My offering for you this week: I've got an audacious goal of being a guest on 70 podcasts by the end of this year. If you have a podcast, the answer is YES — I would love to be on it.

(As long as you're not interviewing only thin people/white people or pushing diets or intentional weight loss in any form. If you've been reading the Body Liberation Guide, you know what I'm about!)

Here's a link to book a time with me, so go right ahead.

Hi friend,

This week's letter is more participatory than usual, because I'm going to challenge you and I'd love for you to reply to this email and respond.

I'll choose one response at random on Saturday, August 28 and the winner will receive a copy of Ragen Chastain's book, Fat: The Owner's Manual. People of all sizes everywhere in the world are encouraged to participate.

◇─◇──« »──◇─◇

Our fat bodies are valuable for more than what they offer other people.

So often, when people try to come up with something good about fat bodies, the first and only idea is "comfort." So many folks have fond memories of snuggling with lovely warm soft fat bodies as children, or snuggling their own children.

After that, it's silence.

A few threads to pull:

- Why is what fat bodies can offer others the first response?

- Why is it usually the only response?

- What might make us as a culture reluctant to admire and appreciate fat bodies as more than objects of comfort and service?

My challenge to you: What is valuable and precious about fat bodies beyond being a comfort object? How many things can you think of?

Warmly,
Lindley

P.S. You can share this week's letter here.

Featured Fine Art Print: Clad in Flowers

Image description: A fat Hawaiian and Tongan woman hula dances on the pebbled shore of a body of water at sunset.

From Me to You

> I want us to build a world where….

> In the Body Love Shop: Fat-positive soaps!

> Body-Positive Journaling Prompt #54: Kinder to Myself

> Every time I get into wild water (not a pool or hot tub), it’s a victory over my anxiety disorder.

Featured Stock Category: Dance & Coordinated Movement

Image description: A plus-size person wearing a strappy swimsuit, lace robe and stockings, and big earrings with red hair lies on a blanket on a beach and holds a lace parasol in the air.

The Conversation

Here's what's being discussed this week in the world of body acceptance, Health at Every Size® (HAES), body positivity and fat liberation*:

> IUI and IFV for Fat Folks Workshop, August 25

> Sacred Self-Care Community Space for Fat Folks

> Alternative to OnlyFans for s*x workers

> Grant for disabled leaders making wellness accessible to people with disabilities

> No study on “sugar addiction” in humans has ever been able to properly control for how our cultural narrative around sugar influences our feelings about it.

> Hard Truth: How you feel about fatness on your own body is often indicative of how you feel about fat bodies in general.

> "How can you say #dietsdontwork when I lost X amount last time I went on one?"

> Unicorn chaser: Let’s talk about seated meditation postures.

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

In the Body Love Shop

Image description: A set of white buttons with an orange sleep mask with cartoon closed eyes and the blue words CPAP PROUD, resting on blue and burlap fabrics layered.

Quick Resources: Parent Guilt

> In a World Without Mommy Guilt

> Why Postpartum Weigh Loss Doesn't Mean Wellness

> How do I Respond to My Pediatrician Who Thinks My Child Needs to Lose Weight

> Beauty Redefined on Instagram

> Haley Jones (they/them) on Instagram

Image description: Lindley, a fat white woman, is shown shoulders up in a heart-patterned dress. She has blonde hair and glasses, and is smiling.

Hi! I'm Lindley.

I'm a photographer and activist (she/her, pronounced LIN-lee) who celebrates the unique beauty of bodies that fall outside conventional "beauty" standards. I live outside Seattle, WA. People come to me for:

• Body-safe portrait, boudoir and small business photography sessions
• Diverse, body-positive stock photos & fine art prints
• Health at Every Size (HAES)-aligned editorial services and consulting
• The Body Love Shop, a curated resource for body-positive and fat-positive art and products

Get details on all my offerings at bodyliberationphotos.com.

“Diversity is often offered as an invitation. It might be a tagline: minorities welcome. Come in, come in! To be welcomed is to be positioned as not yet part, a guest or a stranger, the one who is dependent on not being welcomed… An arrival can be precarious. If you are dependent on a door being opened, how quickly that door can be shut in your face.”

- Sara Ahmed, Living a Feminist Life

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