Deadline Extended for Canadian Submissions!!!

Phat Girls Anthology...deadline has been extended to OCT 1, 2008 for Canadian submissions.

Thanks for all the US submissions I've received thus far. You ladies certainly have LOTS to say:)

Fabulously yours with thanks,

Jill Andrew
Phat Girls Anthology Editor

Ladies Celebrate Your Curves on May 6 Int. No Diet Day!!!

Ladies Celebrate Your Curves Today:
May 6 is International NO DIET Day (INDD)
Toronto, ON May 5, 2008

Got a pair of jeans in your closet with a four year old price tag? End the torture, donate 'em! Today is International NO DIET day- a day to celebrate healthy, natural curves without apology. "It's scientifically proven that diets do not work over time. The result of 'yo-yo' dieting from excessive dieting is now being linked with heart disease," says Jill Andrew, women's body image workshop facilitator and founder/producer of Canada's first and only plus size fashion fundraiser Curvy Catwalk. "Maintain regular fun exercise, eat wisely, which can include cheesecake, and don't obsess over the scale," Andrew says. Andrew recently won the national 2008 Michele Landsberg Award presented by the Canadian Women's Foundation for her work through media and activism to help empower the lives of women and girls.


The average North American woman is a size 14 yet according to NEDIC, 80 to 90% of women dislike their bodies. 70% of women are currently dieting although 95% of weight loss is reportedly regained within the first one to five years. According to Andrew dieting cannot reset your genetic make-up long term unless you are willing to become a slave to calorie counting all your life. "Knowing your actual body type can save you years of low self-esteem, the risks of developing eating problems and trying to become someone you are not. Dieting is a physically and emotionally taxing process of self-deprivation. It's much more satisfying to simply incorporate a healthy balance of healthy foods, fun foods, regular check-ups, an active social life and exercise into your daily routine."

Andrew speaks regularly encouraging women to share stories about body image through the thick and the thin for her upcoming anthology Phat Girls in Search of a Pretty World: Hot Lil' Fat Chicks Speakin' Out! and is also at the helm of the Toronto International Body Image Festival (TIBIF) which will explore diverse bodies through film, arts, speakers series, fun and of course food. "We spend billions annually buying new wardrobes, compiling degree after degree so that we can create an image to be competitive and 'accepted' in this world but how many of us feel as self-loved naked without all that window dressing? It all starts with a deeper positive perception of our physical bodies well beyond simple vanity. I think for most of us it's a life long journey often made more difficult thanks to stereotypes about bigger people as lazy, asexual or unhealthy." says Andrew.

Reigning Miss Canada Plus and triple threat entertainer Stephanie Conover says INDD marks a huge gain for women. "On May 15 I perform in "Fuze" at Buddies in Bad times Theatre. It's a night of song and dance but more so another opportunity for me to express myself as a vital, self-assured curvy woman on stage owning it," says Conover. Curvy Catwalk model, former Miss Canada Plus and regional sales manager for TD Canada Trust, Cindy Bourassa says INDD is about loving yourself unconditionally. "I've got so many accomplishments in my life to celebrate regardless of my dress size, I don't know where to begin." So what's your plan for International No Diet Day? Let it be sweet.
--------------------
*PICTURES AVAILABLE FOR THIS STORY

Jill Andrew, Stephanie Conover and Cindy Bourassa are all available for interviews. Contact 416-540-6659 or info@jillandrewmedia.com.

For more information on Body Image
Visit: www.nedic.ca, www.sheenasplace.org, www.curvycatwalk.com, www.naafa.org, www.mcpp.ca

For some local plus fashions visit: www.ki-ke.com, www.lolaandgigi.com, www.gutsydame.ca, www.myspace.com/candiedappledesigns

From left to right: Stephanie Conover, Jill Andrew (middle) and Cindy Bourassa are kissing diets goodbye in celebration of International No Diet Day!

Curvy Catwalk's Jill Andrew and Miss Canada Plus gal pals Stephanie and Cindy take a break in the city for a sweet bite.

Picture Credit: JAM PRoductions/Aisha Fairclough



For more story pictures contact: Jill Andrew info@jillandrewmedia.com or call 416-540-6659

Women's Body Image Anthology Wants to Hear from You!

2008 Call for Submissions

Phat Girls in Search of a Pretty World: Hot Lil’ Fat Chicks Speakin’ Out!

Phat Girls will explore plus size women’s private and public journeys with weight. In this original collection, we will express our diverse experiences and memories of how our weight and self/body image have shaped us as women—from childhood to adulthood.

Phat Girls will illuminate the successes achieved and the challenges met by women negotiating a desire for self-love and acceptance of our selves/bodies within an often “thin obsessed” and “thin accessible” society.

We all have diverse paths and histories, cultures, relationships and ambitions, but one thing most of us do in the morning is look at ourselves in the mirror! Phat Girls is interested in your story—what YOU see, think, hear or imagine when YOU look at your fabulous you. Who do you see looking back and what message(s) does she give you about how to live your life? Who to live your life with or for?

What message(s) does your self-image give you on how to navigate through your community as a female, student, professional, an occupant of public spaces for instance on the public transit, at a restaurant, a social or at a movie theatre? The spaces and roles we occupy in our lives are endless! What messages do we get from society (or from those negative nagging voices in our own minds) about how we should look and about how to achieve ‘real’ success? How do all of these factor into our perceptions of our bodies?

Ever “fat girl” has her own story. There is no one story that rings true for all of us and this is exactly what Phat Girls will capture. It’s a platform for you to tell your story, to share your ups and downs in the hopes that maybe your words might inspire another woman to share her own. Through sharing there is healing and more so empowerment! Phat Girls contributors will reflect the stories of women from different race, class, ability, sexual identity, religious, geographical and education backgrounds.

Your submission to this anthology can take several forms:

• Short stories (non-fiction) or “fiction” based on your life stories with fictionalized characters

• Monologues (one-person plays)

• Reflective Essays (academic and non-academic)

• Response Papers (for example, your reaction to a particular ad, conversation, experience with weight discrimination or topic i.e. Fat Suits in Hollywood; Beauty Pageants or “Makeover” TV Shows etc.)

• Memory Work (for example, writing a story about the first time you ever thought you were fat; writing a story about a particular body part and what it has meant to you over the years)

• Comic Strips

• Visual Arts (photographs of paintings, collage art (visual or words) etc.)

• Photo essays

• Poetry/Spoken Word

• Other (Phat Girls is open to receiving your creative submissions that are combinations of the above)

DEADLINE FOR SUBMISSIONS: September 1, 2008.

Please send by mail only. Late submissions will NOT be considered.

MAIL TO:

Phat Girls Anthology

C/o Jill Andrew

2620 Eglinton Ave East

PO Box 42503

Toronto, ON Canada

M1K 2S0

Contributors 18 years and over are welcome. Submission maximums should be no more than 3,000 words (12 page max.), DOUBLE-SPACED, single-sided, 12 point font. Include a contributor’s bio of 100 words or less. Please remember to save an electronic copy of your submission should it be selected.

Mailed submissions will not be returned unless there is a self-addressed stamped envelope enclosed with your submission. Please ensure you weigh your package beforehand at the post office to ensure you’ve got sufficient return postage.

All visual contributions (pictures, photo essays etc.) must be sent on a disc (high resolution Jpegs only) along with hard copies of each of the visuals. Please include an SASE with adequate postage, otherwise we cannot return this material to you.

Poetry/spoken word contributions please send a maximum of 6 completed prose.

Individual contributors are welcomed to submit multiple submissions but do note that in the hopes of having as many diverse voices as possible, likely on 1 submission per chosen contributor will make the final project.

All submissions will be read thoroughly. If selected for the Phat Girls anthology, there may be additional editing required. At that point, the *author(s) of the submission will be contacted directly for input. *Multiple authors per submission are permitted but the same word count still applies.

Here are a wealth of general topics and questions to help you start brainstorming your submission(s):

Topics:

• Body Image, Size Acceptance and Friendships

• Body Image and Intimate Relationships (dating, intimacy with the lights on or…off?)

• Weight Discrimination, Body Image or Acceptance in the Health Care System

• Perceptions of Health or Illness and Weight

• Surviving Illness through our Bodies

• Weight Discrimination in Employment

• Weight, Body Image and Fashion, Entertainment, Media & Pop Culture (Music, Music Videos, Magazines, Facebook, MySpace, Blogs, Advertising etc.)

• Fat Representation in the media (film, TV, print etc.)

• Size and Consumerism

• Cosmetic Surgery, Body Modification and “Beauty”

• Beauty and Ageing

• Body Image and Race, Body Image and Ability, Disability, Body Image and Sexuality (sexual identity, sexual orientation etc.)

• Size & Gender, Gender Roles; Size, Weight and “Performing” Gender through our Fat Bodies

• Body Image, Compulsory Heterosexuality and the Construction of the ‘Feminine’ and the ‘Masculine’ “Ideal”

• Multi-racial views on Body Image, Beauty and the Desire for (or rejection of) a ‘Western’ “Mainstream” standard of beauty

• Body Image, Fat Phobia and Acceptance in the Everyday World

• Fat bodies, Tight Spaces

• Fat Activism (performance groups, advertisement campaigns, community activism, zines etc.)

• Body Image & the Arts (visual arts, exhibitions, photography, literary work etc.)

• “What I absolutely LOVE about my body…”

• Memories of Body Image or Fat Issues in the Home and How These Have Informed Your Sense of Self Today (meal times, family traditions, experiences with childhood abuse or neglect, sibling rivalries etc.)

• Body Image & Poverty

• Globalization & The Female Body

• Psychic & Physical Trauma(s) (i.e. emotional, physical, sexual abuse etc.) and Eating Problems

• Fat Bodies and Violence Against Women

• Body Image, Fatness and Weight Issues in Public Spaces (i.e. experiences in theatres, public transit, restaurants, malls, fitting rooms etc.)

• What’s in a Name? Body Image? Body Consciousness? Eating Disorders or Eating Problems? What’s relevant to you?

• Weight and Accessibility

• Body Image, Fat Acceptance and Education (size discrimination in schools, assumptions made about you because of size/weight etc.)

• Weight preoccupation and Food

• Smokes, Alcohol, Drugs and Our Waistlines

• Eating Problems (under eating, overeating, control/loss of control etc.)

• Feeling “outside of” or void of a/your body

• Weight & Fitness

• Body Image & Sports

• Fat & Feminism

• Fat is Beautiful

• FAT & FABULOUS

• A Historical Look at Fat when Fat was “in”

• Being Fat Across Borders: What are the beauty ideals around the globe?

• Other topics related to your experience(s) as a “phat girl” speakin’ out!

Questions:

• How or has your weight (or your perception of your weight) altered moments in your life that otherwise should have been pure joy and satisfaction (i.e. dreading taking pictures, saying no to outings because you didn’t know what to wear etc.)

• How do you resist the “beauty myth” on a daily basis? Or do you?

• How do friends, family or intimate partners ‘react’ to your fat body?

• How do we as ‘fat’ women construct our sense of self and of community? How are we inspired to love ourselves despite the fact that the world is so thin obsessed? Share your secrets!

• What is…a “good” body?

• Have you ever had an experience with fat on fat discrimination?

• What does being a “fat girl” mean to you? What does the term “fat” mean to you? When did you first realize that you were fat? When did you first realize what “beauty” was?

• Have you ever found yourself playing into ‘fat stereotypes’ in order to ‘survive’ or to ‘save face’?

• What part of your body do you absolutely love and why?

• Which parts do you absolutely detest and why?

• What don’t you see when you look in the mirror?

• How or has your sexuality (or sexual identity) been influenced by your fat body?

• How has your body influenced (negatively and/or positively) your career, career choices (or lack thereof), access to opportunities etc.

• Are you a sexy woman? What makes you a sexy woman? And if not, should you want to be, how might you get there?

About the editor:

Jill Andrew CYW, BA (Hons.), BEd, MA (Sept ’08) is an award-winning national columnist with the Metro Toronto Daily Newspaper and still enjoys livening things up as a teacher, women’s/youth advocate, performer, entrepreneur, events host and public speaker throughout the city. Jill is the founder and producer of Curvy Catwalk— Canada ’s first and only annual “plus size” fashion fundraiser increasing body image/eating problems awareness and funds for Sheena’s Place & NEDIC (National Eating Disorder Information Centre). Annually on December 24, Jill also organizes with friends and media/activist colleagues the JAM (Jill Andrew Media) For Hope Homelessness Initiative providing food and clothing necessities to those in need. Jill’s on-air and print appearances include the Toronto Star, NOW Magazine, Passion Magazine, Sway, Vervegirl Magazine, GRAND, City TV, OMNI, CP24, CBC Radio, Global, ET Canada, HGTV and more. Jill is a member of the Canadian Ethnic Media Association (CEMA) where she has won two national awards for Best Editorial and Best Column, the Black Business Professional Association (BBPA) and the Canadian Women’s Foundation (CWF) Vanguard Philanthropy Group among others. Jill loves to socialize, is obsessed with cats and still believes her lottery jackpot is just around the corner! Jill is completing her Women & Gender Studies Masters degree at the University of Toronto and one day plans on hosting her own TV talk show. Jill Andrew is also the recipient of the 2008 Michele Landsberg Award. The national award, presented by the Canadian Women’s Foundation (www.cdnwomen.org), recognizes young women 30 and under who are outstanding feminists in the area of media and/or activism. Jill currently resides in Toronto , ON Canada . For more visit www.jillandrewmedia.com or www.curvycatwalk.com