Hunger is one of the many stories from Roxane Gay, and it might be her most memorable. After her last book, Difficult Women, a collection of short stories, Gay returns to nonfiction with her memoir, Hunger, 300 pages of stunning vulnerability. A compelling - and at times gut wrenching - exploration of her life as a fat bisexual Haitian-American woman.Roxane Gay writes all kinds of things. Hunger: A Memoir of (My) Body by Roxane Gay A memoir of being fat in an aggressively anti-fat world, Roxane Gay’s book weaves together the story of her body through deeply personal vignettes. This book is a one-stop education in fat activism and history - required reading for anyone with a body. What We Don't Talk About When We Talk About Fat by Aubrey Gordon From the creator of Your Fat Friend and co-host of the Maintenance Phase podcast, Aubrey Gordon’s book delivers readers an overview of the bias facing fat people and a path towards justice. Strings argues “that fatphobia, as it relates to Black women, did not originate with medical findings, but with the Enlightenment era belief that fatness was evidence of ‘savagery’ and racial inferiority.” A vital work on the genesis of fatphobia. Here are some books I recommend to folks of any size wanting to educate themselves on sizeism, the origins of anti-fat bias, and diet culture:įearing The Black Body: The Racial Origins of Fat Phobia by Sabrina Strings In this riveting exploration of the intersection between race and size, Sabrina Strings examines how modern society’s anti-fat bias originates with the fear and hatred of Black women. This scale is a tool to facilitate honest discussions about size, privilege, and access, and understand how fat people of different sizes have distinctly different life experiences.Ĭan you share a reading list for someone who’d like to educate themselves on the history of fatness and anti-fat bias? - Jenny M Activists underscore that those on the smaller end of this scale (small fats and mid fats) have an obligation to use their size privilege to uplift the voices and experiences of superfats and infinifats. These size distinctions highlight different types of life experiences of those in smaller bodies versus larger ones. They experience acute institutionalized sizeism daily.ĭeath Fat - sizes 36+ A cheeky version of infinifat, the term was created by Lesley Kinzel as a way to point out “ridiculousness of ‘morbid obesity’ as determined by the BMI scale” and poke fun at strangers concerned with the perceived health dangers of her size. In order to fly, they must purchase two seats. In some cases, they may not know their size.
Infinifat - sizes 34+ A complementary term to superfat, infinifat was coined by Ash of The Fat Lip podcast to describe those whose “size is greater than any assignable size number.” “Too fat for commercially-available clothing,” they are sized out of brick and mortar plus size stores and must order clothing online. Superfat - sizes 26-32+ Popularized from the 2008 NOLOSE Supersize Caucus, the term was created as a “term of power for the fattest of the fat.” Those in this category consistently face size discrimination such as denial of healthcare, being unable to shop in-store for clothing, the inability to access public spaces, etc. It refers to people who can still shop at Lane Bryant, which up until recently, offered clothing up to a size 28. Lane Bryant Fat - sizes 24-28 Also known as Large Fat, “Lane Bryant Fat” is a term coined by writer Roxane Gay. They experience institutionalized sizeism but not as much as those on the larger side of the size spectrum. Mid Fat - sizes 20-24 As the name implies, folks that land somewhere in the middle of the size spectrum. They have the most privilege of the fat spectrum and do not typically have trouble with size-based accessibility. Small Fat - sizes 14-18 Someone who wears the smaller end of plus sizes and may be able to fit into some straight size clothing. Not typically considered plus size or fat. They are able to shop in-store at mainstream brands and experience little to no anti-fat bias in daily life.
Inbetweenie or Mid Size - sizes 12-14 Someone who falls between straight sizes (00-14) and plus sizes (14+) and most often presents as straight size. women’s clothing sizes as a rough outline, it isn’t as inclusive of men, trans, and non-binary folks as it could to be. Please note that because this scale uses U.S. You may find yourself identifying with one or more of these “fategories,” or decline to use them altogether.