From a recent session with Kyra Sutherland of Joyful Divergence. I’m currently booking small business photo sessions » This week I have a Body Liberation Blanket Fort update for you before we swing into the regular letter. The Blanket Fort is my fat-friendly and body-safe community that centers fat folks and welcomes everyone. And it’s going strong, with…
A mother and daughter I photographed in Salt Lake City in 2019. This is a bits-and-pieces week: a celebration, a request, a frustrated grump and a note for supporters. Let’s start with the celebration! Last week, the Body Liberation Guide went out to 5,317 of you. The rate at which y’all open these emails is spectacular, too – almost…
A sneak peek of my shots from my dear friend K.’s wedding. I’m currently booking portrait and boudoir sessions» This week, I want to build a bit on what I told you in last week’s letter about how getting into media articles works. I talked a bit about the calculation that goes into responding to…
An image I created at the 2019 NAAFA convention in Las Vegas, NV. Browse stock photos of fat people» The subject line of this email – Do plus-size passengers deserve a bigger seat on a plane? – is the title of an article in the Dallas Morning News in which I was quoted this week. The article itself is pretty…
A leafy summer botanical boudoir session with R. Learn more about my boudoir sessions » Hi friend, A quick note before we get started: I’m now on the new social platform Threads as @bodyliberationwithlindley. I guess we need to talk about NEDA – the (American) National Eating Disorders Association – today. Honestly, I was reluctant, because they’ve been…
A group photo of the crew at One Connection Healthcare, a Health at Every Size®-aligned primary care office in Ballard, WA. Learn more about my small business photo sessions » Last week, I had the joy of attending this year’s Weight Stigma Conference. I tuned in remotely – the conference itself was in Denver this year, but for the…
I first wrote this piece in November 2020, but it unfortunately hasn’t lost any of its relevance, as Donald Trump continues to be in the news. (For folks outside the U.S., feel free to swap in any larger-bodied politician of relevance.) A perennial problem is cropping up yet again: the fatphobia of the American left….
Once a friend of mine observed that in their daily life, they just felt like they didn’t see many fat people at all. And it’s true: fat people are often missing from public life, especially very fat people. Why might that be? BMI is bull, but let’s use the master’s tool for a moment to…
One of the most important issues facing weight management, bariatric, dietetic, endocrinology, special interest groups, and other provider groups and practices today is weight stigma. It’s important to update your resources, handouts, training, certifications and other materials to remove stigmatizing language in order to improve patient compliance and positively impact clients. Here are ten ways…
Last week, I talked about a big negative of the trip I just took. This week, though, I want to share a big positive: Southwest Airlines’ customer of size policy. Southwest is the only American airline that makes an actual effort to be good to fat people. They weren’t always this way; in fact, they used to…
I’ve just returned from my first long trip during the pandemic. I traveled from the U.S. west coast to east coast for my sister’s MBA graduation. We come from a blue-collar background, she’s a single mom who fought every step of the way for this, and I’m so proud of her I’m about to burst. …
Let’s talk about football players and BMI. When the topic of body mass index, or BMI, comes up, one of the first responses is usually someone pointing out that some very obviously muscular and fit people — like football players — are considered obese* by BMI measurements. And thus, the argument goes, BMI is a…
Maybe you remember the advent of (mainstream anyway) period panties from a few years back? For a long time, there were no options to speak of for fat bodies, but no more! With the help of my brilliant assistant Kit, at the link below are nine options to choose from, carrying a range of sizes…
Here’s one concrete action you can take to help end weight stigma: Stop saying that weight loss doesn’t solve anything. And I’m going to need you to read alllll the way to the end of this letter before you @ me, because I am not jumping on the diet bandwagon here.
Happy belated Trans Day of Visibility! Trans, non-binary and exploring folks are precious, valid and welcome. I see you. Also, I’m seeing progress on my hand injury since getting a steroid shot a few weeks ago, woohoo! It’s not 100%, but it’s the closest it’s been since October. That means I’m booking photo sessions again — head to…
It’s an excerpt week! First, a little hand update: I’m seeing some minor improvements in my De Quervain’s tendonitis after having a steroid shot in the wrist a few weeks ago. I’m still being cautious with booking photography clients, but I have a few people booked starting in mid-April and that should be okay. Hmm….
Sometimes a stray comment or post on social media will spark something in my mind, and suddenly I have an opinion on it. This time it was a comment on a fat activist’s Instagram post informing the activist that they shouldn’t be using the term “fatphobia” because “people aren’t afraid of fat people, so it’s…
This week on Patreon, I’m launching the Body Liberation Guide+, a patron-only supplement to the free public Body Liberation Guide newsletter (this email!) I send out every week. Here’s what you can expect in the BLG+: More of The Conversation and event updates Handy links to this week’s supporter-only updates Journal prompts and discussion topics from the Body Liberation…
If you’ve been a subscriber for a bit, you know I produced an entire guide to that awful fatphobic movie The Whale. I’m not a pop culture kind of person and I don’t watch movies (due to my neurodivergence making it difficult), so I’d be perfectly happy never to think about that movie again. But with awards season…
Here’s one simple action you can take to help end discrimination against fat bodies this week: Stop appropriating the experiences and oppression of people who are fatter than you. If you live in a body that is of average size (the average American woman wears a size 14-18) or a bit larger (what some folks…
Something I think we need to be very cautious about as we fight fatphobia and weight stigma is that it’s very easy for us to deplore those things primarily when they happen to people in bodies we find worthy.
Here’s one simple action you can take to help end discrimination against fat bodies this week: Stick your neck out. Quite often these days, thin (usually white) folks feel the need to message me and tell me about how they were going to speak up about this harmful action or that piece of fragility, but…
It’s a privilege to focus on the gains of body positivity when fat people are still left out. 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…
Often when I post about the way I as a very fat person am treated, I’ll get responses along the lines of, well, you just have to be confident and stand up for yourself and people won’t treat you like that. Or, here’s what I would do in that situation (insert behavior that’s very aggressive,…
If you’ve been around here for any length of time, you know I talk a lot about anti-fatness, but I’m including a content warning today specifically for what I’m going to link to for its extremity. I had planned to send this letter to you today anyway, but coming across this video from a thin…
I hope you had a wonderful holiday season. Mine was spent mostly resting my hand and recovering from this tendon injury. I’m about 50% better – not well enough to book photo sessions yet, but quite a bit better than I was, which means there are a lot fewer cusswords drifting through the house as…
This is my last letter for 2022; you’ll next hear from me on January 9. Tonight I’m headed to a Zoom cookie-baking event with friends, and have a nice quiet holiday planned otherwise. I hope that the rest of this month is filled with joy for you. As the Twitter chaos continues, more and more…
I want to follow up on my previous Body Liberation Guide about AI-generated artwork. People who are into AI art are telling me that this is a chance for fat people to see themselves represented and change their body image. But there’s a problem: exploitation will not create liberation.
The robots are coming for art. You might not have seen any art created by artificial intelligence yet, but it won’t be long. We’re at the very beginning of a trend that will change art as we know it.
Though I ended up catching the stomach flu* and having to rest and isolate for the last part of the retreat, our attendees had a fabulous time and it was such a satisfying experience. There really is no substitute for in-person fat community. (*confirmed by PCR testing that it wasn’t COVID) Also, I’ve been featured in a…
Since I first wrote “The word on the scale” and shared it with my Patreon supporters (and later in the Body Liberation Guide), Taylor Swift has updated her video to remove the couple of seconds showing the word on the scale (without public comment). Here’s an update, plus part 4 of our series on body-positive business…
Getting called out sucks. Complaints suck. Trust me, I’ve been there. But it’s essential to listen to and absorb feedback if you want to improve in how you treat other people, especially people with less privilege than you. Also in this edition: Lizzo and the flute Terms to know Nutrition and anti-fatness Upcoming events October free…
I’m white. I have hair that falls into gentle waves with little to no styling. I’m very fat, but the way I carry my weight makes me look smaller than I am. My skin is mostly clear. I had braces as a teen, so my teeth are mostly straight. I can fit into the top…
If you’ve been on the internet for a hot minute, you’ve probably heard of body positivity. The movement has some high-profile promoters — and a valuable outlook on the worth and beauty of all bodies. What does body positivity have to do with your business? Everything. By incorporating its principles into your business, you can…
Hi friend, The big news in the fat-related world this week is Brendan Fraser’s hideously fatphobic new movie called The Whale. Since there’s been so much commentary, rather than including it in The Conversation section, I’ve given it its own list down in the Quick Resources.
