How could old-timers get in touch?

[Orso]

Do you remember the days before The Net and the computers? Do you remember how difficult it was to get in touch with the FAs/BBWs subculture? I think my case is paradigmatic, even if it had the added difficulty that I live in Italy, definitely not a FA paradise.

Everything began with a photo magazine I bought in 1979 because it had a series of pictures of BBWs -I did not know the term in these days- taken by Bob Adelman. I read the text accompanying the pictures, and in this way I knew of the existence of NAAFA and of small fat-centered subculture. I would have kicked myself because I just came back from the States the week before. Every time I came back to the States I tried to get in touch with NAAFA, but I never succeeded, so I began to think it disappeared or that it was an underground association that didn't want publicity.

In the following years through articles in Italian and American newspapers and word of mouth I knew about isolated books and persons, like Susie Orbach and Fat is a feminist issue, or Nancy Roberts and Breaking all the Rules, looking good and feeling great no matter what your size. This confirmed my idea that there were groups of a limited but active subculture, I tried to getting in touch with it, but again to no avail. In all the trips I made to the States the only thing I could do was to buy books.

Finally in 1988 I contacted SCA (Society for Creative Anachronism) and got friend with a BBW of the local chapter who made me acquainted with BBW Magazine -paper magazine, of course. I succeeded, I was in touch with the BBWs/FAs subculture!

Luckily my search did not end with this. I came back to Italy after a few months and the following year a fellow FA revealed me the existence of BUF (do you remember it?), that could be found also in Europe, and of Dimensions, that could not be found in Europe. In the meantime through BBW Magazine I got in touch with NAAFA and with another BBW, who finally in 1991 gave me an issue of Dimensions I still have.

As you see getting in touch with many of the aspects of our subculture was a process that lasted more than a decade.

I would like to know the experiences of other old-timers. How did you know of the existence of our subculture and how did you get in touch with it?

[musicman]

Good topic for discussion, Orso. It's interesting to hear how it was in Europe. Unfortunately, it wasn't much better in the USA. It's hard to even remember what things were like before the Net. As I recall, there were only 2 ways to find out about ANY subculture back then, either by reading specialty magazines or attending events. And usually, you learned about the events through the magazines, so maybe that only counts as one way. Here are some things I remember:

My first exposure was through BBW Magazine, which I found on a newstand in the early 1980's. It was the only voice in the media which said you didn't have to be thin (or have to like thin women) to be normal and happy. I remember that BBW Magazine had occasional references to NAAFA and events, and carried personal ads from men and women. The personal ads were split off into a separate publication ("BBW Friendship Express") sometime around 1983. I always thought that was a bad idea, because you had to subscribe to get the Friendship Express (whereas you could buy BBW Magazine on the newstands), but I don't know whether it affected the magazine positively or negatively. I don't recall hearing the term "FA" until I saw it in BUF magazine, perhaps in the late 1980's. Also, I think I first heard of Dimensions Magazine through ads in BUF.

For me, modern technology entered the story around 1992, when I can remember reading discussions about NAAFA events (and NAAFA politics!) on the old Usenet newsgroups. (Those were text-only Internet discussion boards that pre-dated the graphical Web we use today.) In addition to the annual NAAFA convention, there were many active local NAAFA chapters back then, which held dances and occasional weekend events. Most of the chapters eventually died, and the local bashes have since taken over most of that niche.

I finally started going to actual physical events after I met my wife in 1995. The first one I attended was the annual NAAFA "Holiday Happening" at the LaGuardia Marriott in New York, at the end of 1995 (which turned out to be the last Holiday Happening they ever held, ironically).

In the years since then, NAAFA has unfortunately been in a slow decline. I still consider myself a supporter of NAAFA and its basic mission of fat acceptance, but a lot of its previous functionality has been taken over by the Internet and the rise of the local bashes (which are also very dependent on the Internet). And of course, we have many newer communities (like the Dimensions website) to spread the message. It's amazing how the Net has changed everything, in only 15 years or so.

[moore2me]

Mr Orso,
I think mean well by your post, but let me educate you on a few topics.

1. Women (at any age) do not like to be called "old timers". Most of the DIMMERS are women and would prefer to be addressed as "gorgeous" or "BBW goddess". Calling us some less than complimentary name will most likely result in the number of posts you got in the past 24 hours - not very many from the girls.

2. In your profile, you refer to yourself as good looking - You should let us be the judge of that. We will let you know at a later time. But, most of our hunks on this Board do not refer to themselves as cute. Now, if you were to use the words "rich" or "own many villas in the south of France", that would be more acceptable terms.

3. This old hen happens to be 59. Most people on this board are young ones and would have no idea what the world was like before computers or the net. When I try and tell them about the "old days", most of the younger DIMMERS would rather hear about something more relevant to their hectic and problematic lifestyles.

However, in the 60's and 70's - this fat girl had very little social interaction with people that looked like myself and spent most of my time reading, listening to the radio, being tormented by my peers, and indulging in my hobby (making wax figures of bullies and sticking pins in them, then setting the whole thing on fire).

In answer to your original post . . . .
The owner and chief of this website started DIMENSIONS magazine. Several people that were on the beginning of NAFTA are also here. So our group has very august folks who helped created the fat acceptance movement. These men and women didn't just use the system to contact each other - they created it and took the fat acceptance movement out of the closet. Without a doubt, I am sure that new members like yourself are welcome - regardless of your age.

[Orso]

Originally Posted by moore2me

Mr Orso,
I think mean well by your post, but let me educate you on a few topics.

1. Women (at any age) do not like to be called "old timers". Most of the DIMMERS are women and would prefer to be addressed as "gorgeous" or "BBW goddess". Calling us some less than complimentary name will most likely result in the number of posts you got in the past 24 hours - not very many from the girls.

2. In your profile, you refer to yourself as good looking - You should let us be the judge of that.

Without a doubt, I am sure that new members like yourself are welcome - regardless of your age.

I apologize for the use of the word 'old-timer', no offence indended. My English evidently is not up to the task, so I could not find any other word to describe people active in the '70s and '80s of the last century. Again I apologize.

About 'good-looking', I wrote in my profile 'reasonably nice, reasonably good-looking'. I tried to give an humorous twist to the phrase, and the absurd picture I put on the profile was meant to be an added humorous touch. Evidently my sense of humour is not shared by many people of the board.

And about new members like me, I am aware that I cannot compete in seniority with many people in the forum but, after all, I joined more than 6 years ago - although I never was very active - and I forgot to say that I subscribed to Dimensions (paper version) in 1991.

Also, thanks for your illuminating infos on the history of Dimensions and of the Fat Acceptance movement.

[Webmaster]

Originally Posted by Orso

Do you remember the days before The Net and the computers? Do you remember how difficult it was to get in touch with the FAs/BBWs subculture? ...

I remember those days very well. Before I moved from my native Switzerland to the US on a scholarship to RPI in Troy, New York, in 1977, there was the occasional American fat magazine and nothing else. In the US I found a reference to NAAFA in a Penthouse Forum Magazine, tried to elicit a response from NAAFA for some three years, and finally hooked up with NAAFA in 1981 or so. Went to my first events (Holiday Happening at the LaGuardia Marriott and Cumberland Valley Memorial Day events).

Then came an official period where I got on NAAFA's board around 1984, became the coordinator of the FA-SIG, became NAAFA's Chairman of the Board in 1985 or so, converted NAAFA's membership list from a near-manual system to a proper database, began publishing the proper Dimensions Magazine in the late 1980s, which eventually became a 64-page glossy. Got on Prodigy and CompuServe and many of the private bulletin boards (like Carolyn's) that were the precursors to the web in the late 80s. Stayed in NAAFA's leadership for some 20 years overall, with tons of traveling and all those board meetings and events. That certainly was an experience. At some point I practically knew Robert's Rules of Order by heart.

Put first Dimensions and then NAAFA online in the mid-90s, set up discussion forums, etc. On the Dimensions front, we had gone on many TV talk shows and at some point printed over 10,000 copies of the magazine. In the mid-90s, friendship ads were still very big, and we usually had several hundreds in each issue of Dimensions, and a separate database to handle it all. By then I was publishing several magazines, and when LFP no longer wanted to print BBW, I took it over, hired a crew and we extended BBW's life for another four or five years until print was simply no longer feasible.

On the Dimensions front, the emphasis gradually shifted from the print mag to Dimensions Online with a Byzantine website (most of which is still there), forums, online model searches, etc., etc. In the early 2000s, I set up an early matching system and streaming chat, and then switched to the current vBulletin format in 2005 or so, and Dimensions becoming the largest plus-size community out there. Saw MySpace come and go. Things sure changed tremendously over the past 30 years.

Sadly, no villas in Southern France and no yachts, but it's certainly been an experience.

[bigmac]

Originally Posted by Orso

...

I would like to know the experiences of other old-timers. How did you know of the existence of our subculture and how did you get in touch with it?

I remember when BBW events were advertised on the back page of local weekly newspapers. The add would have a phone number which put you through to a recording that told you where and when the event was. Had a cool underground feel. I remember driving into LA getting a copy of LA Weekly and calling from a pay phone in front of a liquor store on Venice Boulevard.