Tess Royale Clancy was put on their first diet when they were eight years old.
No sweets were allowed in the house and when their mother was on a diet, they were forced to follow the same restrictions.
"She didn't like that I was fat, but I didn't care," Mx Clancy says.
"I was always like, 'I don't understand why what I look like is so important … shouldn't people like me for my mind and the way I think?'"
Mx Clancy's mother, who was also plus-sized, wanted them to be "skinny" so they could "have more opportunities", after experiencing the difficulties of fatphobia herself.
"She went about it the wrong way by instead trying to make me hate myself."
Mx Clancy, who grew up in Pennsylvania in the United States, was bullied at home and at school up until high school, when they started playing sport.
"I became, I guess, like a 'good fatty', like that trope of if you exercise and play sport, people won't make fun of you," Mx Clancy says.
To motivate them, Mx Clancy's mother would try to bribe them with gifts for losing weight or would tell them things like no-one would love them if they remained in a bigger body.
Meeting other 'fat babes'
Their mindset began to change when they moved to Sydney, escaping their mother's body shaming and discovering the plus-sized community.
Being in a body-positivity video spearheaded by fat liberation activist Demon Derriere had a big impact.
"That was the first time I was fully connected into being around other fat bodies," Mx Clancy says.
After experiencing the joy of seeing bigger bodies represented, Mx Clancy wanted to help the community grow.
Since then they have organised various social events, including a clothes market, a life-drawing class, and "fat babes speed-friending" for those sick of being the designated fat friend.
Finding friends among the clothes racks
Despite her love of fashion, Christine Aukusitino's wardrobe was limited.
"I just had to get creative with clothes," she says. "Staying trendy was difficult because all the trendy clothes never fit me."
After visiting A Plus Market in Melbourne, she decided to open a plus-size fashion market in Sydney with Mx Clancy, called Radically Soft.
For many people, the Radically Soft markets are the first time they'd had a positive shopping experience, Mx Clancy says.
Radically Soft held its latest market at the Portugal Club in Marrickville last Sunday.
While customers were excited about the variety of sizes, the real beauty is in the friendships formed among the clothes racks.
"I didn't want any fat people to feel alone in their journey, because I think it can be very isolating when you don't know other fat people," Mx Clancy says.
While she was shopping at the market, Sasha Rose made three new friends, after they got talking over a pair of utility shorts.
She proudly identifies as a "fat babe", however, hated her childhood nickname, Gordita, an affectionate way of saying "little fatty" in Spanish.
"I got really angry that I was being called fat. My family were like, 'No, it's a term of endearment, it's a cultural thing' and I'm like, 'Stop it!'" she says.
After being told about fat liberation by a physiotherapist, Ms Rose joined the plus-size community and learnt to reclaim the word "fat".
"If someone wants to call me fat to put me down, firstly, it doesn't work, because to me that's like saying I have brown hair, it's just a factual statement," Ms Rose says.
"What is more devastating is the fact they think it is synonymous with [being] worthless or is some kind of failed state of being."
Challenging unhealthy assumptions
Throughout Ms Rose's teenage years and the majority of her 20s, she had tried to make herself smaller, restricting her foods and over-exercising.
She says that was far worse for her health than living well in a bigger body.
Even now, she feels doctors often assess her body weight rather than the symptoms of her illness.
"Doctors look me up and down. They just presume to know what I eat," she says.
To those who accuse the fat-liberation movement of promoting unhealthy living, Mx Clancy says "you can't tell anyone's health status by what they look like".
"I don't understand why people think that you're glorifying anyone by just wanting to be accepted and not discriminated against," they say.
Spreading fat joy
After volunteering with Radically Soft, Ms Rose enlisted the help of Mx Clancy, and created Fat Muses, a life-drawing art class that uses only plus-size models.
Phoebe Phoenix recently modelled for the class after making a promise to herself to start "taking up space unapologetically".
In a room full of newfound friends, Ms Phoenix bares her curves proudly, attributing her confidence to the loving environment.
The class was the first time Shalamah "Wombat" Tautaiolefue had seen larger bodies in art.
"It was really cool to see just bodies that aren't the standard type of body but just a body you'd see on the street," he says.
Growing up queer in a Mormon household, in addition to being plus-sized, Mr Tautaiolefue lacked spaces where they felt comfortable.
He is also a regular at Radically Soft.
"I didn't have spaces like this where I could come comfortably, wear what I wanted to wear, and shop, and to not feel as though I was a spectacle," he says.
Mx Clancy plans to create more events for bigger bodies, and spreading fat joy.
"I personally love being fat, and that's not to say fatness is an easy thing," they say.
"But I think that in society, if people don't have fat stigma, it wouldn't be so hard to be fat. There's so many beautiful things about fatness."