Pittsburgh Fatties Social Membership goals to make Pittsburgh a extra inclusive metropolis – CBS Pittsburgh

PITTSBURGH (KDKA) – Pittsburgh: it’s a huge community.

However, there are plenty of smaller groups in this community looking for people to meet and enjoy similar activities like hiking, a shared interest in cars, and even dog dates.

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A new Instagram page is one of those groups that is quickly drawing the city’s attention.

Known as the “Pittsburgh Fatties Social Club,” it promises to create a more fat-friendly city.

The founder, Emily Anderson, met KDKA’s Meghan Schiller on KDKA News at 7:30 a.m. to tell us all about it!

“There are a lot of fat-positive clubs across the country, some in New York City, a really famous one in Portland, and I’ve been teaching yoga here in Pittsburgh since 2018, specifically body-positive and fat-positive yoga,” said Anderson. “I recently quit my job with the company to focus on this full time, and with that extra time and energy I was really inspired to create this community here.”

Anderson says that with her extra time and talking to her friends around town, she was motivated to start the club.

“I have so many friends who say, ‘I wish we had these events in Pittsburgh, I wish we had this kind of community,’ and it was when I thought why not start?” She said .

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The Pittsburgh Fatties Social Club may not be the first club in the area, but it is the first to grow.

“A couple of years ago there was a body-positive group on Facebook that just didn’t get that much activity,” said Anderson. “I think now, especially since the lockdowns have changed, people are just ready to go out and make new connections and make new friends, and that’s part of the reason it went so quickly.”

Although the audience has grown there have been some pushbacks, but Anderson is not impressed.

“I think you should take a yoga class,” she said with a laugh. “You just have to go out and find a friend. I understand that the word “fat” is a real challenge for people, and not everyone with a bigger body uses the word fat. People get mad at the idea of ​​being comfortable in your body and leaving the food culture behind. I understand why people get so angry, but it’s not the place for it. This is a place where people can feel safe when they are fat and are fat positive. “

If the audience continues to grow, what’s next?

“The goal is to have very inexpensive or free meetings at least once a month,” said Anderson. “At the moment we are concentrating on things that are outside. We have a pool party meetup this month, we are planning a clothes swap next month, and in October we will be doing an fall hike. Lots of activities that some larger body people may not want to try on their own or simply in a general get-together group because there is a stigma about going to the swimming pool or hiking, but as a community we can do so in a gentler and safer way with it more people feel comfortable trying new things. ”

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You can learn more about the Pittsburgh Fatties Social Club by visiting their Instagram page.