Hello, I am Sea Matheson. I am an activist based out of Austin, Texas, specifically working with the non-binary and fat community to help increase [the] presence of intersectional and non-binary people with such events in Austin as a Women’s March, March for Our Lives, [and] most recently, the global climate strikes. My preferred pronouns are she and her. And my paper, ‘Embracing Fatness as Self-Care in the Era of Donald Trump,’ is something I’m thrilled to be presenting and has been accepted here at the New Zealand Fat Studies Conference 2020.

Meat Sea Matheson! Verified Academic! | Louder With Crowder www.youtube.com

Space is an important element of self-care. And one tool for creating both ideological and physical space is fatness. When I was younger, on several occasions, I was touched or fondled sexually, and on some of these occasions, it was done without my permission. So, in college and grad school, however—and at this point, to be clear, I did not yet identify as fat—one day, however, all that changed. I was fueling my vehicle at a nearby gas station, and as I was collecting my receipt, a man reached out and tried to touch me, sexually. And I had a realization that I wasn’t worried.

Now, why was I not worried? Because I understood that in that moment, because of what, at this point, I was referring to as my freshman pounds—my newfound fat—this stranger, regardless of his determination, would have far greater difficulty in grabbing my genitalia without my consent. And that was where I began to explore the idea that fatness can be self-care.

From that point on, I actively chose to—I identified as fat.

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