The Wide Angle: Mythbusting

Fat people are one of the most mythologised groups in the world. By this I mean that we are prepared to believe all kinds of things about fat folk when cold, hard evidence points to the contrary. On the one hand we believe that fat people are weak and pathetic, undisciplined, but on the other we are fascinated by sumo wrestlers, who embody none of those traits. Queer people also suffer this annoying kind of mythology: we grow up believing all kinds of crap about ourselves and spend precious time having to work out what's really real. So it's not surprising that there's a ton of mythology in the space where fat and queer intersect. Right now I'm going to bust a trio of these truisms right open, so hold tight and listen up.

1. Gay life is all about being a gym bunny, having a six-pack and getting your shirt off at every opportunity
Okay, so the shirt thing is true, but the rest of it? Rubbish! Look at the fey lads of the gay indie scene; the Queeruption people, who couldn't give a toss about gym subscriptions; the Bears - fat, hairy and loving it. Learn to dig the diversity and just say no to cookie-cutter gay bodies that just popped out of the weights room.

2. Dykes are cool about fat
True, a solid butch or a voluptuous femme can still turn a head, but queer women are generally as fretful about their bodies as our straight sisters, as any dyke who has ever been to a slimming club will tell you.

3. Bears and fat dykes have the same kind of agenda
Wrong! Despite our apparent similarities these groups have managed to come to a similar conclusion - that there's value in being big and bent - via different paths. The rule of thumb goes: fat dykes are all about the politics and the activism, and bears are all about the scene and the sex, though I'd like to be proved wrong.

Of course these myths make you wonder what it is about fat queers that makes us ripe for mythologising in the first place - any answers? In the meantime, class dismissed!