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Hi friend,
 
What is self-care looking like for you this month? 
 
For me, it's getting a referral to a hand specialist and occupational therapist for my hand, which isn't healing properly (I injured tendons in my wrist months ago), and enjoying our new mattress, which we traded in under warranty โ€“ the old one was definitely not up to the task of supporting two very large bodies in sleep.

A follow-up:
 
Reader Janie Ganga (she/they) was inspired by reader Brandy Morris' input in last week's letter to update their website to better reflect their commitment to Health at Every Sizeยฎ and body liberation.
 
Here are Janie's changes in her own words:
 
Here's how it WAS:
 
"Janie Ganga believes in Health at Every Size [link: http://haescommunity.com/pledge/] - the simple premise that the best way to improve health is to honor your body. She collaborates with SHAPE RI to offer size-affirming yoga. Janie Ganga invites her students to find deep love for their bodies (as they are) and the mind (as it is)."
 
Here's my UPDATE:
 
"Janie Ganga believes in Health at Every Size [link: http://haescommunity.com/pledge/]  โ€“ the simple premise that the best way to improve health is to honor your body. She collaborates with 
SHAPE RI to offer size-affirming yoga. She respects people in larger bodies and welcomes them to attend her group yoga classes. She also enjoys working individually with people who want to access yoga but are hesitant. She works with people of many sizes, shapes, and abilities. Yoga is a flexible practice that has so many aspects! She would love to work with YOU to find a practice that supports your life right now.
 
Janie Ganga invites her students to explore the practice of moving and breathing with their bodies as they are and observing the mind as it is."
 
Thank you for providing this example, Janie!
 
Now, on to this week's letter:
 
Something I think we need to be very cautious about as we fight fatphobia and weight stigma is that it's very easy for us to deplore those things primarily when they happen to people in bodies we find worthy.
 
When I post images of myself in my thin childhood body and talk about experiences of body shame or enforcement of the supremacy of thinness, I am significantly more likely to get sympathetic or outraged-on-my-behalf comments than I am when I post images of fat bodies (my own adult body or others' fat bodies) with those same discussions.
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When folks with thin privilege -- whether or not they think of themselves as thin -- talk about their experiences of being stigmatized in their relatively small bodies, they are much, much more likely to gain large audiences than folks at the large end of the body size spectrum.
 
If we are going to fight fatphobia, we cannot win if we focus our efforts on people with bodies that we think "don't deserve" that treatment. We must fight that urge within ourselves, of seeking the most palatable bodies to sympathize with, and deliberately turn to fighting for and with the *most* oppressed.
 
That is the only way.
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.
 

The Conversation

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

 
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"Dieting is the result of unresolved fatphobia. We become terrified of what it would mean for us to be fat because we understand fundamentally how poorly fat people are treated. 
 
We transpose that bigotry onto the fat itself, rather than placing the blame where it belongs: on the culture that created and promotes injustice and fat hatred." ยป Virgie Tovar, You Have the Right to Remain Fat

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