It has been a very long time since I posted on this site. When ever I think of posting I always want to start with an apology. I will apologize now for my lack of posts and maintenance. I hope that in 2024 to be more attentive to my online presents.
From the inception of The Venus of Willendorf Project in the early 2000’s, International No Diet Day has been a very important part of my creative activities.
The History of No Diet Day
International No Diet Day was first observed in the United Kingdom. British feminist Mary Evans Young is credited with starting the movement, inspired by her own struggles with body acceptance and anorexia.
The first No Diet Day was held on May 5th, 1992. It was a small affair to be celebrated by a dozen women with a picnic in Hyde Park, London. Ages ranged from 21 to 76 and they all wore stickers saying “Ditch That Diet“. Do to bad weather Young ended up hosting the picnic in her home. She would soon seek to make the date an international holiday. Americans, concerned that the date conflicted with Cinco de Mayo so Young agreed to change the date to the 6th of May in subsequent years.
Today, the celebration has evolved into a social media based campaign, sponsored by the National Eating Disorders Association. Observances typically include posting either graphics with statistics provided by NEDA and photos of food to social media platforms under the hashtag “#NoDietDay”.
Also known as National No Diet Day or simply No Diet Day it is an annual celebration dedicated to the importance of body acceptance, diversity, and respect for all body shapes and sizes. It is observed by groups in a number of countries, including the United Kingdom, United States, Canada, Australia, New Zealand, India, Israel, Denmark, Sweden, and Brazil.
No Diet Day ala The Venus of Willendorf Project
Over the years the Venus of Willendorf Project has done many initiatives in honor of International No Diet Day.
From chalk stencils to stamping currency with a stamp that read This Bill Should Not Be Used to Buy Diet Products. The largest action occurred in 2013 when I placed full page color ads in popular tabloid magazines. The ad ran for 2 consecutive weeks in the National Enquirer, Globe and the National Examiner.
I even attempted to do some crowd source funding in the hopes that I could bring in enough money to have the ad run longer. Unfortunately this was unsuccessful, and I got more love letters from prison and hate mail from Church Ladies then diet books for my efforts. But I can honestly say I have been in the pages of the National Enquirer naked all in the name of the largest diet book collection known to man. I think I am now up to around 8000 hard cover books, I don’t know how many paper back I have to date, but it requires renting a large storage facility.
No Diet Day, Monday, May 6th, 2024
This year I will be going whole hog again! I have donated mini activist packs to be included in FATCON Seattle from January 5th to January 7th 2024. Each attendee to the conference will receive a postcard with instructions of the assignment if they choose to participate a Venus of Willendorf Project Ex-Libris Sticker and a Venus of Willendorf paper clip.
Participants are invited to secret the sticker on a diet book in a book store or library on or around May 6th 2024. Document their mischief and using the listed hashtags to post on social media.
- #venusofwillendorfproject
- #radfatactivism
- #dietsdontwork
- #civildisobedience
- #nodietday2024
- #HAES
The stickers were designed intentionally to look like the Randolph Caldecott Honors Medals as the books that receive the award are labeled. Unless the person who is purchasing the book looks very carefully they might assume the book has won some kind of acclaim. On further inspection the reader will see that the label is actually a warning about the dangers of dieting. In a ring around the edge of the sticker I have included the diet cycle journey1. Each hard cover diet book that enters my studio receives one of these stickers. For this project I decided to give a limited amount of them out. If people are interested in creating an activist event for No Diet Day and would like more stickers they are available for purchase. Interested participants can purchase 10 stickers for $10.00 US dollars postage included within the United States. If you would like to buy some but need them shipped outside the US please contact me for pricing.
A limited number of the Venus of Willendorf Paper Clips are also available for purchase. 20 clips for $15.00 US dollars postage included within the US.
- The Diet Cycle: Diet, Deprivation, Hunger, Craving, Weakening, Surrender, Weight Gain, Guilt. This is typically the phases on goes through taken from the start to the end of a diet journe. ↩︎
Fat Feminist Activist Artist's Blog 