A new friend and I were talking about my Instagram post from a few days ago regarding thin privilege and technical gear. I mentioned that Old Navy makes the only athletic pants that fit me well, and I love them (though I won't buy anything else from ON due to their awfulness about plus size pricing and availability), and if they ever stop making those pants I'll cry for a week.

My new friend said, "Why not riot instead?" And without pause, I replied, "I can't riot if I don't have any pants on."

I was joking, but there's an underlying truth here. When fat people are forced to spend all their time and energy trying to navigate a world that was deliberately designed to exclude them, we don't have any time to demand better pay or treatment. When we're constantly forced to prove our worth, eventually we stop believing we have any.

When we live in an entire culture that believes fat people have poor morals and are lazy and physically unpleasant to be around, many of us are going to quite reasonably internalize that, with the result that we won't even want to be around or cooperate with each other -- nonetheless expecting thin people to.

When all the clothing that physically will go on our bodies is designed to invite ridicule, we can't be taken seriously.

We can't riot if we don't have any pants.

Warmly,
Lindley

My favorite photo this week (sans pants):

The Conversation

Here's what's being discussed this week in the world of body acceptance, HAES, body positivity and fat acceptance:

Need a good 101 or refresher on bodies, fatness and science? I always recommend Body Respect by Linda Bacon and Lucy Aphramor.

 

 
 

 

Quick Resources: 5 Body-Positive Outdoor Instagram Accounts to Follow

58 Body Positive Journaling Prompts

Who gets to say what is "beautiful" or "attractive" or "sexy?" What does it mean to be any of these things, or none of them? Who benefits when we feel like we belong to those categories, and who benefits when we don't? 

 

Body image journaling helps deepen our awareness of our bodies and our spirits and analyze our relationship and interactions with a world that often pushes us to see ourselves in certain ways. 

 

Dig deep into the hows and whys of improving your body image with these thoughtful writing, journaling and meditation prompts.

 

(If you'd like to share these with a friend, please send them to this page.)

New Finds

Coming Up

Some body-positive and HAES-related events coming up soon:

 

March 4: Lillian Bustle at Libertease Returns!, Jersey City, NJ

March 5: Short Talks: Home, Seattle, WA

March 6: Community as Home: Call for Stories, Online

March 6-8: Making Peace with Your Body Weekend Intensive , Chicago, IL

March 7: Chub Hub A-Go-Go, Portland, OR

March 7: Unlikely Hikers Group Hike, New Orleans, LA

March 7: PARENTHOOD UNPLUGGED: A Kids Book About Body Image, Seattle, WA

March 7-8: BOPO Expo, Toronto, Canada

March 8: International Women’s Day

March 8: Lillian Bustle at The Bingo Bongo Show, Jersey City, NJ

March 8-10: Reclaiming Body Trust Retreats, Detroit, OR

March 11-17: The Body Trust Summit, Online

 

See more upcoming events on the calendar

 

Hi! I'm Lindley.

- she/her

- photographer

- author

 

Hi! I'm Lindley.

 

I'm a professional photographer (she/her, pronounced LIN-lee) who celebrates the unique beauty of bodies that fall outside conventional "beauty" standards. I live outside Seattle, WA. 

 

I talk about and photograph fat folks because representation of large bodies in the world is vital to our body liberation.

 

 

People come to me for:

  • Body-safe portrait, boudoir and small business photography sessions
  • Diverse, body-positive stock photos
  • Fat fine art photographic prints
  • Health at Every Size (HAES)-aligned consulting, writing and editing
  • The Body Love Box, my monthly body-positive subscription box
 

Pssst! Did a friend forward you this email? If you'd like to get your own body liberation guide every week, just drop your email address here.

 

You're on this list because you signed up at bodyliberationphotos.com, representationmatters.me or sweetamaranth.com.

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