Hi friend, Please join me tomorrow (Tuesday) along with Tigress Osborn, Dalia Kinsey and Laura Burns for a panel discussion as part of NAAFA's Ally Week! On Tuesday, Jan. 25, we'll be discussing how you can be an ally to fat businesses and how business can be allies to fat customers. Learn more and register at https://naafa.org/allyweek. This week's letter: People keep calling me brave for speaking out about fat hatred. I'm not any braver than any other fat person. Bravery is what's required to exist while fat. |
|
Brave is trying methods designed to fail to shrink your body because everyone says you have to shrink, and failing, and trying again. Brave is your doctor telling you your body size is to blame for a health condition, and getting a second opinion. Brave is showing up to Thanksgiving and Christmas and Fourth of July celebrations knowing that your body will be criticized to your face. Brave is applying for a promotion knowing that clothing appropriate for the position isn't made in your size. |
|
Brave is arriving in the waiting room, finding no chairs will fit you and standing to wait. Brave is being sneered at every time you leave the house, and leaving the house anyway. Brave is being told you won't live to watch your kids grow up unless you become less fat, and agreeing to have a healthy organ amputated. Brave is being sold a bill of goods about the worthlessness of your fat existence, and existing anyway. Dealing with a few online trolls is no braver than the fat people I see around me valiantly surviving, year after year. None of us should have to be this brave just to lead our lives. Warmly,
Lindley P.S. Share this week's letter or save to read later here. It's only possible to offer the Body Liberation Guide and all its labor for free because people like you support it. If you find value here, please contribute for as little as $1 per month. Every dollar helps. |
|
Here's what's being discussed this week in the world of body acceptance, Health at Every Size® (HAES), body positivity and fat liberation: |
|
"If there were a food that consistently made you sick, you’d stop eating it. So if there’s media that makes you feel more self-critical, stop looking at it. As you’re looking at movies or television or porn or magazines, ask yourself, “After I see this, am I going to feel better about my body as it is today, or worse?” If the answer is “better!” then do more of that! Increase your exposure to the media that helps you celebrate your body! But if the answer is “worse,” stop it. You don’t have to get mad and write a letter to the editor or anything (though if you want to, feel free!), just pay attention to how magazines and TV shows and music videos make you feel, and stop buying anything that makes you feel worse. You don’t need to be trained in media literacy and all the ways that you’re being manipulated with digital alteration of images in order to know when something is making you feel better or worse about yourself." » Emily Nagoski |
|
Quick Resources: Prenatal & Postnatal Body Image |
|
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're a current or past client or customer, or you signed up on my website. *These links are provided as a community service and I'm not compensated for any of them unless noted by an asterisk. Feel free to email me your fatphobia-free events for inclusion (must include a hyperlink to a post or page about the event). |
|
|
