Things No One Will Tell Fat Girls: A Handbook for Unapologetic Living

Well, quite a few people do tell fat girls what they think, and believe it is their 'right' to do so - excused by “it’s for your health” or through pure nastiness.

Things No One Will Tell Fat Girls Author - Jes Baker

Jes Baker is known for her body advocacy work, blogs and books. She advocates via her website, The Militant Baker. Famously, Baker targeted Abercrombie and Fitch’s CEO over the brand's refusal to hire larger size sales staff. She is also the author of Landwhale: On Turning Insults Into Nicknames, Why Body Image Is Hard, and How Diets Can Kiss My Ass.

Review by Jeryl Scurr

Baker trods a well-worn path (sad to say) in this book and via her website, The Militant Baker – unapologetic in her call for you to accept your body, now, as it is.

“I do my best to ensure that The Militant Baker is a place in the blogosphere that offers a fresh and colorful perspective on what is presented as normal in our trauma based and body loathing society.“

She provides examples from her own and others experiences who have worked to become body positive (in the truest sense of the word) and to challenge the thin=healthy, fat = unhealthy equation.

Some of her evidence is rather sketchy, so perhaps this is more polemic then evidence based. However, when we talk bodies – especially larger bodies – our evidence is in our own experience. That is valid enough, for me, in the context of this book.

Jess Baker tells us:

  • It’s Possible to Love Your Body (Today. Now.)
  • You Can Train Your Brain to Play Nice
  • Your Weight Is Not a Reflection of Your Worth
  • Changing Your Tumblr Feed Will Change Your Life
  • Salad Will Not Get You to Heaven
  • Cheesecake Will Not Send You to Hell

Guest essays bring inclusivity with males dealing with eating disorders and body hatred. The founder of The Body is Not an Apology, author and fat activist Sonya Renee Tylor’s essay “Weighting to be Seen: Race, Invisibility and Body Positivity” gives us the (all too often) missing perspective of women of colour.

Quotations:

“I’m here to propose something that I believe too few of us realize: “Health” is our new “beauty myth.” 

“Defining worthiness by health and fitness level is not just about size discrimination. It’s also about classism. Racism. Ableism. And much more. Thanks” 

“…We try to shrink when walking in public spaces in order to take up as little room as possible.”

Why I chose “Things No Will Tell Fat Girls”

Jess Baker strikes a chord with too many of us who grew up without any knowledge of body positivity or body acceptance. On her website, The Militant Baker, she states:

This book offers the reader an alternative way to look at your body in a world which would prefer not to look.

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