Book Rec: Happy Fat by Sofie Hagen

Imposter syndrome is real and when I started this blog, a rather large part of me thought, “Who wants to hear from me?” There are lots of more informed, more active, awesome fat people to hear from. People with more experience. People with something to say . So it was beyond encouraging to read these words at the end of Sofie Hagen’s book Happy Fat:

“And then I can only hope you will engage with the fight. I hope you realise how incredibly valuable your input would be. How much we need as many people as possible to actively fight anti-fat bias.”

I am just a baby Fat Liberationist, but to have this veteran tell me that my voice in particular is needed in the fight? I feel like i can take on the world. And I feel reinvigorated!

The whole book is amazing and very worth the read. If you are an ally, there’s a particularly good chapter on How to be a Good Friend to Fat people. And those tips aren’t just for allies to fat people; they’re important for anyone who is trying to be an ally in any marginalized space. Hagen makes the point over and over again (a point that I’ve made more than a couple of times here as well) that the fight is intersectional, so our ally-ship needs to be as well.

Most of all, reading this book and finding experiences that I recognize within it, from this Danish woman living in the UK, made me feel like I’m not alone. And that’s the thing. When you’re walking around in a fat body and it feels like everything and everyone is against you, it is tremendously isolating. Even someone like me, who has built up an awesome fat community around me, can feel like I’m alone in this struggle. When I need to be reminded that I’m not, now all I have to do is look to my bookshelf.