Monday, September 13, 2010

Calling all Norwegian speakers, Scandinavians, and anyone else who might care what we call FA in Norway

I går var jeg på twitter da @definatalie twitret at inlegget hun hold på den første (årlige) australske "Fat Studies Conference" var lagt ut på hjemmesiden hennes. Jeg vet ikke hva det var for noe, men noe med å sitte der å se på henne mens hun holdt et innlegg om Fat Acceptance i det virkelige livet fikk meg til å tenke litt alvorlig på hvordan Fat Acceptance bevegelsen står i Norge. Er det en Fat Acceptance bevegelse i Norge? Jeg gjorde litt undersøkelser ved hjelp av Google og Kvasir, og det ser ut til at svaret er nei. Her bør jeg kanskje nevne at en av artiklene jeg leste i forbindelse med mitt søk på Kvasir var "Hva gir tynne mennesker rett til å fordømme meg, selv om jeg er tjukk?". Grunnen til at dette bør nevnes, er at etter at jeg leste denne artikkelen virket det nærmest umulig å tenke: "Jaja, så finnes det ingen Fat Acceptance bevegelse i Norge, ikke mitt problem."
Så dette er mitt forsøk på å bidra til en (forhåpentligvis spirende) Fat Acceptance bevegelse i Norge, ved å ta tak i det første spørsmålet: Hva skal denne bevegelsen hete?

Hvis bevegelsen allerede har et navn, VÆR SÅ SNILL og fortelle meg det i en kommentar, og anse det som unødvendig å lese resten av dette innlegget.

Jeg føler veldig sterkt at vi ikke kan kalle det "Fat Acceptance", da dette ikke, etter min mening, er en god måte å nå den gjennomsnittlige nordmann. Men først, skal vi holde oss til Fat Acceptance? Eller skal vi gå for Size Acceptance, eller kanskje Body Acceptance? Her hadde jeg satt stor, stor pris på innspill fra mer erfarne Fat Acceptance aktivister enn meg!
Mer spesifikt, skal vi kalle det "fett aksept"? "Fedme aksept" (høres litt vel klinisk ut for meg, på linje med "obese")? "Fet aksept"? "Feit aksept" (personlig er jeg litt svak for denne)? "Tjukk aksept"? "Tjukkas aksept" (jeg har lest det beskrevet som "tjokkas aksept" på svensk)? Skal vi kanskje snu det på hodet litt og gå for "aksept av fett" e.l? Hva med "kropps aksept"? "Størrelses aksept"?

Jeg er virkelig utrolig interessert i tankene deres her, felles tjukkaser og allierte! Hvis dere ikke har lyst/kan kommentere her kan jeg nås på musingsfromthesoapbox@gmail.com eller @wicked_cakes på twitter. Jeg har også skrevet et liknende innleg i Fatshionista LJ samfunnet, så du kan kommentere der.

Til slutt, er det et annet forum du føler jeg burde spurt dette spørsmålet i?


Yesterday I was on twitter when @definatalie tweeted that her speech from the first (annual) Australian Fat Studies Conference had been posted to her blog. I don't know what it was, but something about sitting there watching her give a speech on Fat Acceptance in real life got me thinking somewhat seriously about where the Fat Acceptance movement stands i Norway. Is there a Fat Acceptance movement in Norway? I did some research with the help of Google and Kvasir, and the answer seems to be no. Here I should perhaps mention one of the articles I read during my Kvasir search was "Hva gir tynne mennesker rett til å fordømme meg, selv om jeg er tjukk?" ("What gives thin people the right to judge me, though I am fat?" I got Google to translate the article for those of you who don't read Norwegian.) The reason why this should be menioned, is that after I read this article it seemed almost impossible to think: "So there's no Fat Acceptance movement in Norway, not my problem."
So this is my attempt at contributing to a (hopefully growing) Fat Acceptance movement in Norway, by addressing the first question: What should this movement be called?

If the movement already has a name , PLEASE tell me what it is in a comment, and consider reading the rest of this post unnecessary.

I feel very strongly that we can't call it "Fat Acceptance", as this is not a good way of reaching the avrerage Norwegian person, imo. But first, should we stick with Fat Acceptance? Or should we go for Size Acceptance, or maybe Body Acceptance? On this point I would appreciate some input from more seasoned Fat Acceptance activists so incredibly much!
More spesifically, should we call it "fett aksept"? "Fedme aksept" (sounds a little too clinical to me, along the lines of "obese")? "Fet aksept"? "Feit aksept" (personally I have a weakness for this one)? "Tjukk aksept"? "Tjukkas aksept" (I have read it described as "tjokkas aksept" in Swedish)? Should we twist it around a bit and go for "aksept av fett" or something like it? How about "kropps aksept"? "Størrelses aksept"?

I am truly tremendously interested in your thoughts on this subject, my fellow fatties and allies! If you don't feel like/can't comment on here I can be reached at musingsfromthesoapbox@gmail.com, or @wicked_cakes on twitter. I have also written a post similar to this in the Fatshionista LJ community, so you can comment on there.

Lastly, is there an other forum in which you feel I should ask this question?

7 comments:

Sarah Brodwall said...

Urrgh, please nothing with the word "fedme"!

I think we'd be best served by a term that's seems more natively Norwegian than "x aksept"...although it must be said I'm not Norwegian, so possibly I don't know what I'm talking about. What are some names of similar social movements?

A long time ago when I first got here I bought a book called "Fett Nok" at a plus-size clothing shop on Bekkestua. I'd only paged through it and forgot about it because I was so new to Norwegian at that time, but I'm going to read it properly now and see if there's anything in it about a Norwegian name for the movement.

Veronica said...

Hi! Yours is one of the blogs I found when I was doing my search for FA i Norway, very nice to see you here!

Hehe, no, I'm with you that.
Someone over on LJ suggested we put it together in one word, like "kroppsaksept", that feels much more natural to me. Well, Kvinnefrigjøringsbevegelsen is really the only one that comes to mind. Other than that we have (lands)foreninger for things, like "Landsforeningen for lesbiske, homofile, bifile og transpersoner", or "Landsforeningen for overvektige."
There's a plus-size clothing shop on Bekkestua? I looked up the book and it looks interesting, I'll have to read it. I'm still interested in hearing what you find, though, in case it takes me a little while.

Sarah Brodwall said...

There was a plus-size shop on Bekkestua in 2000 or so. Last I was there it had not surprisingly gone out of business. There are so few decent places to shop in Oslo now...it's very frustrating. I would be screwed were it not for my frequent trips to the US.

Veronica said...

Were you actually not surprised they went out of business? Or was that sarcasm? 'Cause 4you2 went out of business this summer, and I was completely surprised!
Absolutely, and unfortunately for me it's not natural or economically possible for me to make frequent trips to the US:/ Ah well, there are worse crosses to bear!

Sarah Brodwall said...

No, I was actually not surprised, because it's so common for plus-sized stores to go out of business here. People keep telling me that they figure that more and more plus-sized stores will open up, given how the population is (ostensibly) getting fatter and fatter, yet this doesn't seem to be happening. In any case, it hasn't in the 11 years I've lived here.

Thankfully, it does seem to be the case that more online shops are willing to ship internationally--most notably Old Navy. Even with duty fees, shipping, and VAT, the price Old Navy clothing costs is low compared to what you'd have to pay in dedicated plus-sized clothing shops in Oslo, in my experience. Case in point: about a year back I was desperate for some jeans and didn't have time to get anything shipped to me from overseas. The only place I found downtown that had anything in my size (a vanity-sized 24/56 w/ a 34"/86cm inseam) was that place on Skippergata. I ended up paying something like 1600kr (275 USD) for two pairs of jeans, neither of which fit very well, so I've ended up not wearing them. If I'd ordered two pairs of jeans from Old Navy in the US, I'd have ended up paying a bit over 1000 NOK (174 USD) including VAT, shipping, and duty fees (see http://screencast.com/t/pIhfmcN2sN)--they would have only cost 420 NOK (72 USD) if I'd gotten them in the US. Of course, due to the sunk and prospective shipping costs, ordering from overseas is trickier if you're not sure if the clothing will fit you.

It sounds like you're a lot smaller than I am, but where do you shop in Oslo?

Veronica said...

I don't really shop in Oslo. I tend to travel to Strømmen Storsenter, there the H&M, Lindex and Kappahl stores all have a plus size section, and there's a Zizzi store there. Maxima mote is located in Lillestrøm which is close by, but the selection there is not really for me, quite similar to the selection at Alxis mote in fact. If there's something spesific I need I usually buy it at the Zizzi store in Gunerius. As a "strawberry" shaped woman (that's what they call it), I usually have good luck finding jeans at Zizzi. There's one plus size store in Oslo I haven't tried yet, Xin (www.xin.no), but from the pictures on the website I'm not getting my hopes up.
In the last year or so I have started buying clothes online, and that's mainly where I shop now.

I tried the link, and that was really cool looking! Is that a program you can use, or did you just decide throw up the numbers in picture form?

Anika http://www.byanika.com said...

Hei! Beklager at jeg svarer så sent :)

I agree with you that there does not seem to be a fat acceptance-movement in Norway. I also did some research when I started my blog, and I came up with nothing.

I do think there is a need and a place for such a movement. What is important to me is that it is about size acceptance at any size. For me that means shying away from any labels that are to specifically aimed at fatshion, but having said that, I am sure there are lots of people who would welcome the fatshionmovement in Norway as well.

Sounds to me like there is a lot of potential here, and building a community is what it is all about. Perhaps setting up a separate blog or fb-page might be a good place to start?

Klem Anika
http://byanika.com