Title (as given to the record by the creator): Fat Watch 
Date(s) of creation: February 1995
Creator / author / publisher:  Fat Girl
Physical description: one zine page with a photo in the middle of the page. There is a blurb at the top of the page with an address, printed in black and white
Reference #: FG2-006-FatWatch
Links: [ PDF ]

Fat Watch 

By Max Airborne

What’s the world doing to get our attention? ALOT! Get their attention for a change! Let them know what you think! Send your Fat Watch submissions to Fat Girl, 2215-R Market St. #193, San Francisco, CA 94114.

SHAPE UP, AMERIKKKA
Hillary Clinton and former Surgeon General C. Everett Koop have been gathering sponsors for their official anti-fat campaign, “Shape Up , America!” Among them are Jenny Craig, Weight Watchers, Kellogg’s, and NutriSystem. Ads for Jenny Craig have appeared with the campaign’s logo and the Koop Foundation’s name. The campaign claims that obesity-related treatments have escalated health-care costs! This is particularly ironic given that there have been several lawsuits filed against Jenny Craig and NutriSystem by people who developed gallstones while on these diets. AND, the NIH released a paper against dieting. AND, the Center for Investigative Reporting just issued an indictment of over-the-counter diet pills, which cause strokes and have led to death and permanent brain damage in otherwise healthy people. So, the FDA is going to conduct a study. DUH! The study will take 5 years to track emergency-room admissions related to diet pills. The diet-pill industry will be allowed to reap their profits until PROVEN guilty. Fuckers. The truth of the matter is that costs surrounding diet-related illness are much greater and deadlier than fat itself. AND, dieting has a 95 % failure rate. Hello? Wake up, Dr. Koop!!! Write and express your outrage: The Koop Foundation, PO Box 998, Hanover, NH 03755-0998.

IN THE COURTS
The courts are trying to “protect” Jane Doe, a 15 year old in Clay County, Missouri, whose parents let her get too fat. Right. The court has ordered her to lose 150 pounds and weigh in once a week; her weight is monitored by the welfare department and the court. Jane is refusing to be weighed anymore (GO GIRL!), and her dad is standing by her. But she’s living with the constant threat that the police will come and forcibly put her in the hospital if she doesn’ t lose weight. Call the court [Bonita Copridge: (816) 792-7681] and the welfare agency [Beverly Redford: (816) 791-8900] and tell them what you think of their brand of justice.

Nearby in Wichita, Kansas a guy was convicted of forgery. During the trial, he told the judge how he couldn’ t get a job because of his weight (550 pounds). His sentence? Live in a halfway house, pay back the money he stole, and lose weight. He lost 60 pounds, got a job, started paying off his debt, and was released from the halfway house. When he started gaining the weight back the judge PUT HIM BACK in the halfway house.

NO MORE SIZE DISCRIMINATION? 
The state of Massachusetts just might do it. A bill was recently re­introduced that would add “weight or size” to existing anti-discrimi­nation laws. Folks in Massachusetts, contact your legislators now! 

NO ARMLESS CHAIRS? SAW ‘EM OFF!! 
Rumor has it that Sister Spirit bookstore in San Jose refuses to get armless or big chairs to accommodate fat women. We don’t wanna point fingers where they don’t belong, but we won’t stop you from calling them just to make sure they know we’re here. (408) 293-9372.

ON THE TEEN BEAT 
You may think Sassy is just another gross het teen mag, but if you read the August issue, you’ll think again. Mentioned on the cover, page 78 and 79 contain a spread entitled “Thirteen reasons not to diet.” The reasons: 

1. Your weight was genetically programmed. 
2. Dieting slows your metabolism. 
3. It makes you boring.
4. It leads to eating disorders. 
5. You’re always hungry. 
6. And what is the point? 
7. You’re depriving yourself of essential nutrition. 
8. You put off living. 
9. You’ll gain it back. 
10. It’s worse for your health to yo-yo. 
11. You feed the evil diet industry. 
12. The connection between weight and health problems is iffy. 
13. It makes you feel bad. 

Maybe they’ll even start showing pictures of fat folks one of these days (gasp!). 
Sassy, PO Box 50093, Boulder, CO 80321. 

And, from the January, 1995 issue of Seventeen Magazine: 

THAT’S PHAT: Call Charlotte Cooper fat and she’s unfazed. The 26-year-old Londoner and self-dubbed “fat activist” founded The Fat Women’s Group, just completed a video 

(Growing Up Fat), started a newsletter (Fat News), and is working on her own zine (all Right). She’s finishing up her master’s degree dissertation. titled “An Investigation Into The Poetics Of Size Acceptance” (“Just call it ‘The Fear of Fat,”‘ she sighs.) We asked Charlotte what her resolutions are for 1995: Every New Year, the top of my list of resolutions WAS to lose weight. My New Years resolutions NOW are to accept and love my body the way it is, including my big round belly, and my stretchy marks, and my thighs! Accepting everything, and not just thinking ‘Well, it’d be nice if I had a bit less cellulite.’ Also to live the glam­orous life I know I deserve!” 

For more information about Fat News or All Right, drop Charlotte a line at XXXXX. England. (written by Karen Good) Seventeen Magazine, 850 Third Ave., NY, NY 10022. email:SeventeenM@aol.com.

ONE FUCKED UP HERBAL SOLUTION
Anybody looking for a book on herbal remedies, steer clear of Herbs and Things, Jeannie Rose’s Herbal. She gives fat folks an entire chap­ter, “Fat and How Not to Be,” in which she says, “There is nothing more disgusting lo the sight of man or beast than a fat body with its hanging, stuffed, bulging flesh. There is no such thing as a slightly fat person. You are or you are not. There is one perfect solution: STOP EATING SO MUCH. And stop deluding yourself that you have some sort of glandular problem … Maybe more disgusting than a fat adult is a fat child.” Glad she wrote a book about healing, eh? Those who wish to contact her/her publisher regarding her inaccurate informa­tion can contact: Perigee Books, 200 Madison Ave., NY, NY 10016.

Thank you to SF Bay-area NAAFA and folks on the fat-acceptance list for info.