Debbie says:

Heather McAllister is dead, after a long struggle with ovarian cancer.

If you didn’t know Heather or her work, I’m sorry. She was a leader in the fight for fat women to be seen as full-blown sexy, with all the trimmings. She and her Fat-Bottom Review burlesque troupe posed for Leonard Nimoy’s Full Body Project. And here’s another image.

She knew exactly what work she was doing, and why. Here’s a KQED profile of her. And here’s my favorite quotation:

“Any time there is a fat person onstage as anything besides the butt of a joke, it’s political. Add physical movement, then dance, then sexuality and you have a revolutionary act.”
Bay Area memorial/wake plans are being made for her birthday, Feb. 25. We’ll keep you posted.

And if you want to do something revolutionary in Heather’s memory, do something to support fat bodies, find a way to be, or to support, or to encourage fat bodies on stage, with movement, dance, and sexuality.

Thanks to Steven S. for the quotation and various other obituaries for pointers and links.
Heather McAllister, big burlesque, body image, size acceptance, Leonard Nimoy, Full Body Project, cancer, fat, Body Impolitic