Gaining

An interesting study currently being conducted to understand why feedees/feeders are the way they are. They are looking for volunteers to be interviewed. Appears to be a legitimate research project rather than some of those sensationalists that have been looking for feeders/feedees in the past

kathycharles.net/2014/08/19/feederism/

I saw this on Tumblr today - the bane of my existence... god how I hate that site. And yet, I'm hooked? Regardless, I think this was a good find.

I work in research and feel like her recruitment post is similar to something I would send out. The language also sat well with me, so I emailed her this afternoon. She got right back to me with the following email:

"Dear [Fatty],

Thank you for your positive e-mail and your interest in our work. Michael and I have been interviewing men and women who are involved in feederism from a variety of perspectives (e.g. gainer/feedee, mutual gainers, encourager/feeder) and our book is due for completion in May this year. We have been interviewing people over *** (voice only) or by phone to try and better understand feederism. Our main motivation is addressing the misconceptions around feederism and also showing the diversity of activity people engage in (rather than the stereotypical idea of feeding to immobility). The interviews last between 30 and 60 minutes depending on how much people want to say.

We have interviewed a number of people now and will probably stop interviewing at the end of this month to give us three months to write up our work. If you'd like to take part there is still time and it would be great to hear about your experiences - it sounds as though you have been quite determined if you have gained 70lbs in a year. We could probably schedule an interview within the next week or so. If you'd like any more information or wish to ask any questions before agreeing to take part then please just let me know and I'll be happy to help.

Thanks again for getting in touch and best wishes,

Kathy"

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Again, seems legit. I responded asking her what research code of conduct they follow and how that covers anonymity, and to send me any more information that she could. I'd be happy to post her response if anyone else is curious!

I'm planning on going ahead with the interview as long as they pass my ethics test and I continue to get the impression their work is non-sensationalist, genuine research. If nothing else.. for science!

oh interesting then i will wait for your judgement and maybe send her a mail , too^^

I would urge caution, as we have had 'researchers' on the site before, and even when they are legit often the end product is sensationalist and fat-shaming.

They are going to write what they want either way. Why not give them positive stories? LEGITIMATE research shows what the facts show. Crackpot stuff falls apart as soon as one ignores the sensational headline.

If people want to think of us as "broken" nothing is gonna change that. But, I will lean toward that some people are honestly interested in what makes us tick. So, *** it. If they are gonna write bad things, they can do it.

We are still gonna be fat and happy either way!

I also noticed that one of the emails is at least an email for an ACTUAL college, so that's encouraging too.

I agree with you. However, she never used the word "obesity"...



I also agree with you! I'm a researcher by trade, and all of her communications, study information, and consent documents are in line with the research society codes I'm familiar with.

I did the interview, and she explained that as a result of their findings to date, they're discussing the idea of feederism/feedism as a sexuality in their book. I can get down with that! However, questions about my childhood do concern me that they may be looking at how family attitudes and behaviours around may food may have affected us, which is an idea I'm not particularly fond of because I don't attribute my fetish to any childhood issues. On the other hand, I suppose one cannot ignore the influence of development when studying adult sexuality. I could ponder this for days, but a girl's got shit to do.

They're done recruiting participants, by the by.

And I do appreciate the words of warning. Lord knows we get more than our fair share of looky-loo's and trolls trying damn us in public, but I don't ever want to be so jaded that I refuse to investigate things like this. In this case, I think it turned out well. We're supposed to be updated with the findings and info about the book, so I'll post more then if anyone wants to see how the story ends!

researchers do what researchers do, they look for explanations. Is it biological, is it social, is it (and so on) so they explore all angles. I think that those looking into sexuality are learning quickly that biology places a huge role, and that we express it earlier that traditionally recognized.
They finally recognize that same sex attraction has roots in biology, so why would anything less we do not follow similar patterns!
There is a gene expression where pain causes higher releases of endorphins than "normal". I would wager these people act in ways to expose themselves to pain, maybe even a predilection for BDSM?