Fatty Power 3 —
July 14, 2024
Okay, I need some more help!
I’m looking for the best body positivity websites and organizations out there. For example, I love Harriet Brown’s Project Body Talk. I would love a variety of sources, ones that challenge you and have made a positive impact on your self-acceptance and self-worth.
Thanks!
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Most of the sites/orgs I’m most familiar with are blogs. Here are three of my favorites! Each is generally involved in blogging for/about fat acceptance, but each approaches it from a slightly different angle, picks up different topics, etc.
Shapely Prose: The Fantasy of Being Thin and But Don’t You Realize Fat Is Unhealthy? changed my life in a Garden State-Natalie Portman-Shins kind of way. It’s definitely less active now than it was a year or two ago, but the archived posts are a tremendously valuable resource and Kate’s BMI project is excellent.
The Fatshionista blog, because dressing well as a fatty is hard and I need all the help I can get. And I think there’s a lot to be said for the importance of appearance, which is so culturally significant. Can you really accept your own fat if you’re still equating looking good with looking thinner? I don’t think so. Believing that it is possible for me, a fatty, to dress well and look good has been a huge part of fat acceptance for me. It’s really helped with the development of a sense of intrinsic self-worth for the first time in my life. And there’s no way I would have believed it if I hadn’t seen Lesley do it first. The Museum of Fat Love is also a superb project and a great source of comfort to me when the “I’m 21 and have never had a real boyfriend and meeting dudes would be SO MUCH EASIER if I weren’t fat!” panic sets in.
The Rotund! I love The Rotund because Marianne is pretty snarky but is also really big on making sure that everyone understands that just because we’re all about fat acceptance doesn’t mean that bashing skinny people is at all okay. She also touches on mental health issues fairly frequently, being that she deals with them, and I like that because fat and mental health are very intersectional for me as well. (Might have lost coherence here… I’m HUNGRY.)
Thanks Monica,
These are definitely the gold standard of self-acceptance.
Peace,
Shannon
I’m a big fan (no pun intended) of Elizabeth Patch’s “More to Love” website and book.
She does beautiful illustrations of women of size along with little inspirational words/pieces.
I am too. Her art reminds me of someone, but I don’t remember who. All warm and cozy.
Thanks Jen!
Peace,
Shannon
I can’t believe no one has linked to Adipositivity yet! Beautiful images of fat women (and a few good men), but definitely NSFW.
http://www.adipositivity.com/
Also, Nudemuse has a truly awesome fat-positive, sex-positive personal blog. She is such a warm, wonderful, radiant spirit.
(Again, frequently NSFW. I think I may be revealing something about my browsing habits…)
http://blog.nudemuse.org/
Great picks, but I think this means you’re a pervert.
Thanks Simone!
Peace,
Shannon
The following are inspiring and challenging (a combination I love):
1.Beautiful You by Julie
2.Operation Beautiful (Caitlin Boyle)
3.Body Matters Australasia (Lydia & Sarah)
4.People of Size (Rebecca Weinstein)
5.I AM in shape. ROUND is a shape.Living roundly: As in crochet, so too in life.(April D)
6.A Body Positive Australia (Danni & Hannah)
7.Junkfood Science (Sandy Swarzc)
8.Health at Every Size (Linda Bacon)
And of course: Fierce, Freethinking Fatties (wink)
Wow, jackpot! Geez, what a great list. Thanks Hidi!
Peace,
Shannon
Hi! How about http://www.fatnutritionist.com? Michelle is very witty and informative.
…and incredibly stylish, too! I keep hoping that Michelle will do a spin-off makeup blog. So far, no luck.
There are two that rocked my world when I was new to FA. Both have already been mentioned - The Fat Nutritionist and The Rotund.
Once I got a little more established, Bri King’s A Fat Lot of Good (http://www.fatlotofgood.org.au/) was my go-to source for Australian relevance.
I often read Happy Bodies: http://happybodies.wordpress.com/
I also worked for the Carleton gender and sexuality center, and this year the publication was called Bodies. I think it’s a really beautiful book, and you can read it online here: http://issuu.com/schwarta/docs/bodies
Here’s a description of the book:
“Our bodies are sites of pleasure, pain, gender, sexuality, joy, shame, and celebration. Our new publication wants to navigate our relationships with our bodies. We want to explore subjects like body positivity, health and illness, fat acceptance, sex, ability, sexual violence, modification, and any other way society shapes the way we view bodies. Bodies was published by the Gender and Sexuality Center at Carleton College.”
Oooh, thanks for the suggestions Allie. I’ll definitely check them out. Welcome to Fierce, Freethinking Fatties!
Peace,
Shannon