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First look: Boudoir session with Ms. E
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Hi friend,
 
Today I'm sitting here a bit mystified as to how a simple photographer ended up at the center of possibly the biggest scandal to ever hit the Health at Every SizeÂź world.
 
I think this is how it happened:
 
Came into photography wanting to serve fat folks
↓
Couldn't serve fat folks without talking about why it's so important for us to see ourselves in images
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Got mad at the oppressive systems that tell us we're not worthy
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Started talking about it
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Realized that healthcare is one of the major areas where fat folks are treated badly
↓
Started talking about that
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People started adding me to their HAES groups
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I developed opinions
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I refused to shut up in the face of thin disapproval about it
 
And here we are.
 
One of the biggest figures in Health at Every Size is the thin white non-binary author Lindo Bacon (they/them), who wrote the book Health at Every Size (but didn't create the concept, which had been created some time before by a group of people of all sizes).
 
Last year, Lindo published an essay to a semi-closed email listserv that was racist and fatphobic. I objected privately and got some nasty responses back.
 
But I'm just a photographer, not a researcher or scientist. What do I know? Everyone else gave it glowing feedback, so I kept my mouth shut.
 
Turns out, that encounter was just one part of an abusive pattern stretching back at least a decade. The young academic and activist Mikey Mercedes published her own racist and fatphobic experiences with Lindo last week, and I went public with my own tale in support.
 
 
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. Every dollar helps.
 

The Conversation

 
"When I say that "diets don't work," I say this because we know this to be true *in the long term.* It may be easy enough to lose 10 pounds -- and for some people, it may be doable to lose hundreds of pounds -- but, with rare exceptions, those losses can't be retained, because our bodies don't work this way. 
 
“Following weight reduction, there is a 95% failure rate for obese individuals to stay weight-reduced more than 4 years. 
 
After obese subjects undergo weight reduction, metabolism shifts to favor weight regain
These metabolic phenomena result in the shunting of lipid fuels away from oxidation in muscle to storage in adipose tissue, and in the setting of positive energy balance, increases in body weight and percent body fat occur.” 
 
» Weight Regain Following Sustained Weight Reduction is Predicted by Relative Insulin Sensitivity, Yost, Jensen, and Eckel, 1995 (courtesy of The Fat Nutritionist)
 

Coming Up
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 

 
Quick Resources: HAES-Aligned Workbooks

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