Fat Girls Dance


Book Description

Irreverent, witty, full of surprises, and based on a fabulous true story, this dynamic new series debut reveals what happens when three very different, very talented, fat women break all the rules, go viral—and discover life’s most breathtaking moves . . . Liv. Reese. Faith. Yes, they are plus-size, curvy,thick, whatever. Point is, they are past sick of society’s relentless body shaming defining them. Liv slays in dance classes, where she shakes off her frustrations as a struggling writer. Introverted Reese avoids “taking up too much space” by staying in the background as Liv’s sidekick. And while diva-cold professional dancer Faith aces countless auditions, she’s “too big” for starring roles. At the end of their respective ropes, all it takes is one more insult . . . for Liv to suddenly have an idea that will unite them all. It’s a shake-it-up, zero-Fs challenge in which women like her will choreograph and perform a demanding new dance every week. For a year. Online. And just like that . . . after a boatload of hard work, FatGirlsDance becomes an Internet phenomenon, racking up thousands of followers, clicks—and controversy. More importantly, FGD creates a precious space for community. And it gives the three ladies an impossible shot: a major competition featuring the world’s best amateur dancers. Yet, while Liv is determined to prove FGD can go from amazing to outstanding, Faith thinks they’re reaching too high, and Reese is caught in the middle. As the grueling practices and new goals start taking a toll, the trio soon finds their friendship stretched to the breaking point. With their biggest test ahead of them as their drama spins out of control, can these gutsy women pull it together to remake their futures—and become the women they were meant to be?




Fat Girls Hiking


Book Description

From the founder of the Fat Girls Hiking community, this inclusive and inspiring guide to the great outdoors will inspire people of all body types, sizes, abilties, and backgrounds.




Things No One Will Tell Fat Girls


Book Description

Things No One Will Tell Fat Girls is a manifesto and call to arms for women of all sizes and ages. With smart and spirited eloquence, veteran blogger Jes Baker calls on women to be proud of their bodies, fight against fat-shaming, and embrace a body-positive worldview to change public perceptions and help women maintain mental health. With the same straightforward tone that catapulted her to national attention when she wrote a public letter addressing the sexist comments of Abercrombie & Fitch's CEO, Jes shares personal experiences along with in-depth research in a way that is approachable, digestible, and empowering. Featuring notable guest authors, Things No One Will Tell Fat Girls is an invitation for all women to reject fat prejudice, learn to love their bodies, and join the most progressive, and life-changing revolution there is: the movement to change the world by loving their bodies.




#VERYFAT #VERYBRAVE


Book Description

A hilarious and inspiring guide to being a #brave, bikini-wearing badass, from the actress, comedian, and podcaster extraordinaire. If you’ve ever seen a fat person post a bikini shot on social media, you already know that they are #verybrave, because apparently existing in a fat body in public is #brave. I, Nicole Byer, wrote this book to 1. share my impressive bikini collection and my hot body with the world and 2. help other people feel #brave by embracing their body as it is. In this book, I share my journey to becoming #brave, give you my hot tips and tricks—on how to find the perfect bikini, how to find your own #bravery, and how to handle haters—and serve you over 100 bikini looks. Praise for #VERYFAT #VERYBRAVE One of Cosmopolitan’s “12 Books You’ll Be Desperate to Read This Summer” One of Good House Keeping’s “Best Beach Reads to Add to Your Summer Reading List” Book Riot’s #1 Body Positivity Book to Read “Basically a bikini look book showing off [Byer’s] beautiful figure in a hundred different colorful swimmies. She also shares her body-acceptance journey and gives tips on how others can find their own bravery, handle haters, and embrace their bodies.” —Cosmopolitan “This book is a hilariously empowering take on self-love.” —Parade “And while Byer, the comedian who hosts Netflix’s Nailed It!, has filled the book with captions that are funny enough to prompt a reader to actually chuckle aloud, inspiring others is at the book’s core.” —USA Today




Fat Girls Don’t Dance


Book Description

Blending theatre, storytelling and killer moves, spoken word artist Maria Ferguson explores her relationship with the F-word (food) with the help of her first love (dance). Questioning how we all look at size, Fat Girls Don't Dance takes us in to the world of performance, where three meals a day is up for compromise and skinny sells well. NB: There will be cake




Breadth of Bodies


Book Description

Breadth of Bodies seeks to investigate and dismantle the language and stereotypes often used to describe professional dancers with disabilities. Spearheaded by dancer/writer Emmaly Wiederholt and dance educator Silva Laukkanen with illustrations by visual artist Liz Brent-Maldonado, the team collected interviews with 35 professional dance artists with disabilities from 15 countries, asking about training, access, and press, as well as looking at the state of the field.




Fat


Book Description

This book is more than just the story of a fat woman who managed to win respect and National Championships in the thin-obsessed world of dance. It's more than just a trained researcher's examination of the evidence about weight and health. It's a book about living life in the body that you have now, and making decisions about what you want in the future, and how to get there. Whether you want to change your body, fight for size acceptance, just live your life, or understand and support your fat friends and family, this book provides the insights, aha moments, humor, and hard facts to help.




Turning Pointe


Book Description

A reckoning with one of our most beloved art forms, whose past and present are shaped by gender, racial, and class inequities—and a look inside the fight for its future Every day, in dance studios all across America, legions of little children line up at the barre to take ballet class. This time in the studio shapes their lives, instilling lessons about gender, power, bodies, and their place in the world both in and outside of dance. In Turning Pointe, journalist Chloe Angyal captures the intense love for ballet that so many dancers feel, while also grappling with its devastating shortcomings: the power imbalance of an art form performed mostly by women, but dominated by men; the impossible standards of beauty and thinness; and the racism that keeps so many people of color out of ballet. As the rigid traditions of ballet grow increasingly out of step with the modern world, a new generation of dancers is confronting these issues head on, in the studio and on stage. For ballet to survive the twenty-first century and forge a path into a more socially just future, this reckoning is essential.




The Fat Girl's Guide to Life


Book Description

Vibrant, vivacious and gorgeous, Wendy Shanker is a fat girl who has simply had enough - enough of family, friends, co-workers, women's magazines, even strangers on the street all trying (and failing) to make her thin. With her mandate to change the world - and the humour and energy to do it - Wendy shows how media madness, corporate greed and even the most well-intentioned loved ones can chip away at a woman's confidence. She invites people of all sizes, shapes and dissatisfactions to trade self-loathing for self-tolerance, celebrity worship for reality reverence, and a carb-free life for a guilt-free Krispy Kreme. Wendy explores dieting debacles, full-figured fashions and feminist philosophy while guiding you through exercise clubs, doctors' offices, shopping malls and the bedroom. In the process, she will convince you that you can be fit and fat, even as the weight loss industry conspires to make you think otherwise. The Fat Girl's Guide to Life invites you to step off the scales and weigh the issues for yourself.




I Do It with the Lights On


Book Description

From the star of TLC’s My Big Fat Fabulous Life and the YouTube sensation “A Fat Girl Dancing” comes an empowering memoir about letting go of your limitations and living the life you deserve. Right now. Whitney Way Thore stands five feet two inches tall and weighs well over three hundred pounds, and she is totally, completely, and truly . . . happy. But she wasn’t always the vivacious, confident woman you see on TV. Growing up as a dancer, Whitney felt the pressure to be thin, a desire that grew into an obsession as she got older. From developing an eating disorder as a teenager, to extreme weight gain in college, to her ongoing struggle with polycystic ovarian syndrome (PCOS), Whitney reveals her fight to overcome the darkest moments in her life. She holds nothing back, opening up about the depths of her depression as well as her resilience in the face of constant harassment and mistreatment. Now Whitney is on top of the world and taking no BS (Body Shame, of course). And she’s sharing the steps she took to get there and the powerful message behind her successful No Body Shame campaign. She even reveals her favorite “F” word (it’s probably not what you think), the thrill of doing it with the lights on, and the story behind the “Fat Girl Dancing” video that started it all. Exuberant and utterly honest, I Do It with the Lights On is the inspiring story of how Whitney finally discovered her fabulousness when she stepped off the scale and into her life, embracing herself unconditionally—body, heart, and soul. Advance praise for I Do It with the Lights On “Whitney’s story is one of radical vulnerability. She is a vibrant example of what it means to choose confidence when insecurity beckons from every corner. She is cool, funny, and shameless—in the best possible way.”—Kelsey Miller, author of Big Girl: How I Gave Up Dieting & Got a Life “Soaring above expectations, I Do It with the Lights On delves into the complicated relationship between a woman and her body. With her trademark charisma, Whitney emerges triumphant, plucking from the mire some of the most important realizations one can hope to have. If you have a body, this memoir is a must-read.”—Linda Bacon, PhD