1. Who Are We?

[80s Synth Theme Music]

James: Welcome to Thicc Radio, where we take a deep dive into gainer culture and everything that orbits I'm James.

Tim: And, I'm Tim.

James: All right let's get into it Tim how are you today? 

Tim: I'm doing pretty good, how about you? 

James: Yeah look I'm not doing too bad, I'm not doing too bad did you know we're recording the first episode of our podcast right now? 

Tim: Yes I did!

[Both Laugh]

Tim: And, very happy to be a part of this new incarnation of this podcast. I was very excited when you told me that you wanted to become a partnership with this because; I was running the Gaining Perspective on my own and, I think rather underestimated the daunting task it is in uh running a podcast by yourself so very excited to actually have a collaboration.

James: Oh fantastic! I mean look honestly I um I've been thinking about doing a podcast for about as long as I've been doing the lives that I do on Instagram. A lot of people give me that feedback and I've asked a number of people if they'd want to do a live. They said no because they don't feel comfortable showing their face which is fine but, they have said if this ever turns into a podcast they would love to be a part of it and share their experiences so I think this is going to be good. 

Tim: I certainly hope so. I mean I really hope that this takes off uh and gains some momentum because I started my podcast as a passion project. I was looking for podcasts that would specifically talk about Gaining and Encouraging and everything in the realm of belly fetishism and, there really wasn't much from the gay man's perspective. There was quite a bit from the straight uh Feeder/Feedie community and from the BBW community but there really wasn't much from a gay man's perspective so that's why I wanted to start mine. And, now I'm happy that I'm able to do this with a good friend of mine and actually really get into some topics that I think need to be discussed more often in our community. 

James: For sure I mean first of all gaining momentum I see I see what he did now that was an unintentional pun actually that's the unintentional sure sure [Laughter] I mean it's interesting you say like what inspired you to really start your podcast. What started me to start doing lives on Instagram was a little bit of the same you know a lot tends to happen in the community with feedback resoundingly being why is it not enough Community why is it a Content why do people not do things and, I don't know I think for the first time it kind of dawned on me I was like “Yeah why is there no content?” and, then I thought I could just make it myself 

Tim: Yeah when in doubt, you know mother is or necessity is the mother of invention so if it's not there you put it out there yourself see what happens 

James: Absolutely and, you know obviously people are trying to put together projects in the past and you know this will just be our take on that old format so here's a question for you what does it mean to you to be a Gainer? 

Tim: For me it really is a lifestyle and, I didn't realize how much uh that meant until I embraced it now uh I had been aware of the community since I was 18. I went on to the internet and somehow stumbled across it I think like most of us do and, I was a lurker for a long time I just sort of went through and admired and you know followed certain gainers that I found very fascinating. And this was you know back in the dial-up days of the internet there really wasn't a ton of sites to go on but, uh as time went on I kind of dipped my toe into the world a little bit I started bloating which was more temporary because I wasn't quite at the point where I wanted to throw myself into actually gaining. Finally around I want to say about 26 27 weight started to come on sort of naturally from just you know bad diet habits. And, I was starting to get a lot of attention from guys on I was on Grommr by that point and, something always felt like it like something was missing in my life when I was thinner I didn't really know what it was but I finally decided to throw myself into it completely and that's when I really kind of adopted it as a lifestyle and realized how much it was a part of my life. And, that thing that was missing was finally there. I finally felt like a more complete person and now it's just a totally full-blown lifestyle for me and I find it liberating. I find it exhilarating. I find it kind of flying in the face of social norms; it's just become a really important part of who I am. 

James: You know it's quite interesting the way that you describe how this has all come about for you. I almost feel like every descriptor you know the way you describe how it's changed your emotional state. The way in which you feel like it flies in the the face of social norms I almost feel like each and every one of those could be its own episode of discussion because it's just incredible how pervasive the concept and the lifestyle is and of course I think a lot of people who maybe aren't familiar with it, people who haven't experienced it for themselves may not understand that but I think for those of us who engage with it it tends to be quite revolutionary in just about every aspect of life. I know when I started I was weighing about 45 kilos or a hundred pounds and…

Tim: My goodness, you were small! 

James: I was very very small you know and I mean everyone in my family is that size and you know you don't question it but then as I started to grow and as my body started to thicken a little bit and started to shift in a more typically masculine Direction you know I started to find this shift in how people looked at me the way that people responded to me I mean I remember the very first time that an older woman kind of looked at me sideways on the train and I thought my gosh this has never happened before and I couldn't understand why until I caught my reflection in the mirror and it was deep winter and I had this big coat on I had this beanie and I think the added feature of the weight gained at that point had transitioned me from looking like a normal young man into looking a little bit like a disgruntled gnome. 

[Both Laugh] 

James: So you know it really does change all of those minute aspects. It's all the big things and it's also All the Small Things. So when it comes to this podcast I genuinely do feel that there's an almost unlimited number of discussions and points to be discussed about how it works, how it changes life and really what it means fitting in with the rest of the world as well.

Tim: I know that the first time that I got called “Big Guy” that was kind of groundbreaking for me. 

James: Oh yes!

Tim: That had never happened before you know I was a very thin child I was a very thin teenager in my early 20s I was 135 pounds so to be called “Big Guy” was really like a revelation it was like oh it kind of took me by surprise and I was off guard because you know now I'm sitting at 235 pounds which is 100 pounds heavier than when I was 21. and that's the biggest I've ever been in my life so yeah it's just kind of amazing how um these things change your whole perspective on life you know and I I just I'm enjoying the ride so much and riding with such a high of confidence that I know I'm certainly never going back.

[James Laughs] 

James: It's quite funny sometimes I think when you put out uh shall we say content online for fellow uh appreciators of of what we're doing to ourselves uh and then you'll find someone who will stumble across it and uh generally speaking the commentary and feedback uh is along the lines of “What on Earth is this?” “Why would you do this?” “You need to lose weight immediately!”  What do you typically tend to do when you get that kind of feedback?

Tim: It's very rare for me to get that feedback actually because of the base of followers that I've built over the years I started over on Grommr I only created a gaining Instagram profile I want to say maybe about two years ago. So people who had been following me on Grommr came over, followed me on Instagram. It's very rare for me to run across anyone who tries to tell me that I'm unusual or that I should lose weight. That used to happen when I would post content on YouTube and I would just ignore it really. I, you know, I've kind of gotten to a point in my life where I simply don't care what other people think. So I wouldn't respond to it. One thing that did happen recently that I thought was really funny; someone tried to follow me on Instagram it was a weight loss account. 

[James Laughs] 

Tim: It was uh someone that was trying to run a weight loss program and they were trying to follow me and I was thinking okay there's probably only one reason that an account like this would follow me and it's probably because they want to proselytize to me about you know the evils of being overweight and try to get me on some kind of program and I wasn't here for it so I just deleted them right away. But, I haven't had a ton of experience with people telling me that I'm doing something wrong or that I should lose all the weight or “God what are you doing to yourself?” “You're killing yourself.” that has kind of yet to happen 

James: Well look at me that in many ways that makes me happy because I think a goal for the future would be to live in a world where we don't have uh people putting out needless negativity all the time I think that's a good example of how the simple existence of fat in the world you know triggers people in the Health Community to want to reach out to you whether for positive or negative reasons and it's really evidence of society's big push towards eradicating fat fighting the Battle of the Bulge. And, you know I'm not going to critique that for everyone because some people do want to lose weight some people you know don't feel happy or healthy in their bodies that's up to the discretion of the individual that's perfectly fine but I think the goal would be a world in which those of us who want to maybe have a little bit more or enjoy ourselves in a certain type of way and not judged for doing so left to our own devices uh and can kind of just function as regular normal people because I think that's a point that people often miss we are in fact normal people. I have a job, I have a place I live in and I have housemates. I have friends, I have a life that I live and I live every single day. 

Tim: Yeah absolutely I fully support any individual who wants to make their body match how they feel on the inside so if you are overweight and you're not happy with it you want to lose it I support that. If you are not happy being thin and you want to gain weight I support that. If you want to be muscle whatever it is you want to do but I want it to be under your own agency I don't want it to be because someone pressured you into it or because you feel you have to meet some kind of impossible Beauty standard and I would love to see as cliche as it sounds an era where we get to Live and Let Live you know where fat phobia has really come to an end and we're just okay with the normalization of seeing bigger people men and women and non-binary people and trans people people of color you know whatever all the varieties that human life comes in being able to be free about who they are without fear of judgment.

James: One hundred percent, you know to me that kind of makes me want to reflect on my own definition of gaming and I've put this point out to a few community members in years past I don't Define gaining as the simple Act of gaining weight because obviously it's it's quite straightforward the original idea is to be a Gainer you gain weight and for some people it's fat some people it is purely muscle for some people it's both but for wanna as I say I've kind of changed my own personal definition of gaining and it has shifted more towards gaining perspective. Gaining confidence, gaining ground on the body that you want for yourself it's more applicable to body modification in general because what that does is it factors in individuals who are trying to lose weight it also factors in individuals who are trying to gain weight maintain it happily and healthily. And, it also normalizes the idea that what we're trying to do is just be happy with who we are and what we have my perspective of what defines gaining and a Gainer is now different to what it probably has been traditionally and ultimately the goal there is to help people in The Wider World, pun intended, listen there'll be a lot of that in the podcast you'll get used to it.

Tim: I think that to hook on what you said, that's a good way to talk about our actual intention for the podcast is that this is meant to show you that we are not solely defined by our fetish. That we are people who have lives careers aspirations dreams goals fears insecurities and if that can help someone either within our own community or outside of our community I think that's the whole reason why we wanted to do this there needs to be moral representation of every kind of person out there there's been such a lack and a vacuum of representation that that's why it was important to me to even start the process.

James: Absolutely! You know I think any one of us who engaged in the community over the years can acknowledge as being problematic interactions with yes people outside of the community but also people within it to ultimately. 

Tim: Yeah we're not immune to toxic members it happens everywhere and it happens with us too.

James: Absolutely, there's toxicity everywhere you go and it's about how you negotiate that and how you navigate it but I will I would also put it out there you know our negativity in the community is probably akin to themes of internalized homophobia you know individuals who posit themselves against the queer community in a way that they do because they're not happy with themselves because they understand they think and feel probably more in line with us and that you know hits a hard wall against perhaps what Society or their microcosm of culture says is correct or incorrect as a result huge confliction lashing out tends to happen a lot of negativity tends to happen and you know that's unfortunate but that's caused by that microcosm it's caused by the thing that doesn't allow for the acceptance much in the same way within the gaining Community we're all here because we want to feel happy but we all live in the wider World wherein fat is not treated as a good thing. Some of us were born fat and born and raised as children as overweight individuals therefore some of us carry a lot of Trauma from childhood and from earlier formative years that have stuck with us some of us like myself experienced privilege of being slim and have only walked into negativity as a result of having become fat for some of us we take it on the chin some of us because we never experienced that kind of ostracizing in the past are unprepared for it so there's all of those little experiences and factors that make realistically everyone's Journey vastly different and that's a big part of why as a part of the podcast we're going to constantly have a Litany of different guests coming in to share their own personal experiences and Back stories and histories and thoughts and ideas hopes wishes wants all of it because how could we possibly between two people encapsulate the entirety of a human Spectrum it's just not possible.

Tim: Well I'm glad that you brought up that we were not raised you know or when we were growing up we were not overweight you know our current weight is a conscious choice that we both made in adulthood so we didn't have to grow up being fat shamed in places like high school middle school you know we didn't have to suffer through the embarrassment of being overweight in a locker room or you know in a shower room or something like that so as as much as I you know am proud of the body that I've created I can't put myself in the shoes of someone who has suffered that kind of fat phobia and that kind of emotional abuse you know most of their life so I you know it's that's why I'm glad we are going to bring other people on because I I feel like if we just sat here and it was just always the two of us it's like there's so much that we would you know really miss the mark on because we didn't that was not our experience growing up and we really have to bring that to the table too because there's a lot of horrible horrible bullying that has happened to some people throughout their lives and one thing I wanted to bring up that is really interesting to our community I feel like there's a very specific type of fat shaming that happens only in the Gainer community and it's kind of like a reverse fat shaming where people will criticize you for not being big enough like you won't get you know it's like they they don't want to give you attention or praise or anything if you're not big enough you know it's like some I've even received direct you know DM’s on Instagram saying oh you know you could be bigger rather than just saying good job or I'm liking what you're putting out there's like oh you need to keep eating you know “What are you eating right now?” “Why aren't you eating?” “Why aren't you bigger?”

James: It's interesting um I often find that a lot of those remarks tend to come from people who have no personal or direct experience when it comes to either gainers or gaining themselves there are other members of the community it needs to be mentioned people who tend to go by terms such as admirer encourager feeder is another big one that's one that some people have a lot of contention with but you know a lot of the time these individuals aren't actually big themselves and they don't necessarily have a desire to grow they like seeing other people grow and they have a desire to be involved in the process by helping someone else to get bigger so to their minds perhaps it's helpful to reach out to someone they find attractive and say you “You need to eat you need to you need to grow!”, but as a Gainer that's not realistic like sometimes I'm at work in the middle of a busy work day I don't have time for your nonsense message about what you think I should be doing with my time or I might be on my lunch break eating my lunch “What are you eating for lunch?”, possibly just a sandwich “Why just a sandwich?”, because I'm in my place of work I can't exactly have three sticks of butter and an entire ration.

Tim: It's not it's not the most prudent thing to make a huge pig of yourself when all of your co-workers are watching you 

.

James: No 

Tim: Sometimes it's just not the best thing to do. You certainly don't want to humiliate yourself around the people that you have to work with constantly.

James: No absolutely not! And, this is again that whole concept you'd brought up about gaining gaining is a lifestyle it is the lifestyle that you walk into every single day you wake up in it and you go to sleep in it much in the same way that those of us who are trying to lose weight do the same thing those of us trying to achieve different energies in our life we always do this so it's interesting having that feedback from people I will say that it might change depending on where you interact with these people but I would argue for the most part that most interactions are relatively okay.

Tim: Yeah it's rare for me to run into those people that I would deem as a toxic influence and when I run into that I simply ignore it or block it you know if it gets harassing then I'll just block them I try to give people the benefit of the doubt at first and just see if they're going to leave me alone but if they don't then I I just block them.

James: Oh one hundred percent. You know it's like any other aspect of mental health we have to look after ourselves I didn't have time in my day for someone's negativity especially in the middle of covid you know when this when this goes up people will see the date obviously we started recording this you know uh in the middle of covert I don't have the energy for negativity or nastiness so I think encountering anyone that does that's an immediate invitation to step the [ __ ] away and create some distance.

Tim: I'm glad you brought up the whole you know no time for negativity because I kind of have been really hyper aware of the negativity out there in the world since 2016 shall we say and so I've been such…

James: Anything in particular happening anything to…

Tim: Anything major happen in 2016, anything important?

James: Important maybe centering around the United States you know uh the color orange comes to mind I don't know why that's a psychic moment I'm having uh the color orange.

Tim: The year that a cheesy poof took over the highest office in my country?

James: Yes, yes oh uh to clarify actually I have an Australian accent because I'm Australian but I'm actually in London UK whereas my good friend over here Tim?

Tim: I'm in Cleveland Ohio very different places much different much different but I was saying that you know I've been hyper focused on um how negative you know the world has been acting since that time and really concentrating on being a source of positivity as much as I can and I'm actually quite a cynical bastard in my real life 

[James laughs]

Tim: But, I'm trying extremely hard to be a source of positivity for the for our community and just in life in general I've been very sure to say please and thank you and to show good manners to just be polite when I'm out in public because there's just so much negativity brewing anymore you know I all you have to do is look back on my country's former Administration and and see just tick off all of the horrible stuff that's happened so I'm you know I'm just one well-meaning idiot who wants to try and bring a little bit of light to an otherwise very dark world.

James: You know I very much identify with that you know as as a non-american obviously watching shall we say the progress of certain leadership has been interesting to say at least but it's not without its consequences you can't help but notice whether you can focus on that person or not our world certainly is a more frustrating place there certainly seems to be a lot less of the please and thank you there's a lot less of the giving the benefit of the doubt all of those little moments that help us to get through the day that greases the wheel so to say and I do think we see that yes everywhere but in this particular instance focusing on our community definitely so and I will say something positive I do get his feedback for as I say the lives I've done in the past is a sense of positivity I'd like to ask my guests after every live “How did you feel about that?” “Did you have fun?”, and it makes me very very happy that not once has someone said that they felt uncomfortable or felt pressured even people who felt awkward and uncertain about doing it offered up very lovely feedback about the fact that they felt so free to express themselves and speak their minds and for the most part A lot of people wound up saying you know once I got over my nerves and we started talking I actually found there were so many topics I wanted to talk about but then our time ran out and we had to cut things short and then people want to come back and chat again because there's so much to talk about and it's really quite edifying that you put out a little bit of good and a lot comes back so ultimately I think that's the goal of this podcast is putting out some good vibes having a couple of laughs bitter swearing I do swear like a [ __ ] sailor.

Tim: So do I every [ __ ] day 

James: It's just the way it's just who we are honestly.

Tim: Yeah that's so funny uh the uh the boyfriend and I were having a conversation about profanity in everyday you know language and you know they they put out studies sometimes that say “Oh well if you use profanity it means that you're not as intelligent as you think you are because you can't find a more creative euphemism.”, and I'm like no they've also done studies to show that highly intelligent people use profanity often because sometimes no other word will suffice but the word [ __ ] and [ __ ] is the most versatile word in the entire English language and I [ __ ] love it!

James: You know there's actually a show on Netflix at the moment.

Tim: Oh the history of swear words?

James: Have you seen it yet?

Tim:  Yes I loved it. 

James: Oh my goodness first of all Nick Cage as not a parody character just somehow this silent sensual host.

Tim: I know that I found him oddly attractive. I was like I am sexually attracted to Nick Cage and I never thought that would happen. 

James: Yes! Thank you, I was watching it thinking “Daddy!”

[Both laugh]

Tim: Well I mean the beard is really working for him.

James: It's a good one yeah like an awkward second puberty in his like late 30s or something but clearly the late 40s it's like…

Tim: Oh honey he’s almost 50. 

James: You know it's serving him well he's looking a beautiful vintage at the moment just [makes chef’s kiss noise] gorgeous stuff but as you say it's very true they went into a little bit of the science behind it how culturally speaking this word has now entered a part of the Zeitgeist and come into our brains and so it's actually attached to this place of carnal release so much in the same way as you might just scream ah screaming the word [ __ ] does the exact same thing on a scientific level it's very fascinating.

Tim: It is, because I show I watched where they were doing the study about if you put your hand in the ice water and you try to remain silent the whole time you can't hold your hand in that water as long as the people who were allowed to you know just let out a slew of profanity you know they're just where they're sitting there like oh God [ __ ] this is so [ __ ] cold [ __ ] [ __ ] [ __ ] they could keep it in there for like what was it almost a minute longer than those who couldn't.

James: A minute to two minutes you know which doesn't sound like much but when the results are unanimous across the board you know it really drives the point [ __ ] home and even just with other just casual users of the word [ __ ] it really really punctuates the sentence it really just flavors the conversation.

Tim: I'll quote Monique about it because someone once asked; “Monique why do you cuss so much?” and she goes “Because it tastes good in my mouth mother [ __ ]!” [smacking lips sound]

[James laughs]

James: Oh my goodness I love that! As an Australian I get complimented on my use of the word [ __ ] a lot because of course in the Australian vernacular it's more of [short A sound] so it's like ah [ __ ] 

Tim: Whereas in America it's a very blunt brutal word [ __ ], [ __ ] and you can accentuate the F and the K so it's like [emphatically] [ __ ]

James: But here's what I want to know, Tim. What do you think the listeners need to know about you? 

Tim: It's a good question. I mean like I said I'm just one well-meaning idiot I'm staring down the barrel of 40. I've got my career in place. I've got a good home life and I'm just trying to live you know for lack of a better cliche I'm trying to live my best life you know there's I have so many things I want to do once Coronavirus is completely under control or hopefully eradicated. I got big plans for my future and I'm very I think I'm pretty personable you know if you talk to me I'm willing to talk to you back I do try to answer most of the people who DM me on Instagram I just want to be you know not a Guiding Light but you know like an ambassador sort of to the Gaining Community because there's a bumper crop of young gainers that are coming up all the time and you know they they've got questions sometimes they you know they they weren't around for the Glory Days so they don't they don't always know what's up so like if I can offer some advice guidance or just someone to listen to you know.

James: Ah the Glory Days, now that is going to be an episode.

Tim: Yes I have a lot to say about the gaining Glory Days on the internet there was so much content coming out once upon a time.

James: Once upon a time. The days have changed but you know I think it's still good in its own way but I think that's…

Tim: Yeah no I'm glad it's still here.

James: Definitely I think there's a lot of refinement that needs to happen with what we have you know I think we often take for granted what is made available to us when we're not the ones creating content but you know grammar they Gainer website and really any Forum made any content made you know is not made by some all-powerful being on high who has decided that we are deserving of content it is there purely by the grace of the people who make it so first and foremost we have a duty to want to respect that.

Tim: Yes absolutely.

James: Honor and respect to challenging it when it needs to be changed when it needs to be updated improved upon tweaked edited however needs be for me what I would want people to know is that I'm a human, like anyone else I think we often forget that in the internet sphere we often build an expectation of what we think someone's like based on the content they produce and the stories and the this and that and then you get to chatting to people you find they're a bit different or perhaps something gets said gets misunderstood and I think that's unavoidable in the world there's always going to be those moments of misunderstanding but I think so long as we give people the grace to learn and grow to have a conversation things are gonna be fine as we've said before we're not going to be the be all and end all of the Gainer experience but that's why we want to try and bring on as diverse a cast of people as possible to share their stories and to put things out there 

Tim: Yes absolutely.

[Sound of joint cracking]

James: Ooh elbow crack.

[Both laugh]

James: I'm 28 now I'm getting old.

Tim: Oh, talk to me when you're 37.

[James laughs] 

James: Oh my goodness so here's a question for you then this is our intro episode is there anything you would want to say before we wrap things up for today?

Tim: I think the one thing that I think is is paramount is respect, respect us respect, yourself respect the community, which includes you know keeping negative comments you know to yourself do not rip off content from other people because other people work hard to put that content out and if it's not yours you really don't have the right to take it. Just understand that we're people like we've been saying so we do have emotions and we can be affected by negativity we're not paragons or robots that are unaffected by that kind of thing so yeah just respect, kindness, we're here for you, you know we're doing this for the community, for our for our ourselves too but you know just remember that this is a process for us as well and it takes time and effort so yeah.

[Both chuckle]

James: I think that's all perfectly reasonable look I think we want to play around with some segments as well this week just to see how people feel so I figure let's talk about a story from the DM’s now I actually put this up on my story a couple of months ago now this was about a gentleman who had actually messaged me about two maybe even three years prior but I hadn't remembered him at the time he seemed like a nice enough guy had a picture I had everything up on his profile ready to be seen and he sent me a simple message on Grommr saying “Hi, how are you today?”, and I thought oh this is nice and I said of course “Oh I'm good, how are you?”, and then I got a message something along the lines of “Yeah I've been better look I'll be honest I'm a bit annoyed at the moment I've got this dog you know it's just yap yap yapping annoying the crap out of me I just wish I could feed it off to some Gainer and be done with it.” 

Tim: Hmm. 

James: Now, I'm not here for that.

Tim: No, me neither.

James: As I say he had actually messaged me a few years prior now when I'd reported him a few years prior his profile was already gone before I got there but I said of a very simple and eloquent response this time around saying “Oh no I know you we've spoken before and I'm not into this I'm going to report you now and block you please stop this.” and that was that I reported him. I had him blocked. As a result I don't know what Grommr elected to do with that but I hope he was excommunicated because…

Tim: Defrocked? 

James: Defrocked, destroyed, gotten rid of, hung drawn and quartered.

[Both chuckle]

James: You know to clarify for some of the listeners out there you know especially for people who don't know um some of the assumptions around gaining you know for instance someone might confess to you that they're a Gainer please don't assume that that means that they want to make you fast because I don't care about you I don't care about your weight Journey you do what you want babe it's me it's all about me I want that donut if you also wanted that donut I would push you over to get that donut that's how gaining works for me so that's a misconception And to clarify just in case that gentleman is listening another misconception about gaining is that we eat uh pets which we don't do so you know if you have a particular fetish or kink for dog eating um listen I don't know where you'd go I don't know the the websites the forums for you but I do hope there is something out there for you it's just not Grommr.

Tim: Yeah no.

James: Have you had an encounter with this gentleman Tim?

Tim: No I have not and I don't really have quite an inch you know I don't have a story that's quite as interesting because sometimes when I when I get very weird DMs like there was a one guy who messaged me over and over and over again and I I don't think English was his first language because of the way the sentences were structured but it was like show belly now you show me belly take picture now now I think it just kept me over and over and over again and when I wouldn't respond his last message was okay buy trash and I'm like okay well this is how you get your ass blocked you know so I just immediately blocked him I think I actually posted it to my story saying “This is how you get blocked!”

James: Oh my goodness one hundred percent, perhaps that's a teachable moment for people listening in. You know maybe you have decided at some point in your life journey that the best way to reach out to individuals you find sexy is to…

Tim: Insult them?

James: Insult them revert to third grade syntax and just generally be a bit [ __ ] 

Tim: It kind of reminded me of the days when you know everybody was on instant Messengers like AOL Instant Messenger or Yahoo instant messenger and you would get that kind of shorthand that C2C C2C PLZ it's like for [ __ ] sake come on.

James: How could we ever forget ASL age sex location?

Tim: Oh yeah yeah I wonder are chat rooms even around anymore? Is that something from our era and it's gone now?

James: They must still be uh truly though I had someone suggest I use Omegle for something kinky and I fully have to stop them and say what do you mean Omegle that is still going?

Tim: Isn't that like ChatRoulette though? You don't know who's gonna show up.

James: Absolutely yeah. 

Tim: Well, then what if you're exposing yourself to like a 12 year old or something? 

James: I mean I would imagine that the people who are using it for that kind of sexual Kink are purely getting off on the rush and potential of trouble.

Tim: Oh God no. 

James: Which again if that's your particular flavor go for gold be yourself but I that's not that's not a gaining specific thing no and again I think sometimes sometimes people try to bring uh flavors to gaining that don't necessarily go together even if for you they're your particular tastes um maybe there needs to be a second thought of is this actually the correct forum for this you know for example there was about a year ago now a person who was spamming poo.

Tim: Oh.

James: Photos of that on the photo feed was horrible and a lot of people reported it there was a solid week where just at random points these photos would just flood and it was a nightmare someone had reportedly spoken to them about the situation and the person had said oh because feeding…

Tim: Oh this would be the inevitable outcome?

James: That this would be the you know and so that it's all part of the chain and that perhaps you know for them feeding is also part of you know a fecal fetish or something to that degree to which I would look at and go “I can see how that works.” yeah but also the main page of Grommr before you sign up has clearly fat belly man it accurately describes what the limitations of the site are, you know and while a lot of people tend to skip through the terms and conditions the rules are listed and bodily excretions are not allowed.

Tim: Yeah you know I have no qualms with people who are into scat play I mean if that's what you love to do and you find someone who will do it with you and give you their consent then all all power to you my son go forth and have fun it is not at all what I am into it's a very hard no for me it's probably one of the only limits that I actually have I don't want to make it sound like we're judging it it's just that uh yeah it's not something that is typical among gainers.

James: Certainly not, and I feel like now raising that point would actually be a good time to to understand and recognize ultimately this podcast is going to be about exploring and defining the limits of the gaining fetish and the different flavors that come alongside of it and I'll admit some of them probably contain elements that some people might find unsavory but that's for us to determine and not for others I want it known here and now officially on the podcast that any kink or fetish that is disclosed or brought up even if the people who are present having that conversation are not in favor of that flavor we in no way consent to the shaming of that kink.

Tim: Yeah absolutely.

James: Whilst gaining I would argue is probably more on the vanilla side of the sexual differences you know we've experienced enough ostracism ourselves to know that you don't get anywhere by insulting someone's wants and desires and that in fact it probably sets people back a bit so to any…

Tim: A good friend of mine said “Never yuck anybody's yum.”

James: You said that phrase a few times and it's something that I find myself ruminating on I quite like it as a phrase “Don't yuck anyone's yum.”, it's very honest.

Tim: Yeah it's a shout out to him, I'm sure because he'll hear this a shout out to Extrajuicy1971 because that's his phrase.

James: There you go thank God for extra juicy coming up with all the phrases oh we'll have to credit him if we haven't put it on merch. 

[Both laugh]

James: When this podcast no doubt becomes such an interstellar success that people are clamoring to put out catch phrases on a t-shirt.

Tim: Yeah I would love to have you know I just thought about that a t-shirt with Thicc Radio on it

James: You y’all are…

Tim: You know because it opens up a conversation, people are going to ask “What's Thicc Radio?”  

James: I love the idea of that you know especially in the font driven doing a bit of a design you know and in fact this is also another thing where of course having artwork done for the podcast professionally and the person's doing that is actually a Gainer artist so it's going to be great to have him on the podcast eventually to talk through his own experiences and processes all of the music and interludes you're going to hear is going to be done by a musician who is also part of the community you know a real love in this project is going to be involving members and elements of our community to showcase there's also a lot of talent and a lot of creativity and great minds here so I'm looking forward to exploring that and who knows maybe even having a spin-off series you know standalone episodes where we talk about let's having a look at the incredible work that gainers and encouragers have created.

Tim: I'm still trying to work that Gaining Gourmet angle at some point. 

James: Basically doing who was it that you referred to was it?

Tim: Oh I was going to be the Julia Child of gainers.

James: [Imitating Julia Child] Julia Child [Normal voice] but we could do that like Eddie and Patsy from AbFab? 

Tim: That oh my God yes yes yes!

James: So actually none of the episodes will involve a finished clip. It's just giving me about five bottles of wine each filming our own attempts at making something and just calling each other sweetie darling sweetie darling.

Tim: [Quoting Absolutely Fabulous] “One should never be the oldest thing in one's kitchen”, “Well I'm not I got Saffy.” 

 [Both laugh] 

James: That was such an iconic series I still haven't seen the movie.

Tim: You know what honestly I didn't like it I didn't like it you know there's something to be said about that laugh track because I think that made it even funnier you know most of the time they probably were not actually in front of a studio audience but having that laugh track at least you know made it more comedic when it's just them on the screen I mean they did a lot of really crazy stuff and there were some genuinely funny moments but it did not have the spirit of the show.

James: That's unfortunate I think comedy Styles change with time as well, laugh track comedy I think has really reached a sort of nearing the end of its life.

Tim: Yeah.

James: Because most comedy now seems to be more standalone situational type of thing and I think something trying to transition from one into the other is probably going to experience a lot of that struggle because it relies on a different style of Comedy writing to get the joke, land the joke, and have it work on its own accord. I just noticed as well looking into the camera that I seem to do this a lot [Gesticulates with hands]

Tim: I talk with my hands all the time.

James: I do this claw thing.

Tim: Well, and you know Americans we kind of have a reputation for that for that wild gesticulation while we're talking because we're always trying to get a point across and somehow we feel like doing this makes it I don't know somehow like people pay better attention when you're waving your hands around in the air.

James: It just drives the point home or something I mean look it's uh it's a thing I love you all Americans y'all look so cute.

Tim: I'm glad you do because I feel like we have a rather bad reputation, abroad. 

James: It depends, localized yeah um I mean look you can't look I'll put I'll put some points out there you can't look past mass shootings, you can't look past you know the widespread murder of people of color, you can't look past the lack of Universal Health Care, and really any number of talking points without sort of going “Ugh!”, however individual Americans especially those who travel outside of America are often received lovingly with open arms and I think that's something that can be said about any country's people because generally speaking and Studies have been done they've prove that people who tend to stay in their own country don't get their passport don't leave don't even just on holiday people who just don't leave tend to have more of a sense of nationalism rather than patriotism because they tend to have more of a sense of nationalism rather than patriotism because they're all about the country they're all about that country and no one else everyone can go suck it whereas anyone who's willing to travel obviously tends to be more leaning towards being more patriotic because I for instance didn't have a high opinion of my country when I left because I've lived in it my whole life I have my thoughts and opinions that I would go whatever move out now that I'm living in London of course I look back on Australia and go we are amazing in so many ways I have such a love and a reverence for my country the difference there being because I'm able to be outside of it I'm able to see the problems inside of it and have the critique of it one because I can see it more effectively not being in it and two because I live in a country where things are different and I meet people who think differently I'm presented with ways in which those problems could be resolved as opposed to alternatives so you know I think someone like yourself who you go places you meet people you're very open to those types of things you know you're a different kettle of fish you'd be more loved and welcomed I certainly feel that as someone who calls you a good friend.

Tim: Thank you I definitely don't want to make it seem like I'm ashamed of being American or anything I am patriotic I am very proud to come from the United States I know that we have a lot of work to do internally my country is in a state of turmoil and there's a lot of things that needs to be fixed I remain hopeful about the future I choose not to look at things dismally so I'm just you know doing what a lot of people have to do when they're in a tough situation I'm doing the best I can every day and I'm waiting it out and hoping that people in power you know get good sense so…

James: I think that's perfectly fair and I think you know what that actually brings us back to half the point of this podcast which is we're a part of a community that is a great Community to be a part of and yes it has its problems that need to be looked at and what we're doing is our best we're doing our best to put out good vibes we're doing our best to communicate we're doing our best to be inclusive and we're doing our best to put out the best so how about this I think we said everything we'd want to sort of say in a first off podcast episode so I say let's wrap things up I want to put it out there to people we have an email which is thethiccradio@gmail.com we also have an Instagram thiccradio which currently has no content because as we said this is our first episode there is nothing to nothing to really post just yet but you know content will be coming we want to invite people that if you have questions or queries concerns discussion topics any any anything for us please send it in we'll have a look you know if it's anything direct that you just want to have a chat about you know we can put out some other vibes but otherwise we'll try and keep all the good stuff here for the podcast hopefully in the coming weeks you'll hear some stories you'll hear some commentary from some fantastic guests uh but until then I'm James.

Tim: and I'm Tim

James: You can find me on Grommr at Stannum you can find me on Instagram at zerobecamestannum and you can find me on YouTube at stannumdancefat 

Tim: And you can find me on Grommr as Orpheus you can find me on Instagram as thebellygrowth and you can also find me on Twitter at bellygrowth 

James: Well I think that's it for today so until next time bye fats! 

Tim: Bye fats!

[80s Synth Theme Music]

James: Thicc Radio is a patreon and Anchor app podcast produced by Stannum and Thickey Mouse. Our music is provided by Bodybycream and our artwork is provided by Lokitu.