Bear with me for a moment while I get a bit nerdy. Trust, there are fat politics coming up, as usual. Especially during these pandemic times, I’ve been spending a great deal of my free time playing a video game called Final Fantasy XIV. It’s a massive multiplayer online game, or MMO, which means that…
Image description: A fat Hawaiian woman with brown skin and black hair lifts a long pearl necklace toward a cloudy sky and blue water. Whose responsibility is it to fix fatphobia and weight stigma? When I speak about fatphobic clothing companies that lie about being “inclusive” or would rather file for bankruptcy than take my…
Image description: A nude fat woman with pale skin walks away down a garden path, a festival mask left discarded behind her. Real talk: I know that the activism component of my business pushes away potential photo session clients. Trust me, you don’t need to tell me. But I started out like almost every other…
Here’s one simple action you can take to help end discrimination against fat bodies this week: Believe fat people when we say something is fatphobic, specifically the works of Brené Brown, Anita Johnston, Geneen Roth and Bessel van der Kolk.
Image description: A teal square with a chat bubble and the words, “Fat bodies are just treated as this horrifying mystery in the photography community. And I got mad! Fat people deserve to have somewhere they can come and feel safe and accepted and attractive and worthy.” Lindley’s logo is at the bottom. “Fat people…
Image description: A teal square with a chat bubble graphic and the text, “”There are very few people out there who are showing people of my size and bigger that they can be visible too. And it’s just mind-blowing when you finally see a bunch of people that look like you and go, ‘Oh, my…
Content note: COVID-19, weight discrimination in a healthcare setting I had a COVID scare last weekend. On Saturday, I woke up with a sore throat, cough and deep fatigue. My COVID test was negative, but I spent three days isolating in our home as much as possible, resting and contemplating my own mortality. Would this…
Image description: A set of small terra cotta pots in a cardboard box on a white desk, with a lamp, water bottle and plastic box behind. Potted up some propagations today! It’s so exciting to take what are essentially just pieces of plants and coaxing them into life of their own. Starting at the top…
Nature gave me wings. Who are you to bid me hide them? There’s a new print of my work available in the Body Love Shop! The woman in this photograph has glorious wings on her arms that she lifts towards the ceiling, looking out a window into a large covered open space, in this black-and-white-photograph. She is fat, has…
Image description: A plus-size woman poses in front of a sunset-lit city skyline and water with one arm in the air and the other wrapped around it. She’s wearing blue jeans and a black crop top sweater. Once a friend of mine observed that in their daily life, they just felt like they didn’t see…
Image description: Three fat women stand back to back with hands entwined in a grassy park. In a fat-folks-only Zoom call last night, a friend looked around and said, “You know, this is the first time I’ve ever been in a space with only fat folks in it before. It’s wonderful.” It’s necessary and vital…
One of the most common pieces of pushback I see against fat acceptance and the need to represent fat and very fat people is, “Why are you so negative? Can’t we all just celebrate all the progress that’s been made? You’re so divisive!” It’s often accompanied by more-enlightened-than-thou comments about wanting to focus on “the good,” as if those of us confronting oppression are somehow more negative than those who want to cover up and ignore it.
Image description: The side rolls of a fat body are shown in a black-and-white photograph, with highly textured skin. An excellent question came up on the Body Liberation Photos Instagram this week: Why does fatphobia exist? Why do people hate and fear fat bodies? Fatphobia — also known as fatmisia, anti-fatness, weight stigma and fat…
There’s a new print of my work available in the Body Love Shop! In this fine art photograph, a fat woman with brown skin and long black hair, wearing a sleeveless floral dress and a flower in her hair, is shown from the waist up. She’s holding up one end of a long strand of…
Mountain Loop Highway, an absolutely delicious drive through the western Cascade Mountains north of Seattle, was our first experience with U.S. Forest Service roads. The first thing you need to know: Just because they’re marked on Google Maps doesn’t mean they’re paved! The first time we went, we weren’t expecting anything but pavement, so we…
Image description: A fat woman’s shoulder, side rolls and hip are shown in a black-and-white photograph. During this pandemic, so many people are finding that their bodies, for the first time, are now in the “plus size” or “fatter than I wanted” categories, and are finding it a pretty scary place to be. It’s scary…
After nearly a year of work to move Body Liberation Stock to a new platform, I’m so pleased to announce that stock photo credits will once again become part of the Patreon rewards!
Image description: An abstract light blue watercolor background with the words, “Stop appropriating the experiences and oppression of people who are fatter than you.” Lindley’s logo is at the bottom. Here’s one way you can help end weight stigma: Stop appropriating the experiences and oppression of people who are fatter than you. If you live…
Seeing bodies like ours helps us learn to position ourselves as equally worthy. Here are 15 of my favorite fat-positive and inspiring fine art prints.
Image description: Small, messy bits of kitchen waste on a white background: orange, cucumber, onion, bread or cracker, a piece of packaging. Photo courtesy of Charlie Deets on Unsplash. There was an attempted coup in my country today. People with guns stormed the capitol building — for the first time in my country’s history —…
Here’s a step-by-step guide to downloading and backing up your Instagram feed using free tools.
Image description: A fat woman with pink hair stands on a yoga mat and throws her arms joyfully into the sky as she begins to move into a yoga pose. A beautiful lake shore, distant mountains and sunset glow complete the image. There’s a new print of my work available in the Body Love Shop!…
An under-analyzed part of diet culture is where it intersects with class and socioeconomic status. I talked about this a bit on my episode of Food Psych, and had a chance to explore it in more depth in this discussion with Jodie Gale on the Soul Sessions podcast.
Image description: Lindley, a fat white woman, stands in a pink and blue plaid shirt in front of a wall covered in yellow and brown vines. Her photo is surrounded by a light blue border with text on top that reads, NAMI Orange County presents…It’s Okay to Feel with Jenipher and Non. The podcast title…
Image description: A fat white woman in pink t-shirt and black pants runs towards the camera along a wooden bridge surrounded by a green forest. When you think of a runner, what image pops into your head? Most of us come back to the same image informed by the stock photos we see and use…
Everyone deserves to have medical equipment that fits them. Here are 13 extra-large blood pressure cuffs to try out on your extraordinary, worthy large body.
If we could opt out of oppression, would we still “deserve” it?
Image description: A fat blonde woman in a bikini with visible side rolls sits on a vintage red suitcase at the edge of the water on a beach, looking away. Content note: Dental procedures I feel like my poor dentist’s office has born the brunt of my ever-spinning analyses this year, while in truth, I…
In this podcast episode, Dalia Kinsey and I discuss the functions of propaganda, intersectionality and fatphobia, emotional labor and the world’s most important subjects, cats and plants.
My Thanksgiving cactus is blooming! I’ve had it for two or three years and this is the first year I’ve gotten it to rebloom. Three big beautiful blooms! I’ve kept it in an east-facing window this year and about two months ago started putting it in a completely dark, cool closet at night. (Last year…
You deserve respectful, effective treatment for PCOS, no matter what kind of body you live in. Here are 15+ articles, podcasts, books, support groups, programs and other resources to support your amazing, worthwhile body through PCOS diagnosis and treatment.
Image description: Lindley, a fat white woman with shoulder-length blonde hair, glasses and a sleeveless heart-polka-dot dress, stands with her arms raised and resting on each wall of a narrow brick alley. Superimposed on the image are the Fitness Protection logo and the words Body Love with Lindley Ashline. End image description. Photography is both…
Reader E. asks, “Dear Lindley, I’m working on accepting my body, but it’s so hard to sit at work and have to listen to diet talk all the time. How can I deal with this?”
Image description: A small houseplant with round fleshy leaves, called a peperomia hope, sits in a round terra cotta bowl on a white desk. I’ve been gardening and generally mucking around with plants for many years, but this year — like many bored, stuck at home folks — is the first year I’ve gotten serious…
Image description: A thin white man with close-cropped hair is shown from the neck up in two shots, side by side. In the first, he has a manic smile. In the second, he has an exaggerated frown. In both shots, his face and neck are covered with a pasty white substance. End image description. Photo…
Image description: A fat white women with shoulder-length blonde hair is shown in a black and white image with a black drape just covering the tips of her breasts and part of her torso. She is looking off to one side with a solemn expression, with tree limbs behind her. Today we’re going to explore…
One of the wonderful things about outdoor portrait sessions in the Pacific Northwest is that you can adapt and use any weather you find. This client (who is also my lovely sister!) was only in town for a short time, so we headed to a local arboretum and used the weather we were given that…
For people in very large bodies, who are most affected by the physical and infrastructural inequalities built into a world that is designed to exclude fat people, moving through the world looks very different. In this guest post, Erica talks about the considerations that make up her everyday life, and how speaking out is gradually…
Image description: A young woman’s legs are shown propped up on a white wall. She is wearing a short black tutu skirt and black lacy socks that twine up (or down, since her feet are pointing up) her legs. Last week during a podcast recording, I was asked to talk about what I’d want young…
Because I have my fat fingers in so many pies, this chat with Chrystal Bougon of Curvy Girl Lingerie and All Bodies Electrolysis touches on lots of topics! If you’ve ever wondered about whether you can set boundaries with a photographer or how a good photographer works with mobility limitations or anxiety, this is the…
One part of interacting with healthcare providers while living in a fat body is that your value and worth as a patient are always, always conditional and based on your perceived compliance. I’ve been seeing my dentist, who I adore, for many years. My genetic lack of tooth enamel makes me a frequent visitor. In…
My friend P. asks, “It was a total shock to me to be told that I’m small fat. For me it was like being told I’m not really fat. My sense of myself is something very different. I struggle with self loathing every day. I’ve believed all the negative messages society feeds us. Thankfully I’m…
It was a pleasure to pair up with Bonny Chipman and her studio at Yoga NW to create a collection of inclusive yoga stock photos featuring folks with a wide variety of body sizes, ethnic backgrounds, skin colors, and mobility needs. Here’s a little bit about Yoga NW: “At Yoga NW, our mission is to…
Think you can’t support a movement from your corner of the world? Think again! In this Instagram Live, Sara Stanizai, LMFT and I talk about capital-A activism (with hand gestures), using your power to change the world, what counts as activism and simple ways you can help the fat folks in your life. Listen to…
Image description: A fat white baby’s arm is partially seen between an overlapping floral blanket, blue onesie sleeve and the body and strap of a car’s seat and child safety seat. Image source: Al Soot on Unsplash It’s definitely the fat kids’ fault. That was the gist of a discussion I witnessed last week, in…
One of the cooler aspects of my job is the privilege of not only capturing individual people’s bodies and lives, but their relationships. At this tea party-themed session, you can see the warm support of a circle of close friends shining through, accompanied by a gorgeous cake, lots of sweets and tea, and a beautiful…
On this episode of the Rising Whole podcast, Prim Ormanovich and I talk about how coherency in your business comes from having an underlying ethical framework or cause, and how my own underlying framework led to me splintering my business into many separate parts — and then bringing it together again. The podcast is no…
So many of the dynamics around bodies, weight and worth are really about power, and it was fascinating to dig into those power dynamics with Leela Sinha, host of the PowerPivot podcast. We talk about being unafraid of power, claiming your power, whether vulnerability offers or contains inherent power, and the power in anger. You…
When someone in a marginalized body shares a deep fear with you and your first answer is, “Well, I work in that field and I’ve never seen that,” you are in the wrong. Especially if you do not share that marginalization. Especially if you are a healthcare provider. Especially if that fear is well-founded, well-documented…
Fat Face Feelings is made up of Eron Huenefeld and Amanda Underwood, two women on a journey toward fat liberation, and sharing that journey with the world via podcast. Their podcast is fun, funny and vulnerable, and they’re both a delight. For some sessions, my subjects come in with a firm idea of how they’d…
