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Becoming informed does not have to mean something as arduous as going back to school and it certainly does not mean depending on your well-informed friends to give you all your knowledge by word of mouth. Instead, consider the option of occasionally reading a book or article, watching a video, or following a creator that knows what they’re talking about. This list is to give you exactly that: resources you can pick and choose to engage with. This list is specifically related to the fat experience in society, the harm of the anti-fat movement, and the roots of fatphobia/anti-fatness. I encourage everyone, regardless of opinion, to become well informed in this arena especially the era of click bait and mountains of propaganda generated by the wellness and fitness industries. There are many experts in this field who do incredible research and there are also many more individuals with valuable lived experience, and I only wish to amplify these voices. The themes of these books range from history to poetry to memoirs to diet culture, and, as I make my way through this as well, these sources inform much of my personal research.
It’s important for me to note that much of this list has come about because of Aubrey Gordon’s own book list.
Books:
“Belly of the Beast: The Politics of Anti-Fatness as Anti-Blackness” by Da’Shaun L. Harrison
“You Just Need to Lose the Weight: And 19 Other Myths about Fat People” by Aubrey Gordon
“What We Don't Talk about When We Talk about Fat” by Aubrey Gordon
“Fat Activism (2nd edition): A Radical Social Movement” by Charlotte Cooper
“The Body is Not an Apology: The Power fo Radical Self Love” by Sonya Renee Taylor
“The Body is Not an Apology: The Power fo Radical Self Love” by Sonya Renee Taylor
“Hunger: A Memoir of (My) Body” by Roxane Gay
“Heavy: An American Memoir” by Kiese Laymon
“Fearing the Black Body: The Racial Origins of Fat Phobia” by Sabrina Strings
“Fat Talk: Parenting in the Age of Diet Culture” by Virginia Sole-Smith
“Fat Talk: Parenting in the Age of Diet Culture” by Evette Dionee
“Fat! So?: Because You Don't Have to Apologize for Your Size” by Marilyn Wann
“Happy Fat: Taking Up Space in a World That Wants to Shrink you” by Sofie Hagen
“Shrill” by Lindy West
“Fat: The Owner's Manual” by Ragen Chastain
“Fat, Pretty, and Soon to Be Old: A Makeover for Self and Society” by Kimberly Dark
“A Beautiful Work in Progress” by Mirna Valerio
“#Veryfat #Verybrave: The Fat Girl's Guide to Being #Brave and Not a Dejected, Melancholy, Down-In-the-Dumps Weeping Fat Girl in a Bikini” by Nicole Byer
“My Life as a Goddess: A Memoir Through (Un)Popular Culture” by Guy Barnum
“Fat Off, Fat On: A Big Bitch Manifesto” by Clarkisha Kent
“Fat Off, Fat On: A Big Bitch Manifesto” by Ferrentini, Morales, & Grimm
“The Fat Studies Reader” by Rothblum & Solovay
“Tipping the Scales of Fatness” by Sondra Solovay
“Diet and the Disease of Civilization” by Adrienne Rose Bitar
“Unashamed: Musings of a Fat, Black, Muslim” by Leah Vernon
“Shadow on a Tightrope: Writings by Women on Fat Oppression” by Lisa Schoenfielder & Wieser
“Shadow on a Tightrope: Writings by Women on Fat Oppression” by Harding & Kirby
“Wake Up, I'm Fat!” by Camryn Manheim
“Quietly Hostile: Essays” by Samantha Irby
“Wow, No Thank You: Essays” by Samantha Irby
“We are Never Meeting in Real Life: Essays” by Samantha Irby
“Meaty: Essays” by Samantha Irby
“Queering Fat Embodiment” by Pause, Wykes, & Murray
“Fat Shame: Stigma and the Fat Body in American Culture” by Amy Erdman Farrell
“The Fat Pedagogy Reader: Challenging Weight-Based Oppression Through Critical Education” by Cameron, Steinberg, & Russell
“Fat Girl Finishing School” by Rachel Wiley
“Bodies Out of Bounds: Fatness and Transgression” by Braziel & Lebesco
“Fat Gay Men: Girth, Mirth, and the Politics of Stigma” by Jason Whitesel
“Shameful Bodies: Religion and the Culture of Physical Movement” by Michelle Mary Lelwica
“Historicizing Fat in Angle-American Culture” by Elena Levy-Navarro
“Fat-Talk Nation: The Human Costs of America's War on Fat” by Susan Greenhalgh
“Fat Politics: The Real Story Behind America's Obesity Epidemic” by J. Eric Oliver
“Hot & Heavy: Fierce Fat Girls on Life, Love, & Fashion” by Virige Tovar
“Losing It: A Fictional Reimagining of my Time on Weight Loss Reality TV” by Kai Hibbard
“Her Body and Other Parties: Stories” by Maria Machado
“Puddin’” by Julie Murphy
“The Other F Word: A Celebration of the Fat & Fierce” by Angie Manfredi
“Faith: Taking Flight” by Julie Murphy
“Revenge Body” by Rachel Wiley
“Nothing Is Okay” by Rachel WIley
“Fat Art, Thin Art” by Eve Kosofsky Sedgewick
“Landwhale: On Turning Insults Into Nicknames, Why Body Image is Hard, and How Diets can Kiss my Ass” by Jes Baker
“Things No One Will Tell Fat Girls: A Handbook For Unapologetic Living” by Jes Baker
“Two Whole Cakes: How to Stop Dieting and Learn to Love Your Body” by Lesley Kinzel
“Tesoro” by Yesika Salgado
“Hermosa” by Yesika Salgado
“Corazon” by Yesika Salgado
“Yoke: My Yoga of Self-Acceptance” by Jassamyn Stanley
“Every Body Yoga: Let Go of Fear, Get on the Mat, Love Your Body” by Jessamyn Stanely
“Big Gal Yoga: Poses and Practices to Celebrate Your Body and Empower Your Life” by Valerie Sagun
“The Unapologetic Fat Girl's Guide to Exercise and Other Incendiary Acts” by Hanne Black
“Big Big Love: A Sex and Relationships Guide for People of Size (And Those Who Love Them)” by Hanne Blank