{The Body Liberation Guide} “If you weren’t so controversial….”
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{The Body Liberation Guide} “If you weren’t so controversial….”

ByLindley Ashline

Hi friend, There’s a new supporter reward in the Blanket Fort this week – Resources & Recs: Healthcare Providers! This is an ongoing reference of existing weight-neutral and Health at Every Size®-aligned healthcare provider directories, as well as specific recommendations for doctors and other healthcare pros. It’s very US-heavy right now, but I’d love to see…

{The Body Liberation Guide} Every day I’m strugglin’
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{The Body Liberation Guide} Every day I’m strugglin’

ByLindley Ashline

Hi friend, Today’s letter is the third in a four-part series (here are parts one and two). Bodies as business cards When our bodies are our business cards, the more those bodies are outside our cultural aspirations, the fewer people will want to buy. (And of course no business is going to appeal to everyone; how on earth…

plus size wedding
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{The Body Liberation Guide} But you run a business….

ByLindley Ashline

Hi friend, The website is back up, and should be faster! There were a few different issues I spent part of the week fixing, but it has a nice new look and speed now. It’s not perfect**, but for a one-person business, I’m so proud of it. Now to this week’s letter: In last week’s letter, I talked…

{The Body Liberation Guide} The planned obsolescence of activists
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{The Body Liberation Guide} The planned obsolescence of activists

ByLindley Ashline

Hi friend, It happened again two weeks ago. One of our most beloved community members got a day job. So much for her Instagram and podcast episodes and programs and the endless hours of support she gave the fat community. I don’t know if that particular activist has announced her career change publicly, so I…

{The Body Liberation Guide} Are you a fat admirer?
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{The Body Liberation Guide} Are you a fat admirer?

ByLindley Ashline

Hi friend, There’s a quote that I keep coming back to over time: stop breaking yourself into bite size pieces for someone; stay whole and let them choke It’s useful as a reminder that my whole self has worth and value, no matter whether other people find me palatable or useful in a capitalist world. But…

{The Body Liberation Guide} Southwest’s seating change + customer of size policy
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{The Body Liberation Guide} Southwest’s seating change + customer of size policy

ByLindley Ashline

Hi friend, A quick note on the BLP website: The work that I thought would take me a week has dragged on, and on, and on.  Insert someone who was supposed to be fixing the WordPress theme erasing chunks of the site entirely, days of the site being down altogether, and endless screaming. I hope…

{The Body Liberation Guide} Ask a fat artist: Angelica Dred
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{The Body Liberation Guide} Ask a fat artist: Angelica Dred

ByLindley Ashline

Hi friend, The website maintenance continues, so expect the site to be extra quirky this week. And on Friday, over in the Body Liberation Blanket Fort we’ll be watching the Your Fat Friend documentary together and having a discussion afterward. Now, to this week’s letter, an interview with fat artist Angelica Dred! Tell me about you! What’s your name?…

{The Body Liberation Guide} The future is fat
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{The Body Liberation Guide} The future is fat

ByLindley Ashline

Hi friend, I have lots of updates for you this week! First, it’s such a cool opportunity and honor to be included in The Future is Fat issue of Womanly Mag! Pre-order your print issue here and support fat-positive media. Second, I’m working with a model next week to create new photographs for Body Liberation Stock. This time I’m…

{The Body Liberation Guide} Ditching old diet demons
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{The Body Liberation Guide} Ditching old diet demons

ByLindley Ashline

Hi friend, If you recall, back in April I did an art tour for the Seattle Erotic Art Festival called Aspirational Erotic: Body Size, Shame and Aesthetics. I thought you might be interested in how it went. This was my first time at both the festival and giving a talk of this sort, so afterward I was both proud…

{The Body Liberation Guide} Voices from underwater
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{The Body Liberation Guide} Voices from underwater

ByLindley Ashline

Hi friend, I know we’re slightly out of Mermay now, but mythical creatures are forever, so I want to talk some more about fat merfolk. Through the kind service of Mermaid Chè Monique and the Society of Fat Mermaids, I was able to add the voices of lots of fat merfolk to An Ocean of Fat Merfolk. I also…

{The Body Liberation Guide} I don’t see how it’s connected….
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{The Body Liberation Guide} I don’t see how it’s connected….

ByLindley Ashline

Hi friend, The initial lineup of events for the summer in the Body Liberation Blanket Fort is up!   June 6: Movie Night with Silas June 15: Silent Reading Party with Lindley July 2: Discussion Group with Lindley July 25: Crafty Hangout August 4: Pacific Northwest In-Person (COVID Cautious) Meetup You can click on the tent graphic below to get access to…

{The Body Liberation Guide} Likeability, fatness, autism and dancing by yourself
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{The Body Liberation Guide} Likeability, fatness, autism and dancing by yourself

ByLindley Ashline

Hi friend, When I was more active in the Health at Every Size® community, and constantly speaking up for fat people and fat patients in healthcare provider groups, people would often message me privately and tell me how grateful they were that I was fighting for them. The private support was nice, but years of…

{The Body Liberation Guide} Fat masculinity and questions of the day
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{The Body Liberation Guide} Fat masculinity and questions of the day

ByLindley Ashline

Hi friend, There are a couple of updates to the Blanket Fort this week that I’m really excited about! Our Fort member Sage (he/him) has started a really cool channel called Fat Masculinity. Here’s Sage’s introduction to the channel: Hello friends! I asked if we could have a channel for conversations about how fatphobia interacts…

{The Body Liberation Guide} The fat bone’s connected to the race bone
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{The Body Liberation Guide} The fat bone’s connected to the race bone

ByLindley Ashline

Hi friend, I’ll be giving an art tour at the Seattle Erotic Art Festival this Friday, April 26 at 8:30 pm! Come hang out with me for an hour for: Aspirational Erotic: Body Size, Shame and Aesthetics Join photographer and body liberation activist Lindley Ashline to explore the origins and history of body image and weight stigma, and which…

{The Body Liberation Guide} Gender euphoria and fatness
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{The Body Liberation Guide} Gender euphoria and fatness

ByLindley Ashline

Hi friend, How do you like the new look for the newsletter? I attended an email design webinar right before I traveled earlier this month, and it got me all excited about design again. Also, you have till Wednesday to enter the drawing for the Pan Eros Film Festival tickets! As someone deeply committed to…

{The Body Liberation Guide} Take a load off
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{The Body Liberation Guide} Take a load off

ByLindley Ashline

Hi friend, Today I’m thinking about the expression “take a load off.” It’s generally used to mean taking the metaphorical weight, the load, of daily burdens and cares off your shoulders and relax. Not all burdens can be set aside like that, though. The cognitive load of existing as a fat person is one of…

Quick Resources: Diet Culture & Romantic Relationships
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Quick Resources: Diet Culture & Romantic Relationships

ByLindley Ashline

» Food Psych #185: How Diet Culture Hurts Your Relationships Health At Every Size® life coach Kristina Bruce joins us to discuss how diet culture can affect relationships, how to find self-trust and self-acceptance in recovering from disordered eating, how diet culture shows up in spiritual communities, why health and well-being is about so much more…

No more feeling bad about yourself in photos!
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No more feeling bad about yourself in photos!

ByLindley Ashline

This is news I am so freaking excited to share — the launch of the project I’ve been working on behind the scenes for the last six months. It’s called SEEN., and there are limited spots, so I want to make sure you have time to grab one before this goes out to my big…

Upcoming body-positive events (online)
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Upcoming body-positive events (online)

ByLindley Ashline

We’ve got a full schedule coming up! Here’s what’s going on in the next couple of months. My Origins of the Feelings workshop is on January 20, and there are fresh new events in the Body Liberation Blanket Fort including a movie night and body doubling in addition to everyday community. Find all the details…

The Origins of the Feelings Workshop is on January 20
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The Origins of the Feelings Workshop is on January 20

ByLindley Ashline

I hope you had a lovely second half of December. I spent mine making big plans for 2024, hanging out on Zoom/the phone with long-distance friends and family, and taking a few real, true days off. One of the things that’s important to me for the year we’ve just begun is holding more events and…

An equalizer graphic, a thumbnail photo of Lindley and an audio excerpt from the podcast.
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Race, Weight and Oppression: Lindley on the Mindful Miri Podcast

ByLindley Ashline

It was a pleasure to appear on the Mindful Miri podcast! In this episode, we discuss issues of race, weight, and systems of oppression. Other themes: » Embracing our true selves » #bodypositivity for larger bodies » How systems are not built for all sizes » weightstigma as an offshoot of #racism Transcript Excerpt “It’s…

What fat liberation means to me: It’s not just about “all bodies”
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What fat liberation means to me: It’s not just about “all bodies”

ByLindley Ashline

This piece originally appeared over at the NAAFA blog. Loving, admiring, and respecting fat bodies can be really hard for people to grasp. We as a culture have been trained by: Centuries of sexism and racism that women are sexual objects 75 years of diet culture that thin is beautiful and sexy And decades of…

Fat-Positive Fine Art Print: Nature Gave Me Wings
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Fat-Positive Fine Art Print: Nature Gave Me Wings

ByLindley Ashline

Nature gave me wings. Who are you to bid me hide them? 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 long hair pinned into a bun and is wearing…

A set of mantras to improve and create positive body image, meant for plus-size and fat people.
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Truths about my body | Positive body image for plus-size and fat people

ByLindley Ashline

My humanity gives me inherent worth. My body is worthy because it’s mine. My body deserves love, attention, and care no matter what. My body is worthy no matter its health status. My body is worthy no matter its age. My body can “pull off” anything I want to put on it. My body and…

A background of autumn leaves with the name of the Exhale Pacific Northwest body positive and fat positive retreat and Laura and Lindley's illustrated profile images.
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Fat friend, you deserve connection, rest, and ease.

ByLindley Ashline

We know how heavy and exhausting existing in this world can be. We all carry the weight of holding boundaries, managing others’ entitlement, navigating systems of oppression, and all the other burdens fat folks are made to hold on a daily basis. We are tired! In a culture that has commodified self-care down to bubble…

AAAAAAAAA! I’ve done my first published book blurb!
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AAAAAAAAA! I’ve done my first published book blurb!

ByLindley Ashline

AAAAAAAAA! I’ve done my first published book blurb, and it’s for Amanda Martinez Beck’s excellent new book More of You! Here’s what I wrote (plus extra text that was cut for length): “More of You grapples with some of the central conflicts of today’s body liberation movements. Beck’s religion informs her writing as she reconciles…

A yellow square with a post-it note design and the text "What would your life look like if you minded your own body business?" Lindley's logo is at the bottom.
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I wish I could just talk about loving your body.

ByLindley Ashline

I wish I could just talk about loving your body. I really do, y’all. I would be perfectly content to post pretty photos and talk about why you should paint your stretch marks with glitter. (Which is totally worth doing, by the way.) But I can’t reconcile myself to staying safe and dainty and quiet….

A yellow square with a post-it note design and the text "Your worth is not dependent on your health." Lindley's logo is at the bottom.
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What would your life look like if you minded your own body business?

ByLindley Ashline

Your worth is not dependent on your health. That meme about how “your weight is not your worth” goes around a lot, and it’s true! But your health is also not your worth. You don’t gain worthiness points for being closer to the pop culture vision of “health.” and you don’t lose worthiness points for…

A yellow square with a post-it note design and the text "What would your life look like if you minded your own body business?" Lindley's logo is at the bottom.
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What would your life look like if you minded your own body business?

ByLindley Ashline

What would your life look like if you just…didn’t worry about what other people’s bodies looked like or were doing? What could you focus on if you didn’t feel the need to judge the clothing or body size or expression of the people walking past you in public? What might it look like if the…