A NEW YORK TIMES BESTSELLER
AN INDIE BESTSELLER
“One of the great thinkers of our generation . . . I feel fresher and smarter and happier for sitting down with her.”—Jameela Jamil, iWeigh Podcast
The co-host of the Maintenance Phase podcast and creator of Your Fat Friend equips you with the facts to debunk common anti-fat myths and with tools to take action for fat justice
The pushback that shows up in conversations about fat justice takes exceedingly predicable form. Losing weight is easy—calories in, calories out. Fat people are unhealthy. We’re in the midst of an obesity epidemic. Fat acceptance “glorifies obesity.” The BMI is an objective measure of size and health. Yet, these myths are as readily debunked as they are pervasive.
In “You Just Need to Lose Weight,” Aubrey Gordon equips readers with the facts and figures to reframe myths about fatness in order to dismantle the anti-fat bias ingrained in how we think about and treat fat people. Bringing her dozen years of community organizing and training to bear, Gordon shares the rhetorical approaches she and other organizers employ to not only counter these pernicious myths, but to dismantle the anti-fat bias that so often underpin them.
As conversations about fat acceptance and fat justice continue to grow, “You Just Need to Lose Weight” will be essential to ensure that those conversations are informed, effective, and grounded in both research and history.
Aubrey Gordon writes under the pseudonym of “Your Fat Friend,” illuminating the experiences of fat people and urging greater compassion for people of all sizes. Her work has reached millions of readers and has been translated into 19 languages. She is co-host of the Maintenace Phase podcast and a columnist with SELF magazine. Her work has also been featured in Health magazine, Vox, and Gay Mag, among others. She lives in the Northwest, where she works as a writer and organizer. Connect with her at yourfatfriend.com, and as YrFatFriend on Instagram, Twitter, and Facebook.
“Will appeal to anyone interested in discrimination based on body size and other similar forms of systemic oppression.”
—Library Journal, Starred Review
“An excellent tool for those working to end anti-fat bias. Perfect for fat and thin readers alike, ‘You Just Need to Lose Weight’ is smart and informative—and will spur many important conversations.”
—Shelf Awareness, Starred Review
“Gordon tackles pervasive myths about fatness and provides the truth about them and the people they impact…[the book] couldn't have come at a more apt time.”
—Teen Vogue
“Gordon interrogates misperceptions about fatness in this helpful handbook for those ‘struggling to interrupt moments of anti-fatness in their daily lives.’ . . . [A] lucid and impassioned guide to combatting negative stereotypes about body size.”
—Publishers Weekly
“[T]his thought-provoking treatise on fatness will give readers of all sizes plenty to think about.”
—Booklist
“Sharp, stinging commentary…The message of this book is perennially important.”
—Self
“It’s challenging to find books, like Gordon’s, that intelligently and empathetically talk about modern wellness culture in a positive, and, well, real way.”
—Allure
“Chatty and insightful, this book is sure to make readers reflect on their own biases.”
—425 Magazine
“[Gordon] brings skillful analysis, acute understanding and a sense of humor to her work.”
—The Seattle Times
“The book offers actionable steps you can take to help push back against weight bias in your own life, particularly if you’re witnessing it as someone with a smaller body.”
—Insider
“Opens the door for nuance, while shutting it on harmful, prevalent myths.”
—Portland Mercury
“Required reading for anyone who’s ever been tempted to give—or has gotten tired of receiving—weight loss advice.”
—The Skimm
“Gordon has personally laid out structured ways to disrupt and combat anti-fatness. Providing tangible steps and methods on how to do the personal and political work of addressing anti-fatness in social, familial, and cultural settings also allows for the hopeful and foundational work to build a new world founded on the grounds of fat justice.”
—Fat Studies Journal
“The author’s detailed takedown of these myths and her intelligent grasp of social dynamics make this an illuminating audiobook on how to reprogram our stereotypes about those who are visibly different from what we may believe to be ‘normal.’”
—AudioFile Magazine
