cosmolinguist | Clothes (Reply)

This afternoon, mother_bones and I went to a local fat-positive clothes swap.

It was a really positive experience. We got rid of a lot of stuff we don't wear -- too-femme things in both cases, as well as stuff we just don't wear, doesn't fit right, all the usual stuff.

People were nice, trying stuff on and complimenting each other. It didn't seem like people buying stuff to resell online or alter to sell to thin people, both of which are concerns at these events. It was great to see a variety of gender presentations and races and a lot of visibly disabled people (MB had rollator envy of someone) and the event was wet out in a reasonably accessible way.

I was really impressed to see an event with explicit covid protections.

COVID-19 HARM REDUCTION: To minimise potential spread of covid-19 and protect clinically vulnerable folks in our community, we ask ALL attendees to wear a mask at the swap. Spare masks will be available on the door! We also encourage everyone to consider additional harm reduction practices before the event, for instance by testing before attending, and obviously not attending if you have any covid-19 symptoms.

The venue can't open most of their windows but the ones that could be open were and there was a big air filter, looked like a dehumidifier, labeled something like "Covid Box, must be on while an event is happening" so that's good too.

It was amazing to be in an environment where there were clothes you could be interested in, pick up (they were all laid out on tables) and go "...no actually this is too big for me" and put it back for someone for whom it will be the right size. We're just not used to the physical presence of clothes that are too big.

It was even more amazing to see people pick up stuff we'd brought and look delighted by it. MB had a lot of really striking items that they were so happy to see bringing delight to others: they even saw someone struggling with the corset they'd brought and went over to help the person get it on.

MB came home with a very sedate four new items of clothing, I had stacks of things: two hoodies, a denim jacket, a few nice shirts for when I have to dress up for work... I am feeling very accomplished (and slightly worried as to where I'm going to put them all! I was trying to get rid of stuff!).

They'll do another one in September so I think we'll have some coats and stuff to donate by then!