Representation Matters: Bodies are Cool!

A tweet thread came to my attention in October 2021.

It was a call, from an equity and bias reviewer, for more body positive – fat representation – in picture books.

When Kate, the Lavender Librarian, put the call out for books on this topic – I went hunting for the thread.

Shout out to Elaine Su for raising awareness of the absence of fat positive representation! You can find her original thread here.

---

I’m Pākehā (white), cis, and medium-sized. Just average. No disabilities. No distinguishing marks (apart from tattoos).

I am so vanilla.

I can see myself represented in SO MANY books – it is just not funny.

But, what if you’re not me.

Representation Is For Everyone

Where is your POSITIVE representation?

We have shared A LOT of books which feature positive representations of ethnically diverse people.

We have found a few featuring positive representations of people with disabilities.

Fat People Exist in the Real World…

But – where are the books with positive representations of fat people.

I am purposefully using the word fat – not prevaricating / finding euphemisms – to help reclaim it is as a word. As an adjective, without negative connotations. Fat just is. It isn’t bad. It isn’t unhealthy. Let’s reclaim it – and take away the stigma.

Fat as a Neutral Descriptor

If something about that statement triggers you. Take a step back. Breathe. And think… Think about how we are all socialized to see fat = bad; fat = unhealthy; fat = ugly.

Take time and retrain your brain, your thought patterns.

Stigmatizing Fat Bodies Causes Harm

Be really, really careful about how you talk about weight – about food – about diets – to yourself, and in earshot of younger ones. Eating disorders just don’t appear out of nowhere.

I don’t ever want my sisters and nieces to be on suicide watch again; having to take a break from work to be at home all the time; having to visit high school every day – to make sure my great-niece eats lunch. Makes it through another day. Is recovering.

Moving Forward Together

It will take time – maybe the rest of your life (like it is for me) – to retrain your thinking. To shut up / drown out  that f***g voice in your head.

YOU ARE BEAUTIFUL.

ALL OUR LITTLE BEST FRIENDS ARE BEAUTIFUL.

---

Books Can Be a Balm

So, below are a collection of books – mainly picture books – with representations of different bodies.

Yes, most are fat positive. There’s also incidental representations of diverse bodies. There’s also representations (positive or incidental) of other bodies, for example – body hair; vitiligo; ‘funny’ teeth.

They are organized into loose categories.

In Solidarity,

Auntie Anne (she/her)

---

I am a fat mother. Becoming a mother isn’t how I got fat. I was fat before my kids. In the lifetime before they were born, I had tried to shrink myself to fit in with the bodies I saw in movies and magazines. As a child myself, many of the villains in stories were fat characters. If not villains, fat characters were often the comedic relief or the best friend, never the hero. Reading those stories and watching those shows, I grew up believing my body was bad. It took a long time to heal those wounds and internalized messages for myself. I don’t want that for my kids. I want them to grow up valuing themselves and other, not just regardless of appearance but because all bodies are good.

Since becoming a mother, I more fully understand the importance of body diversity in media, especially children’s books, as vital. My children will grow up reading books that reflect not only what their family looks like, but seeing all kinds of diversity. Seeing bodies all along the spectrum of size is so important to instill respect and compassion for others. I am so glad to see this list from Storytime Solidarity so we can add to our already inclusive home library.

Suz Gillies-Smith (she/they)

You can find Suz on Instagram or Tiktok or check out her website

If you want to know where the lack of representation hits the most, then check out the list of recommended books for older children.

Younger children’s fiction / early chapter books:

• THE TOO TIGHT TUTU by Sherryl Clark and Cathy Wilcose

Middle grade fiction:

• STARFISH by Lisa Fipps

YA / teen fiction:

• DUMPLIN’ by Julie Murphy and others by this author.
• HOLDING UP THE UNIVERSE by Jennifer Niven

A note from Ms. Kate

Living with a dynamic disability means my body varies more than most. I’ve lived in a fat body for periods of my life. But not my entire life. Off and on.

For me, the biggest horror of weight loss and gain was not corporal, but something else. I see that I’m treated much better when my body is smaller. Thinner. More in alignment with societal beauty norms.

And it breaks my heart. Because I’m still the same inside. At every size. And, since my weight tends to go up when I’m less well, I get treated worse during periods of struggle.

I think of the many, many people who live in fat bodies. They, like everyone need kindness, but are instead met with folks who think they know. Who deride fat bodies. Or treat them as failed thin bodies.

I yearn for a world where we meet people where they are instead of trying to change them. Let’s all care for and honour our bodies. They’re the vehicles we need to travel through the world.

In Solidarity,

Kate (she/they)