Whether you're a fat person, you're around fat people or dating them, as feedists it is crucial to educate yourself about fat liberation and the fat acceptance movement. Picking up the right book can be a great way to become an educated ally to them and can help you to understand how to advocate for them. Here are our top-5 must-reads that every feedist needs to learn more about fat liberation:
1. Happy Fat – Sofie Hagen:
A Danish comedian and fat-acceptance advocate, Sofie Hagen talks about fat liberation and finding self-acceptance in their book ‘Happy Fat’. As the name suggests, the book talks about how to be happy and fat. They discuss several techniques on how to combat fatphobia in society and how to reclaim all the places that fat people have been forced out of. It’s a funny and passionate take on the experiences of fat people and a must-read for anyone interested in learning more about fat liberation.
2. Fattily Ever After – Stephanie Yeboah:
Stephanie Yeboah is an author and a body-positivity advocate. She is the voice of black, plus-sized women marginalized even in the body-positivity and fat-acceptance movements. Stephanie talks about her experiences as a plus-sized black woman, facing both racism and fatphobia at the hands of society. Her book 'Fattily Ever After: A Black Fat Girl's Guide to Living Life Unapologetically' is a great read for those interested in finding out more about the experiences of black, plus-sized women, and a great guide on self-love and living openly in a highly fatphobic society.
3. Fearing the Black Body – Sabrina Strings:
Sabrina Strings, PhD, is Associate Professor of Sociology at the University of California, Irvine, and the author of the book 'Fearing the Black Body: The Racial Origins of Fat Phobia' which dissects the history of racial fatphobia after the Renaissance. Her book follows the origin of anti-fat movements and the promotion of this agenda through the development of political and racial attitudes over the years. Her book also talks about how black people - especially curvier and fat black women - were treated compared to their white counterparts. This book is very important to understand the racial undertones of fat-phobia and the links between the experiences of fat people and black people throughout the centuries.
Buy here: Amazon | Bookshop.org
4. What we don’t talk about when we talk about Fat – Aubrey Gordon:
A powerful piece by full-time writer and podcast co-host, Aubrey Gordon a.k.a Your Fat Friend, ‘What we don’t talk about when we talk about Fat’ is a phenomenal reflection of the social injustice that fat people have had to face since the origin of the fatphobia in society. She talks about how the fat liberation movement is not only about self-acceptance and love, but also to fight the social and cultural biases and discrimination fat people experience due to their size.
Buy here: Amazon | Bookshop.org
5. Body Respect: What Conventional Health Books Get Wrong, Leave Out, and Just Plain Fail to Understand about Weight – Lindo Bacon
'Body Respect: What Conventional Health Books Get Wrong, Leave Out, and Just Plain Fail to Understand about Weight' is another book aiming to correct the social injustice and the health risks that fat people have to face for being a specific shape. Written by nutritionist, researcher and author, Lindo Bacon, PhD, and Lucy Aphramor, PhD, RD, the book targets not only fat people who've been denied service and health care for being fat but also medical practitioners and policymakers to become more fat-accepting and to treat fat people with the same urgency and care that they treat non-fat people with.
Lindo, author of the seminal 'Health at Every Size: The Surprising Truth about your Weight' also talks about their sense of belonging in society due to marginalization and discrimination in their book 'Radical belonging: how to survive and thrive in an unjust world (while transforming it for the better)'. This one is also an eye-opening read for people who feel like they're a misfit in their own culture due to several negative connotations attached to their shape.
Buy here: Amazon | Bookshop.org
These are just some of the wonderful books that highlight the problems faced by fat people and work towards fat-liberation and acceptance movements. To educate yourself more on the subject, feel free to head to Aubrey Gordon's "A Fat Reading List" to find more enlightening and in-depth literature on fat-acceptance.
Note from the Growing Horizons Team: As some of these books deal with personal experiences, you may come across some negative attitudes towards 'fat fetishes' and even feedists. We ask you to consider that these views are those of authors who may be referring to a negative experience in their own life and may not be fully aware of the complexities of feedism. Always remember that there is nothing wrong with being a feedist, and there is no need to feel any shame. Above all, always remember to treat others with respect.