When it comes to ambivalence, I've a pretty strong capacity. But I've gotta admit this capacity was tested with the recent publication of Katharine Gates' Deviant Desires (Juno Books). A coffee table paperback devoted to "Incredibly Strange Sex," Gates' volume explores "the most fascinating and obscure outposts of the erotic frontier." Included in its discussion of paraphiliac play around equestrian paraphernalia, balloons, spilled food, squashed bugs and such is an extensive chapter devoted to fat admirers and feeders.
Few F.A.s are eager to have their preference lumped as "deviant," though Gates softens this loaded label by explaining that she uses it to describe "people whose sexual desires are non-conformist but safe, sane and consensual." While fat admirers have struggled for years to place their preference in a normalized context ("It's not any different than being attracted to blonds!"), it's clear that mainstream culture still doesn't buy it. Perhaps it is time for F.A.s to quit denying their different-ness and let their freak flag fly.
Still, one look at the contents of Deviant Desires is enough to give one pause (even author Gates has some reservations about the crush freaks.) Do fat admirers really belong in this group of "deviants, perverts & weirdos"? The point is definitely discussion worthy. Some F.A.s seem to relish their outsider status; others don't. Perhaps the issue is a matter of degree: by itself, fat attraction is innocuous - but when you venture into fanta-sizing or out-and-out feeding it becomes something Other.
Those caveats aside, Gates' Fat Admiration chapter is remarkably even-handed. As a writer, she skirts sensationalism in favor of an open-minded examination of the dynamics behind fat attraction. Some familiar Dimensions contributors (editor Conrad, artist Ned Sonntag, writer and model Betsy, even - conflict of interest alert! - yours truly) get to ponder their preferences in print. For many F.A.s the highlight will be the ten-page photo interview with the lovely feedee writer Betsy.
Whenever I'm interviewed, I typically find myself first focusing on the small inaccuracies (e.g., while I've written for the mag in another incarnation, I never was an editor for The Comics Journal), but in terms of the broader picture I have no objection with my small role in the chapter. Gates gives more credence to Yohannon's still-unsubstantiated screed against feeders than I'd be willing to - but, then, part of his argument was built on a calculated misquote of one of my old Dimensions columns. In the chapter's context, his diatribe serves more as a cautionary warning on the dangers of taking things to the max.
The book has a profusion of wonderful images: Bountiful Productions models galore, Sonntag graphics (including a cool two-page weight gain strip that was unfamiliar to me), plus plenty of Betsy shots. In their own way, they state the case for fat attraction as effectively as any reams of analytical text. I can just picture some neo-F.A. glomming on these images while flipping through the book at Barnes and Noble.
Gates devotes chapters to fantasies that also appear in Dimensions' "Linkmania" section: Body Inflation, Breast Expansion and Giantess scenarios. Many of the usual suspects (inflation sitemaster Wren, Bust Artist, giantess wrangler Ed Lundt) are interviewed, and they all offer insight into their particular brand of kicks. Say what you will about the "weirdos" populating Deviant Desire, but we all seem to be an articulate bunch.
As a public examination of fat admirers, Gates' book will definitely have the straight-laced contingent in the size acceptance movement cringing. (I don't see it showing up in NAAFA's Book Service any time soon - even if it does take pains to document NAAFA's condemnation of feeder activity.) Heck, I cringed at some of the other chapters, so I can't get too high-and-mighty here.
Would've loved to have made it to the book publishing party, though. . .
March 2000
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