Introduction

It started off as a simple case of standing up for what I believe in. Me! And it has turned into a crusade that goes on and on. It seemed appropriate at first to write things down in a small notebook of how I saw myself and how the world saw me. I wanted to get things straight in my mind before tackling what I saw to be discrimination against big people, and particularly big women.

So that notebook became the prototype of a small newsletter. Written to a few friends, all of whom were "fat" just like me. A small quarto pager folded in half, and posted out by ordinary mail. They read it, passed it onto friends, and they passed it onto their friends. In bringing to their attention the fact that many more women were feeling depressed and guilty (about their weight) and were feeling just like them, it became clear to me that I had chosen a path that would ultimately provide a forum for women everywhere to voice their opinions, their views and their observations about life as a plus-size woman in today's society.

As it often happens, there were women from other countries who were embarking on the same mission. But I didn't know it at that time. Because I came on the scene in the late 80s and early 90s, and here in Australia at any rate, women hadn't embraced the use of home computers let alone the wonder of the internet and email. But of course these soon took hold, and the world has changed considerably, because of that technology.

So why am I bothering in commencing a blog? Well it seems to me, and I may be a little naive, but women everywhere are still suffering from the barbs and stings of inappropriate attitudes and behaviour by other people, all because they are not slim, trim and svelte. Nothing really has changed over the past twenty years in the general public's attitude towards women of size. In fact, and even though I'm an optimist most of the time, it seems to be that things are even a little worse than they used to be. It's all very subtle, and sometimes insidious but it's there.

So some friends from the US and here in Australia have convinced me that I should take on "blogging". Now I know (as you certainly do, there are hundreds of thousands of bloggers out there, and maybe even a few thousand or more who are doing exactly what I am doing, or now attempting to do. And if that's true, then that's great, because it means that there are many of us focussing on the problem, facing the problem, and finding ways of solving the problem. Maybe in a small way, but it only takes lots of small things to become a big thing.

So what is the blog going to do? It's going to be honest, and it's going to offer hints and strategies to help plus-size women who haven't yet gained the courage to stand up for who they believe in - themselves. It's going to make some women question themselves and their own attitudes towards themselves, and it's going (hopefully) to inspire women everywhere to stand up for their rights. Without shouting, without wildly entering into protest marches and screaming for something to be done, without losing their dignity in becoming argumentative and hostile, but with gentle persuasion to change people's attitudes.

And I carry a small notebook around with me everywhere I go, because it's amazing what you see and what you think about as you meet and mix with other people.