Everywhere you look, there is a book on how to lose weight, how to fit into the “perfect size” dress, what the latest diet fad is, cooking a fat-free meal and so on and so on.
How about some Fat Proud and Fat Positive reading for a change?
- Fat!So? – Marilyn Wann
The book derives its name from the long-running fat proud ezine of the same name. As the back cover of the book says, fat activist author “Marilyn Wann shows you how to reclaim your body [and] live healthy at any size.”
Sure it talks about serious issues like battles with fat, issues with shame and loneliness, but Wann is not just all anxious and worrying about how mean society is. She makes Fat Pride fun with silly songs, a paper doll with cut-out outfits, and titles like “You Too Can be Flabulous!”
- Real Gorgeous – Kaz Cooke
Australian filmmaker and columnist, Kaz Cooke adds a touch of humour to the otherwise serious issues of self-confidence and body acceptance with her book. She debunks fat loss products and the diet industry, and mixes her cheery advice with some pretty serious stuff.
Amazon described Real Gorgeous as “simultaneously funny and reassuring”.
- Skinny Women are Evil: Notes of a Big Girl in a Small-Minded World – Mo’Nique
BBW actress and comedienne Mo’Nique turns author with this book and challenges the norms of the world that is not designed for the “F.A.T (Fat And Thick)” ladies.
She says the skinny women are conspiring for world domination and “It's time for the skinny sense of superiority to end -- for the stronghold to be broken and the grip loosened.”Mo’Nique’s book however is less about empowerment and more about creating a general awareness of how unaccommodating the world is for people of size.
- Wake Up I’m fat – Camryn Manheim
The book reads like a fiction story about a fat girl at a stage show but is in fact a true incident in Manheim’s life. This book is about Manheim’s personal struggle with weight issues, especially in her growing-up years.
Without reducing herself to a comic, Manheim manages to adopt a funny tone and yet tell the story of her growing from the point where “fat equaled hate” to a self-confident and well-known actress.
- Fat Chicks Rule: How to Survive in a Thin Centric World – Lara Frater
Written by New York fat activist, Lara Frater, this book is meant to be the fat girl’s guide to, well, everything. This is a fun book of facts that helps the plus size woman get away from the skinny-inclined society.
For a guide on where to shop for plus size clothes or to read the facts about the diet trends, this book is a good start. It also teaches BBW women how to be fat and sexy, and educates us about famous fat chicks in history, the fat acceptance movement and even gives you witty comebacks for those fat-phobic comments!
- Tipping the Scales of Justice: Fighting Weight Based Discrimination – Sondra Solovay
The baggage that comes with being plus size isn’t just limited to low self esteem and bad fashion. BBWs and BHMs also face blatant size discrimination.
Sondra Solovay documents the legal and ethical issues in modern society that seriously limit a plus sized person – and what can be done about it. What rights do you have as a BBW or a BHM? Solovay discusses cases of discriminating employers, judgmental medical practitioners, lack of proper facilities and other issues of size-related prejudice.
Tipping the Scales of Justice is eye-opening and a vital tool in claiming civil rights for fat people.
- Fat Politics: The Real Story behind America’s Obesity Epidemic – J. Eric Oliver
I’ll quote Publisher’s Weekly on this one, “It's not obesity, but the panic over obesity, that's the real health problem […] Oliver condemns what he feels is a self-interested "public health establishment"-obesity researchers seeking federal funding, pharmaceutical and weight-loss companies peddling diet drugs and regimens, bariatric surgeons and other health-care providers angling for insurance reimbursement-for spuriously characterizing fatness as a disease.[ He argues that] fatness is perfectly compatible with fitness;, he contends that scapegoating obesity drives Americans to experiment with dangerous crash diets, appetite suppressants and weight-loss surgeries.”
Have you read any of these books? Why not tell us what you think? Or, if you like, add to the list. I bet there are many more books, and we’d love to know of them.
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"The Fat Girl's Guide To Life" by Wendy Shanker is pretty good. I really enjoyed "Fat? So!" by Marilyn Wann which you mentioned.