Fat Community Changed Everything

The first time I experienced community was in the context of religion. My family would go to church multiple times a week (woof) including damn near every Sunday. While we didn’t see everyone that often outside of church, it was a place where I caught up with people, we had a common thing connecting with us, and generally we were there for each other when there was a need.

I’m not religious anymore but in my adult life, I think the closest thing to community I’ve seen is a large friend group (but didn’t meet regularly) or work friends (but work isn’t community of course).

For most of my adult life, I was conflating community with friendship. In the last year and a half, I’ve been learning the differences and finding a need for a community space.

When I visited the Bay area, a friend took me to their weekly fat swim. I knew immediately that I wanted to bring it to Seattle. I am obsessed with going swimming and know that fat people as a whole love water. It’s one of the only times we don’t have to fight gravity and get to move with ease.

It’s also a space where my fatness doesn’t matter. Being in a space surrounded by people with larger bodies is so incredibly liberating. I feel less alone. I feel empowered to wear something risky for me. I just feel like I belong. And we need more of that.

Fat Swim happens monthly and is a place to build community, meet friends or simply just enjoy being weightless in the water. You can come hang out and just forget how awful the world is for a minute. My hope is that we, as a community, can also lean on each other when things are difficult. You can just show up as you and bring all the feelings.

If you are a fat adult and looking for community, new friends, or space to be in the water without judgment, I hope you join! Sign up for email updates.