories of people of color, people with disabilities, people who are overweight, and people in the LGBT community, among others.
"The unenlightened like to believe fat people are unworthy of love and long-term romantic partnerships," Jones told Mashable in February. "To that we say 'bite me.'"
Go to the Fat People Flipping You Off Tumblr page to check out all of the posts and submit your own.
