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The F Word is a series celebrating what it means to be fat — from destigmatizing the word to taking stock of the discrimination fat people face. In this installment, the group Fat Girls Hiking illustrates the power of community.
When Summer Michaud-Skog and her girlfriend at the time went on one of their routine hikes in Oregon, they couldn’t help but notice all the bewildering stares from fellow hikers on the trail — sure, Michaud-Skog had a lot of tattoos and her girlfriend was a woman of color, but they couldn't understand why they were getting such odd looks — until soon it struck both of them: They were two fat people hiking.
“We obviously don’t fit the idea of what a hiker is,” Michaud-Skog told Teen Vogue.
Making light of the situation, Michaud-Skog made a joking song that they were just “two fat girls hiking” and in true millennial fashion, posted a picture on her Instagram with the hashtag #fatgirlshiking. But what was was a joking hashtag turned a light on a bigger issue at and: The visibility of fat, queer, and POC hikers in the outdoor industry was incredibly dismal. From that, the group Fat Girls Hiking, was born.
“[Fat] people are going to the outdoors, but we’re not seeing that,” Michaud-Skog said. “I think having that representation is important.”
Formed in 2015, Fat Girls Hiking is a body-positive outdoors community that aims to end the shame and stigma around the word “fat” and use it as a means of empowerment, through intersectional feminism, fat activism, and body liberation. The group has developed from an online community on Instagram with more than 23,000 followers, to an offline community with 29 chapters located across the country.
“I didn’t know how to lead other people,” Michaud-Skog said when she hosted the first Fat Girls Hiking meetup. "I just knew I wanted to hike with other people who would get what it was like to feel ‘othered’ out on the trail."
Michaud-Skog, who was born in Minnesota before moving to Portland, Oregon, never saw the joy in hiking. But one day, she briefly got left behind — and what would have been a moment of panic for many was a moment of calmness for Michaud-Skog, who looked around and fell in love with where she was.
It’s a feeling that Michaud knew other fat women, like herself, had, and wanted to create a space for them to “show up as they are” — no contests, no comparisons, and perhaps the most important: No scales and no weight loss talk. With a driving philosophy of “trails not scales”, Fat Girls Hiking is adamant about eliminating language surrounding diet culture or weight loss in the space, due to the damaging effects it can have — and in many cases, has already had — on fat people.
“There can be a lot of anxiety that comes up when you’re a fat person trying to be active or trying to do an activity like hiking,” Michaud-Skog said. “We can come together as fat people and talk about the experiences as fat people, without talking about weight loss, or diets.”
The idea of recognizing and resisting diet culture within the organization was a conversation that sparked a lot of pushback within the Fat Girls Hiking community, after Michaud-Skog recently penned an article on weight-loss comparison photos, and how the labels of “unworthiness” put on fatness versus the “happiness” of when bodies conform to the cultural standard of being thin, can be toxic for fat people. Michaud-Skog emphasized that Fat Girls Hiking instead promotes “Health At Every Size”, a principal developed by Dr. Linda Bacon that celebrates body diversity and promotes self-care, while challenging scientific and cultural assumptions of how society views bodies.
“We can just move our bodies for fun because it feels good and we can stop when it doesn’t feel good,” said Michaud-Skog. “The group hikes are all about self-care and healing and giving ourselves permission to honor our bodies needs — we don’t have that enough in our culture.”
Ani Janzen, who has been the Fat Girls Hiking ambassador of the Minneapolis chapter since May 2018, said that while her group has been on the trail, they’ve been asked if they're trying to lose weight while hiking or have been told they “won't be fat much longer” because they were hiking. Janzen emphasized that many fat people can be active without having a goal of weight loss — and with Fat Girls Hiking, laughing, hiking, and enjoying the outdoors is a form of activism and empowerment, without shame.
“We can hike, be active, be fat and most likely, we'll be staying fat,” Janzen said. “It can be difficult hiking the trails knowing many people are assuming that we're pursuing the thin ideal, but it's a lot better in community with each other.”
But the patronizing comments made at Fat Girls Hiking points to a bigger picture of how fatness is viewed in the outdoors community. Michaud-Skog said outdoor stores often don’t have hiking gear and clothing in sizes larger than an XL — and that exclusion in the industry shows that those companies don’t see people like her as a valuable market. Although corporations can make strides to provide inclusive sizing, Michaud-Skog said she doesn’t “want to wait” for those companies to change, and prefers not to be sponsored by corporations.
“I rather support small businesses or little companies that do have things that are accessible to fat bodies,” Michaud-Skog said. “To me, it is fatphobic — having lack of access to goods and services. It’s stigmatizing to fat people.”
In 2017, the outdoor company REI announced that it would start offering more plus-size options for women in the spring of 2018, planning to offer one price across all sizes, while maintaining the quality of their clothing. The company could not be reached for comment when asked about their plus-size range. REI’s competitor, Patagonia, said they plan to expand extended size options in “multiple styles and product categories” but these options won’t be available until August 1.
There’s no immediate solution on how to change those companies, but Michaud-Skog said the work of Fat Girls Hiking is already pushing the conversation of fat people in the outdoor world in ways that hasn’t been done before. The work of Fat Girls Hiking is challenging, yet rewarding for both Michaud-Skog and Janzen, but creating spaces and building a community of fat positivity, regardless of race, gender, disability, or sexuality, is empowering in a world where being fat can be isolating.
“Seeing bodies that look like yours move and hike and adapt is powerful,” Janzen said. “It lets fat people know, we belong here. Nature is our birthright.”
