There are a whole lot of markets around town these days. Night markets, farmers markets, and, this time of year, holiday markets. But, our next guest is launching a new market Saturday, Dec. 7, that is even more niche: The Phoenix Fat Market.
Traci Tiwari, founder of the community group Fat Babes of Phoenix, says she chose to use the word fat for a reason.
Tiwari joined The Show to talk about her story and why she started this group. She said she was part of a similar group in Denver, but couldn’t find anything like it here in Phoenix. So, she started it herself.
Full conversation
TRACI TIWARI: I've actually been just kind of on social media aware and involved in like the Fat Liberation Movement and just fat community. And when I moved back to Phoenix, it was really apparent that we needed a space like that. Or at least I felt like we needed a space like that here because nothing really existed. And having been part of that both online and in other cities, I was really missing that community connection.
So that's where I kind of had the motivation. I was like, all right. Well, I did some looking online, didn't seem like anyone else is doing it.
LAUREN GILGER: So, so you did it. So you did it. I mean, that's quite a step though. Let me back up for a moment though and ask you, Traci, to describe what you mentioned there for us and what that means. Like you mentioned the Fat Liberation Movement, and I'm guessing people can infer from the title there what it might mean. But this is quite a context it's in right now. Tell us about that moment and finding that and understanding what this might do for someone like you.
TIWARI: Yeah, I know it's a great question. So I was really intentional about naming the group fat. And I kind of went back and forth on that of, do I make it a little bit more appealing to the masses by saying, you know, plus size? But I was really intentional about using the word fat because Fat Liberation is all about kind of reclaiming that word fat and destigmatizing the word fat and the negative association that society has given on that word when I see it.
And the Fat Liberation Movement sees it as a neutral descriptor. So it's all about reclaiming that word, advancing fat acceptance, you know, trying to promote body neutrality, creating community where we can talk to each other about things that we experience in the medical field, in society, in life because of weight, you know, weight discrimination negative things that we experience being in larger bodies.
GILGER: So that makes it sound serious and a little heavy, a little down, right. But, but it sounds like what you're doing with Fat Babes of Phoenix is really uplifting.
TIWARI: Yeah, absolutely. Our biggest thing is fat joy. So we, we love saying like our fat joy, we want to celebrate fat joy. We want to uplift fat joy. We just want to exist as a fat community without it being something that we're trying to hide from or that we're trying to pretend that we're not fat. Because it almost feels like in society, that's what we have to do. And so it's really just about, you know, let's just exist as a group of fat people who are just fat and we're people and we do fun things and we celebrate and we enjoy and it doesn't have to be about us being fat. But the fact that we are fat gives us that automatic sense of community and that we can relate to each other on that level.
GILGER: That's so interesting. So talk a little bit about what this was like when you first started forming these groups, like it started small, like there was a, a clothing swap like a pool party, right? Like what kinds of things did you hear from the folks who showed up?
TIWARI: Yeah. So we started like with doing park meetups and that was just kind of a way of like OK, well, try to get some people to just meet up and just be able to talk and meet other people. And the things people were saying were things like, “I'm so glad that I found this community, I've needed this so badly.” Or to be able to show up to something without being as nervous or scared that I'm gonna be the largest person in the group and everyone's gonna be looking at me.
And so just being able to remove that barrier and people have just, when we had our pool party, it was so special because everyone just kept saying that, wow, this is the first time I've ever been around this many people with bodies that look like mine or large bodies. And it was just a really freeing belonging feeling.
GILGER: That's really cool. Can you tell us a little bit about your own personal kind of journey in this? Like, how did you come across the Fat Liberation Movement and start to embrace it?
TIWARI: Yeah, I would say I've always struggled with my body image. I have been quote unquote overweight my entire life. And constantly went through the battle of diet and trying to be smaller and losing weight, gaining weight. And I came to this realization where I would look back on photos of myself where I was smaller.
And the one thing I realized was my mindset at the time was the exact same. My body might have been smaller, but I still in my mind thought I needed to be smaller in order to fit into what society says we're supposed to look like. And that was the moment where I really realized, like, I just want to, like, not even think about that.
And there's, there's a lot online and social media about body positivity and so definitely was involved in that aspect of it. But as you kind of get more involved and really dig into like, why can't we, you know, find simple accommodations, like being able to just have seats that are comfortable for people of all body sizes. And then as you dig more into that, you get more into what is like the Fat Liberation or things that people are doing to break down anti-fat discrimination and things like that.
So it really started with this just like, oh, I’m body positive and I love myself regardless of my size, but just developed more into even more freeing and let go of even that to go beyond.
GILGER: Yeah, let me ask you about something that you're getting at there and that I think ties into the market that you're holding this weekend, which is this idea of accessibility, right? I wonder how much of a barrier that is for people in fat bodies and one that probably most people don't even think about.
TIWARI: Yeah, I, I think you exactly summarize by saying like one that people don't think about. I think something as simple as chairs, whether it be in a restaurant in a doctor's office, you know, wherever you're going, someone who exists in a thin or smaller body probably never even thinks about, “oh, am I going to get to the doctor's office and fit into the chair in the waiting room or not?”
Someone who exists in a bigger body, those are things that we experience. And for me it's even more than the chair itself. It's more of a, it's the feeling of not fitting and it's not that chair. It's like overall, you constantly feel like you don't fit into society, into this mold. And it's just, it can put someone into a really negative place. And I don't think people understand the, the bigger impact that that can have on someone rather than it just being as simple as a chair.
GILGER: So tell us about this market this weekend. I mean, this is like, markets are kind of everywhere right now and they're getting very niche. This is definitely one of them. Where did the need come up for this?
TIWARI: Yeah. So I love going to markets, and as I would meet more people in the community, something that kept coming up was someone would say, “oh, I make zine,” or, “oh, I'm, I sell jewelry or I have a plus size clothing where I rework clothing and make it plus size and make it accessible.”
And it was like these things kept coming up and I was like, wait a minute, we have this awesome group of people, super-creative people and you know, just seeing how many markets and things there are out there. It just seemed like, let's do one ourselves.
And also as someone who goes to markets, I can never go to a market and expect to find clothing for sure. No, I mean, I'll go and I'll be like, OK, jewelry, things like that. But the idea of having a market where people could actually find plus size clothing is just so special because that just never happened.
