“Loving our bodies outside of the norm is a constant act of resistance. And that doesn’t mean that we are immune to the pitfalls of, for example, being upset because something doesn’t fit, because we couldn’t do something we wanted because of our body”, says Polly Marques, our interviewee in this edition of Vozes, is a journalist, influencer, traveler, creator of Viaja, Gorda! and, yes, fat.
According to the World Health Organization (WHO), one in eight adults across the planet is obese. By 2025, the projection is that around 2.3 billion people will be overweight. Of these, more than 700 million will be obese. In Brazil, obesity affects almost 20% of the population.
And it was with this group of people in mind, and the lack of specific material for obese people, that Polly created the Instagram Viaja, Gorda! A place of acceptance, exchange of ideas, information and lots of beautiful and inspiring photos.
How did Viaja, Gorda!
Travel, Gorda! was born at a time when Polly was in a depressive crisis. It came at the suggestion of the therapist, who always said that she needed to look for pleasurable ways to let out what was distressing her. “I didn’t think so, because when you’re depressed everything seems gray and dull. One Sunday morning, around mid-December 2018, I woke up with a name repeating a thousand times in my head ‘Viaja, Gorda!’. I thought it was just my traveling pet screaming, but no, it was “the” click”.
Strength came from therapy and people close to me. It was in 2019, while organizing herself for a trip, that she realized that no one was writing for the fat traveling public.
“Since I achieved a certain financial independence, in 2007, I have enjoyed traveling. And sometimes I got into some trouble precisely because I didn’t have information for fat people: a bar stool that had already broken, a small bed, bathrooms with bathtubs (an old thing) that were very high and difficult to get into, showers in Europe that didn’t work. It was up to me to join… So, why not combine my profession with my passion for travel?”, says the journalist.
On January 29, 2019, she made Viaja’s first Instagram post. The reception was incredible.
Society’s demand for the “perfect body”
“It’s incredible how in the middle of 2020 we still need to reaffirm that our bodies are ok as they are. And it’s also incredible how the weight loss and anti-aging industry has space and weight in the happiness discourse.”
Polly says that she is always trying to study the subject, especially the weight that the media has in this construction of the idealized image of being a woman with a perfect and happy body. And she says that she tries to convey this in two ways to those who follow Viaja, Gorda:
For thin/non-fat women, it tries to show that, despite being victims of aesthetic pressure, they do not suffer from fatphobia and that they should avoid reproducing fatphobic behavior: not making “jokes” about bodies; do not tell a fat person that they should worry about their health; be careful not to be an inspector of the food and clothes that the fat person consumes, etc.
As for fat people, especially fat women, she tries to show how hatred towards bodies has been built over the years, how we can create strategies so that criticism of our presence/existence doesn’t hurt us so much; talks a lot about psychological support (because self-hatred generates very dense mental consequences); tries to show how it is possible to occupy social spaces and also how important the fight for rights is. An example: something that few people know is that public transport must offer seats before the turnstiles for fat people and also preferential seats.
“Then you ask me: what does this have to do with traveling? So, I believe that you can’t travel when you don’t believe in your potential, in your own body, without knowing your rights, without knowing how to create strategies to defend yourself.”
If it’s not easy for you, it’s not easy for others – and for Polly it was no different: “Accepting myself was a long process. I was born fat, I was a fat child, a fat teenager who was bullied and I developed bulimia.”
Polly says that prejudice came from family, friends and even school. She lost weight due to the disease, looking sickly, but was highly encouraged to stay thin. And so it was. “I was “skinny” from 15 to 23. Then I started gaining weight again and hated not fitting into my clothes. At journalism school I heard that I couldn’t be a video reporter ‘because I’m that fat….’. And I gained more weight as I hated myself… and hated myself as I gained more weight.”
With the arrival of 30 things changed a little. She saw that she always had friends, that she had a job, that she was dating, that she was loved, that they praised her. She just needed to look at herself with more love. And why not?
It was then that she started to move away from people who only let her down in relation to her body, she stopped following people who sell an unrealistic image on social media, she started meeting people more like her and she started getting closer to herself. “I saw that, like everyone else, I have qualities, skills… and things started to happen. Today I can’t imagine not eating my ice cream or eating my pork rinds with cachaça to please anyone.”
For her, one of the biggest difficulties when traveling is the size of the seats. This applies to any means of transport.
It could be because of the seats on planes, which are increasingly narrow, the embarrassment of not being able to go through turnstiles, the need to stand because the seat doesn’t fit you, or even seeing people looking at the empty seat on the plane. next to her and don’t take the place because you’re fat and will certainly bump into her.
“And we cannot have our right to come and go restricted because we are not up to standard. I am very skeptical about the goodwill of some people, so I believe that there is no right without a fight. And I think that this moment, when our existence as fat people is in the spotlight, is strategic for demands.”
Among the main doubts of Viaja, Gorda readers, the biggest insecurity is whether or not they will fit into a certain space: plane, bus, restaurant, hostel/hotel.
And the second is about how they will feel welcomed and seen in the environments: again the plane, restaurant, hostel (they are scared to death of being placed on the top bunk or of other people treating them badly because of their snoring, which is common to fat people).
“And the sad thing is to see how many of these insecurities are paralyzing. A follower the other day told me: ‘I can travel, I’m dying to go abroad, but I never want to get on a cramped plane, with everyone watching me and stay there for 10, 12 hours. And the bathroom is terrifying, I can’t fit in there’”.
Gorda travels on Youtube
In the video below, Polly gives basic tips on what a fat person needs to take to the beach and some extra precautions, which many people don’t even realize are necessary.
Like the fat man’s clothes are bigger, take up more space and weigh more. That we can use ointment to avoid getting baked between the thighs. Or they had never called the hotel or sent an email asking about the size of the shower, the bed and those details that you only start paying attention to when it’s with us.
For more videos, check out her YouTube channel (she tries to update whenever she can).
And be sure to follow Polly on Instagram: @viajagorda
The Voices
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