Burlesque set Demon Derriere free. Almost a decade ago, when she was working as a photographer, she was struck by the confidence of the artists and models she worked with on shoots. “A lot of them were curvy and fat, and I saw how liberated they were with their bodies. At that time, I didn’t feel comfortable within my body,” the Sydney performer remembers.
“Seeing that confidence and sexual energy ooze out of them, I was like, ‘I want this.’ That’s when I realised that burlesque was a way of expressing self-love and body acceptance. Through all the discomfort and breaking the fatphobic views I had internalised, I was able to accept my body and liberate myself – and then I got addicted to it.”
Now, Derriere is spreading that message with Big Thick Energy, a festival that not only normalises but celebrates larger bodies by putting them front and centre. Burlesque and drag performances sit alongside workshops and markets featuring local artists and businesses which share Derriere’s ethos. “I’m actively trying to educate people on what it means to be fat, and show that fat and health are two completely different things,” she says.
First presented in partnership with the Darlinghurst Theatre Company in 2021, the event has now run several times in Sydney, including an album launch for the body positive pop star Lizzo. This month Big Thick Energy is heading to Melbourne for the first time, as part of the city’s queer festival Midsumma, before hitting Sydney WorldPride in March.
“The whole point of my art and Big Thick Energy is to break stereotypes, to reclaim words like ‘fat’, and to liberate the body,” says Derriere. “I engage and connect with the community to do that, because it takes a whole army to break these standards.”
The public conversation surrounding body image has shifted since Derriere started performing – just last month, the body image activist Taryn Brumfitt was named Australian of the year – but Derriere is pushing to make an even bigger impact. While brands are jumping on board with hashtags and love-yourself infographics, it’s often little more than lip service that targets a narrow demographic.
“A lot of it is performative,” Derriere says. “Look at these organisations and who’s behind it, and it’s normally a skinny white person. It’s people with money – the body positive movement has become part of capitalism.”
As a middle finger to all of that – and to the institutional fatphobia that still exists in, say, the medical system – you won’t just find “big tits, small waist, fat ass” at Big Thick Energy events. Here is the stuff you don’t see in magazines or on social media: real diversity; bodies in all their glory. Derriere rejects the idea of body neutrality, which reframes the body as just a vessel – in her world, it’s all about love.
Big Thick Energy is especially necessary within the queer community which, despite being a safe haven for many, is not immune from fatphobia. The toxic body ideals among gay men, for instance, and the body-shaming of the non-binary singer Sam Smith, show that the queer community, too, needs to reckon with its prejudices.
“Queer communities need to do a lot more to be genuinely inclusive,” Derriere says. As well as celebrating fat bodies, Big Thick Energy includes queer, POC and disabled artists; Derriere even hopes to make more future events free to break class barriers. The Midsumma event includes an Auslan workshop with the deaf Indigenous drag performer Krista Herrington and a life drawing class led by the trans disabled artist Ruby Allegra.
“The last thought for so many events is access,” says Derriere. “It’s about putting [disabled people] up on a pedestal but also making it accessible to the rest of the community to be a part of and to educate themselves.”
There’s still work to do to reach every part of the community – body positive movements often centre femme bodies, and the people who show up reflect that. “I’ve noticed that I have to do more community engagement with men, because there is so much fatphobia within the gay community,” Derriere says. To tackle this, she works with artists like Mark Mariano, Wombat Cereal and Jeff McCann – “all these beautiful fat men within the community”.
Big Thick Energy is for anyone who cares about making a difference in the way we talk about bodies. “It isn’t just a physical thing – it’s a state of mind,” Derriere says. “It’s the ability to be unapologetically yourself and to take up space.
“I’ve had people message me and say, ‘Hey, I’m not a fat person, but I don’t love my body and I want to learn to. Am I still allowed to come?’ People are still asking for permission – I’m always like, ‘Yes, come in,’ because it is about self-love and self-acceptance. I’m not trying to exclude anyone.”
As for how to challenge everyday fatphobia, Derriere has a few tips. “It’s about being picky with who you surround yourself with, and using dialogue and language that’s accepting,” she says.
“Fatten up your social media, fatten up your group. Get rid of those who don’t speak about bodies in positive ways. And do a lot of self-reflection – work on accepting who you are.”
Big Thick Energy is on in Melbourne as part of Midsumma, 10-11 February; then Pride Inner West in Sydney, 18-19 February; then Sydney WorldPride, 3 March
