 Age: 30 Selection: "The FAT!SO? Manifesto"
(page 101), with photos by Debra Iyall Recent review (from Factsheet Five): "Fat
empowerment has never been so fun as FAT!SO?, a hot-pink zine
with good writing, smooth design, and a feisty attitude." Sample copy: $3.50 from P.O. Box 423464,
San Francisco, CA 94142 (checks: FAT!SO?)
When did you launch your zine? What inspired you to do so?
 The first issue of FAT!SO?
came out July 1994. I started my zine because, on the same day,
this guy I was dating told me he was embarrassed to introduce
me to his friends and I received a letter from Blue Cross
of California denying me health insurance. I am a healthy, 250-pound
non-smoker, and cute as a button. But I am also fat. So on both
a personal and an institutional level, I was not even allowed
to join in the game. A fatso was born. And the FAT!SO? motto:
Don't apologize for your size! So you're too big, too small,
too short, too tall. Too much here, too little there. So? So
what! Size ain't shit.Why publish a zine?
I was so angry about these
two incidents that I felt my silence would somehow indicate that
I agreed with how I was being treated. And I absolutely did not.
I'm a writer with a lot of experience working on publications,
so I did what I knew how to do. Any general tips for aspiring zinesters?
Think of the coolest thing
you could possibly do and then find a way to do it. There's always
a way.  What's your
favorite part of doing a zine?
The fame and fortune. Going
to the post office box every day and getting letters from people
who tell me how much they love FAT!SO? and how good it makes
them feel. Leaving FAT!SO? propaganda toilet paper installed
in public bathrooms in airports, doctor's offices, art museums,
anywhere that has a loo will do.
Fill in the blank: In my other life, I'm a ...
Freelance journalist. Fan
Mail
Fat!So?: The BookNews: Tuesday February 16 1999 8:18
AM ETOverweight Protesters Slam Fitness
Club's AdSAN FRANCISCO (Reuters) - About 25 overweight
protesters picketed a San Francisco fitness club Monday to protest
against a new billboardclaiming that, when space aliens finally
do encounter humans, "they will eat the fat ones first.''  "I
can't believe that a gym would have so little concern about the
health of people,'' said protest leader and author Marilyn Wann,
whose book "Fat!So?'' seeks to challenge social stereotypes
about fatness.
"I represent the 97 million Americans
who are fat. We're 55 percent of the population, it's really
not safe to alienate us because we might just sit on someone,''
Wann told KCBS radio. The protesters were angry at 24 Hour Fitness
for a new billboard above a city freeway that depicts a leering,
alien face and carries the message "When they come, they
will eat the fat ones first.'' The fitness chain, which runs gyms throughout
the western United
States as well as in Asia and Europe, said it had not meant to
offend anybody with the advertisement. "We all know how hard it is to lose weight,''
the company said in a
written statement. "Sometimes humor helps make things easier,
and can even be motivational.''
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