ARTICLE

Why Did Weight Become the Scapegoat for Health Issues?: A Q&A with Sabrina Strings, PhD

By Sabrina Strings — 2020

When the associate professor of sociology at the University of California, Irvine examined current assumptions around body fat, she found them to be overly simplistic and lacking in evidence. For example, there are numerous examples of what the medical establishment calls overweight or obesity being associated with better health outcomes compared to underweight or normal weight. And an examination of 17 million health records revealed that the increased risk of dying from COVID-19 among Black people is not explained by obesity or diabetes. In her book, Fearing the Black Body, Strings shows how slavery and racism have shaped common views of body fat and its health consequences. Her work underscores why it’s imperative that poor health outcomes are traced to their structural and social roots and not blamed on individual choices.

Read on goop.com

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Hunger: A Memoir of (My) Body

“I ate and ate and ate in the hopes that if I made myself big, my body would be safe. I buried the girl I was because she ran into all kinds of trouble. I tried to erase every memory of her, but she is still there, somewhere. . . .

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The Unapologetic Guide to Black Mental Health: Navigate an Unequal System, Learn Tools for Emotional Wellness, and Get the Help you Deserve

An unapologetic exploration of the Black mental health crisis—and a comprehensive road map to getting the care you deserve in an unequal system. We can’t deny it any longer: there is a Black mental health crisis in our world today.

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Hijas Americanas: Beauty, Body Image, and Growing Up Latina

In Hijas Americanas, author Rosie Molinary sheds new light on what it means to grow up Latina.

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The Beauty Myth: How Images of Beauty Are Used Against Women

The bestselling classic that redefined our view of the relationship between beauty and female identity. In today’s world, women have more power, legal recognition, and professional success than ever before.

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Looking Queer: Body Image and Identity in Lesbian, Bisexual, Gay, and Transgender Communities

Looking Queer: Body Image in Lesbian, Bisexual, Gay, and Transgender Communities contains research, firsthand accounts, poetry, theory, and journalistic essays that address and outline the special needs of sexual minorities when dealing with eating disorders and appearance obsession.

Dawn Atkins (editor)

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Roxane Gay—Fitting Into the World in “Hunger” | The Daily Show

Author Roxane Gay opens up about the childhood attack that led to her weight gain, the unwelcome advice she gets daily and writing a different kind of memoir as a fat woman.

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Love, No Matter What | Andrew Solomon

What is it like to raise a child who’s different from you in some fundamental way (like a prodigy, or a differently abled kid, or a criminal)? In this quietly moving talk, writer Andrew Solomon shares what he learned from talking to dozens of parents—asking them: What’s the line between...

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Why Befriending Our Bodies Is So Hard, with JoAnna Hardy

iBme teacher JoAnna Hardy briefly explains mindfulness of the body and how to see our bodies as places of refuge. She also talks about how challenging this is when we have personal and/or cultural judgments and opinion around our bodies.

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Toni Morrison interview on “The Bluest Eye” and “Paradise” (1998)

Toni Morrison gives insight into her works “Paradise” and “The Bluest Eye,” criticizes sloppy criticism, and explains the challenge of writing about race for African-American writers.

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Fattily Ever After: A Black Fat Girl’s Guide to Living Life Unapologetically

Twenty-nine year-old plus-size blogger Stephanie Yeboah has experienced racism and fat-phobia throughout her life.

Stephanie Yeboah

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