Just Out
September 3, 2004
Turning on
the television or flipping through a magazine can be a serious
hazard to your mental health. We are everywhere bombarded by messages
about body shapes and sizes.
We are reminded
that we are not-whatever that may mean for each of us-as attractive,
healthy or fit as we could be.
Increasingly,
consumers are coaxed toward herbal or chemical supplements, diet
programs, and large corporate gyms that dangle our potential thin
and happy selves in front of us. Consider the heterocentrist,
gender-normative and sizeist subtexts to these messages and the
sense of alienation among queers of queers of size can become
absolutely overwhelming.
That's where
Maria Callahan comes in.
Callahan
is a trans-identified person of size who works as a personal trainer
at LoPrinzi's Gym in Southeast Portland. She became interested
in personal fitness when she sought out a trainer 4 years ago.
At 300 pounds, she wanted to lose weight in order to cope with
an injury.
After losing
100 pounds in a year, her trainer hired her to work at a chain-store
gym.
"I am
unique in my field," Callahan says.
"There
is a whole slough of politics to being an empowered person of
size. Currently, there aren't very many trainers who have to think
about that"
However,
she quickly became disenchanted by the clubs emphasis on company
sales and body deification over client health and wellness, which
eventually drove her to the locally owned gym.
Callahan's
goal is to provide access to fitness training for trans people
and people of size." It has been my impression that corporate
gyms are for smaller, younger, fitter straight people," she
notes matter of factly. She works to break down the barriers that
keep large people from entering the stereotypical "gym culture".
She insists
fitness is not about idealized body types or fat percentages "Fitness
is about quality of life and not being limited by your body. For
a person of size, freedom may mean fitting comfortably in a plane
seat and not having to avoid stairs. These things mean a lot."
In a culture
that equates thinness and musculature with fitness, Callahan realizes
it's difficult to communicate the notion that good health is a
reachable goal for any body type. "The best thing I can do
is set an example." She states. "I am a person of size,
and I am fit and healthy."
And that's
a big shift in attitude to what the gender queer experienced
at the corporate gym. Trainers were hired because of how they
looked, in spite of their lack of certification or experience.
"The
supplement and fitness industry is thievery" Callahan contends.
"They don't want to help people become healthy; they want
to sell them a product." Callahan believes that her sincere
and accessible approach to physical fitness makes all the difference
to people whose relationship with their bodies keep them out of
the gym. "Access can mean providing a unisex locker room.
It is as easy as providing a treadmill rated above 200 pounds,"
she asserts. "It is vital that people experience a small
series of successes rather than being confronted with the things
they cannot do."
Callahan
is also not invested in establishing training programs to help
fat people become thin people. "I want to help people get
in touch with their bodies. Exercise helps people get in touch.
It has helped me to get in touch with my body more than I ever
thought it could."
Having chosen
to move to a smaller, more community-oriented gym, Callahan has
a strong understanding of what is missing from the fitness programs
that many trainers employ. "Obesity has become a catch-all
phrase to describe every ailment experienced by large people.
But being sedentary is the real problem. I want people to exercise
forever."
With the
knowledge of what it means to face the intimidating world of physical
fitness in a body that is everywhere asked to disappear, Callahan
is passionate about providing guidance in health and wellness
to those who are overlooked by others in the "health"
industry.
It really
is an amazing thing to be a part of the miracle of someone being
in the body that they've always imagined for themselves. It's
an inspiring thing. It keeps me doing my job. If you think you
can't work out, before you give up, check with someone who sees
miracles everyday."
"We're
fat, we know it, and now we're gonna show it!"
Stacy Bias
of Fat Girl Speaks said, "We wore stripes, we wore sleeveless,
we wore spaghetti straps, we wore very little, actually."
Bias was sick of feeling bad about herself, so she organized a
day-long conference in Portland, Oregon called Fat Girl Speaks.
"I think that people need a chance to be able to say, ' I'm
amazing, I'm beautiful, and look at how much there is that's good
about me,'" she said. The first year, 600 people showed up.
This year, more than 800 were there. "It tells me that aesthetics
aren't what matter. Its confidence and joy. And people respond
to that in an incredible way," Bias explained.
Maria Callahan,
who also happens to be Stacy's personal trainer, taught a workshop
on being fat and fit. Callahan said, "Their goal should not
be just to lose weight. Their goals should include getting out
of chronic pain, addressing problems with flexibility, addressing
any medical condition that can be regulated, like diabetes, with
exercise."
Callahan
said Stacy is proof that big women can exercise. "When I
first came, I couldn't walk a mile. Now I can walk two to three
miles, unwinded, and be great," she said. Whatever your goal,
start out with small steps. Stacy exclaimed, "If you can't
go climb Mt. Everest right now, take a walk. If you can't get
your book published, write a poem."
And if you
don't want to wear a bikini, Stacy said at least put on a one
piece!
Click here to view
this interview and video footage
Willamette
Week
May 5, 2004
By Byron Beck
I've come
face to face with the most beautiful woman in America. And guess
what? She weighs 375 pounds. Stacy Bias shatters any illusions
I had about fat chicks. The fearless leader of the website TechnoDyke.com,
Bias is sophisticated and accomplished and a big flirt full of
energy and confidence. Instead of sugarcoating her size, this
5-foot 10-inch, big-time beauty celebrates her fatness and wants
other girls to do the same. "Don't postpone joy," says
Bias, sounding like an anti-Oprah, "no matter what your size."
Just as gays and lesbians transformed the phobic word "queer"
by claiming the label as their own, this 29-year-old thoroughly
feminine femme made it her mission to transform the f-word--that's
F-A-T--into something more fun. Her Herculean efforts resulted
in last year's hugely successful Fat Girl Speaks, a celebration
of size, self and sexuality. This year's fatty fete will be at
the Roseland Theater, where 800 plus-size women are expected to
partake in live performances, fashion shows and workshops--including
one devoted to keeping fit.
That's right,
fat people can be fit, too.
I found that
out when I met Bias and her personal trainer, Maria Callahan,
at Loprinzi's Gym in Southeast Portland. This old-school weight
room proved to be the perfect spot to crush the misguided myths
I had about fatties. Like the notion that big girls aren't sexy.
"Big girls get plenty of attention'," Callahan says
laughing. They also clued me to the fact that big gals are strong.
"Fat girls need to take action to empower themselves,"
says the rock-solid, 220-pound Callahan, who will lead this weekend's
Fit and Fat workshop. "It's all about finding out what you
can do at your size, not what you can't do." Sadly, all women,
fat or skinny women, get plenty of messages about what they should
think about their bodies. Not too many of those messages are healthy.
"No matter what her size, it seems like every women thinks
she has 10 pounds to lose," says the 38-year-old Callahan.
Likewise,
dangerous new television shows like The Swan and Extreme Makeover
encourage women--and men--to take drastic measures when it comes
to weight loss. These mesmerizing shows send the message that
if you are fat, then there must be something wrong with you, something
that can be fixed with a suction tube, peer pressure, and low-carb
bread. In its own sweet way, Fat Girl Speaks works to transform
the message of self-loathing into an attitude of self-loving.
And I respect that. I also have a newfound respect for all those
people who accept themselves the way they are--weight and all.
"We're fat," says Bias, matter-of-factly. "So let's
have a party."
