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You Have the Right to Remain Fat
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Growing up as a fat girl, Virgie Tovar believed that her body was something to be fixed. But after two decades of dieting and constant guilt, she was over it―and gave herself the freedom to trust her own body again. Ever since, she’s been helping others to do the same. Tovar is hungry for a world where bodies are valued equally, food is free from moral judgment, and you ca
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Paperback, 136 pages
Published
August 14th 2018
by The Feminist Press at CUNY
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The solution to a problem like bigotry is not to do everything in our power to accommodate the bigotry. It is to get rid of the bigotry
Virgie Tovar destroys this shit. Call her when you’re unsure of yourself, read her words when you forget how to be, and thank fuck that she exists to call out my skinny privilege.
Because you can’t find self-love by walking a path paved by self-hatred.
Virgie Tovar destroys this shit. Call her when you’re unsure of yourself, read her words when you forget how to be, and thank fuck that she exists to call out my skinny privilege.
Because you can’t find self-love by walking a path paved by self-hatred.

It’s said that you shouldn‘t judge a book by its cover, or its size, rather, in this case (no pun intended). Nevertheless: a very small, very thin book with large letters about a topic of massive controversy and relevance, well that’s a challenge. I wish Tovar had succeeded in this regard, but she didn’t, and to be honest, knowing her agenda before reading it, this didn’t come as a big surprise. To start with the positive, there is without any doubt some true and relevant content in this little
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Absolutely transformative. I borrowed this teeny-tiny book from the library and read it over the course of a couple hours, but it had a huge impact on me and I’m still mulling over everything I learned. Virgie Tovar is a super smart writer, and this book is the perfect balance of academic and accessible. She puts words to thoughts I’ve had for years but never knew how to articulate. I especially love how she explains the connection between patriarchal values and fatphobia. This book would be a g
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This book was a pleasure to read. Short, sweet and to the point. Virgie was dropping straight facts and education. I love and really resonated with some of the before narratives but most of the after narratives about what it's like to find peace and freedom in embracing yourself, your fat fluffy body and just fucking living and enjoying life. It does take awhile for some people to get to that place and it's hard being continuously discriminated against: being a fat black feminist I know that fee
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This is a book every woman AND man should read!
"Growing up as a fat girl, Virgie Tovar believed that her body was something to be fixed. But after two decades of dieting and constant guilt, she was over it―and gave herself the freedom to trust her own body again. Ever since, she’s been helping others to do the same. Tovar is hungry for a world where bodies are valued equally, food is free from moral judgment, and you can jiggle through life with respect. In concise and candid language, she delve ...more
"Growing up as a fat girl, Virgie Tovar believed that her body was something to be fixed. But after two decades of dieting and constant guilt, she was over it―and gave herself the freedom to trust her own body again. Ever since, she’s been helping others to do the same. Tovar is hungry for a world where bodies are valued equally, food is free from moral judgment, and you can jiggle through life with respect. In concise and candid language, she delve ...more

I heard of this person a few years ago in a discussion about Health at Every Size, and all her pictures looked like her wardrobe had been chosen by a half-blind toddler who'd been turned loose in a Goodwill. A few years later, I hear she published a book. Being the rubbernecker I am, I just HAD to have a look.
The intro is depressing as hell. As a girl, the author liked to get home, strip down naked and run into the kitchen (where her grandma was working) and jiggle her body, and oh how she loved ...more
The intro is depressing as hell. As a girl, the author liked to get home, strip down naked and run into the kitchen (where her grandma was working) and jiggle her body, and oh how she loved ...more

Typical feminist tripe. Yeah, okay, be who you are -- it's all good. But promoting unhealthy ideals just to make a point? Get outta here. It's fine to be WHO YOU ARE, but not fine to promote the okayness of it all by couching it in feminist theory. Gross. Fourth wave feminists are complete morons.
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‘You Have the Right to Remain Fat’ was a complicated read for me, despite being quite short. I suppose it’s because I contain culture within myself: culture is lived inside of me as I read and think, and culture tends to have fixed ideas about the use(s) of language. (It’s interesting to consider that the word ‘diet’ has switched to ‘optimise your health!’etc...)
“I encourage people to answer this question: What would your life look like if you stopped trying to control your weight? Let’s go fur ...more
“I encourage people to answer this question: What would your life look like if you stopped trying to control your weight? Let’s go fur ...more

For full review, see: F*ck Your Fatphobia.
Overall, I really enjoyed this slim volume and read it in one afternoon. One of the strengths of this book is its accessibility. Tovar is very good at explaining some basic concepts for those who may be new to them, such as bootstrapping and gaslighting, and then builds information on these concepts as the book goes on.
And indeed, the book gets stronger and more impassioned as it goes on. Tovar intersperses information about fat discrimination and body i ...more
Overall, I really enjoyed this slim volume and read it in one afternoon. One of the strengths of this book is its accessibility. Tovar is very good at explaining some basic concepts for those who may be new to them, such as bootstrapping and gaslighting, and then builds information on these concepts as the book goes on.
And indeed, the book gets stronger and more impassioned as it goes on. Tovar intersperses information about fat discrimination and body i ...more

I absolutely hated this book and only read 75/whatever pages there were
Apparently dieting is the cause of fat phobia. This book is utter bull crap. I've been fat and I have a sibling who is fat. Dieting is a tool in reaching a more appropriate body weight. No says you need to be skinny in order to be beauty. What you see on TV is utter crap. Plus fat isn't truly defined. Some people of the same weight can distribute their fat differently which can complex things and how they and others view them ...more
Apparently dieting is the cause of fat phobia. This book is utter bull crap. I've been fat and I have a sibling who is fat. Dieting is a tool in reaching a more appropriate body weight. No says you need to be skinny in order to be beauty. What you see on TV is utter crap. Plus fat isn't truly defined. Some people of the same weight can distribute their fat differently which can complex things and how they and others view them ...more

Four years ago, sitting on the back of my father's boat, I had taken off my shirt due to the heat. My best friend and father both saw this and their response was: "My god! He's going to die of a heart attack one day." This was spoken out loud, as a jest (although still based on reality).
Eight years ago, my family had praised me for loosing a lot of weight. They continuously told me how much better I looked and how much better I must feel. I have never felt more unhealthy then that time of my lif ...more
Eight years ago, my family had praised me for loosing a lot of weight. They continuously told me how much better I looked and how much better I must feel. I have never felt more unhealthy then that time of my lif ...more

this book was extremely liberating. it put to words a lot of my own thoughts and experiences, even some i didn’t realize i had!
my own bias aside, virgie tovar’s work is extremely important for my own research within fat studies, as she examines fatphobia as a byproduct of white supremacy, an exercise of control that’s most violent towards BIWOC.
“the real problem is that our culture is maintained through a vitriolic matrix of sexism, racism, misogyny, transphobia, ableism, and classism that ero ...more
my own bias aside, virgie tovar’s work is extremely important for my own research within fat studies, as she examines fatphobia as a byproduct of white supremacy, an exercise of control that’s most violent towards BIWOC.
“the real problem is that our culture is maintained through a vitriolic matrix of sexism, racism, misogyny, transphobia, ableism, and classism that ero ...more

Nobody combines academic theory with liberation feminism with personal essay better than Virgie Tovar. She makes it all so fun. She is also brilliantly concise. This book is only 125 quick-reading pages, but it's so potentially transformative that it could become an irreverent catechism for many women, a Little Fat Book, as it were.
...
ETA -- Post-Trump, I've been pondering more and more the internalized misogyny -- bad enough to vote for that vile creature, anyway, though all women in a patriarc ...more
...
ETA -- Post-Trump, I've been pondering more and more the internalized misogyny -- bad enough to vote for that vile creature, anyway, though all women in a patriarc ...more

I mean, Virgie knows how to say the things that need to be said, however, I was never fully caught up in her words. While reading Jes Baker or Lindy West or Sonya Renee Taylor, I feel swept up in an emotional whirlwind (in the best way possible) the entire time. With Virgie I felt that there were snippets where I was smacked in the chest, but the rest felt rather messy & stitched together & not very captivating.
I think the bottom line for me is, if you write such a short book, you should be in ...more
I think the bottom line for me is, if you write such a short book, you should be in ...more

I LOVED this book. So intelligently written. I wanted to highlight the shit out of it. My only critique is that I struggle with the message about diets when it comes to dealing with my autoimmune disease. Virgie Tovar is writing from a healthy human perspective...but where does one fit in when you’re chronically ill and a diet is the only thing that helps? Where can I fit into this narrative?

Nov 27, 2018
Aimee Dars
rated it
really liked it
·
review of another edition
Shelves:
feminism,
non-fiction

"I had been taught to believe that weight loss was the key to all my heart’s greatest desires, but the truth is that it wasn’t. Because you can’t find self-love by walking a path paved by self-hatred."
Virgie Tovar’s manifesto, You Have the Right to Remain Fat, preaches that there’s nothing wrong with fat people. There is something wrong with the culture that enables the discrimination against, scapegoating of, and prejudice towards fat people. Her message that everyone no matter their size shoul ...more

Virgie Tovar is an author, researcher, activist, former Buzzfeed-style writer - and so much more. She regularly gives lectures and organizes workshops on body image and fat discrimination. In 2012, she edited the anthology Hot & Heavy: Fierce Fat Girls on Life, Love and Fashion, which I really enjoyed when I read it five years ago. Now her newest book is out: You Have the Right to Remain Fat: A Manifesto.
In this slim volume, Tovar combines autobiographical writing with wider political analysis, ...more
In this slim volume, Tovar combines autobiographical writing with wider political analysis, ...more

I wish I could give this book 6 stars. I wish it was three times as long.
There are lots of memoirs on topics surrounding fat activism and body positivity. The core message is frequently that fatphobia deeply harms fat people, and this message is told through heartbreaking personal stories.
This book is like that. But Tovar is also a fat scholar, so her book is able to say with clarity - here's how fatphobia is a product of racism and patriarchy. Here's how fatphobia is about creating compliant b ...more
There are lots of memoirs on topics surrounding fat activism and body positivity. The core message is frequently that fatphobia deeply harms fat people, and this message is told through heartbreaking personal stories.
This book is like that. But Tovar is also a fat scholar, so her book is able to say with clarity - here's how fatphobia is a product of racism and patriarchy. Here's how fatphobia is about creating compliant b ...more

I am mov'd deeply and never until this book have I been compelled to put down some of the things I've been carrying around my entire life. It's too fresh and too deep to discuss here, but do know this ought to be read by the masses, not just us fat kids. The last 25+ pages or so are a fever of conversion. And fucken freedom.
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So many ideas in this that I had not encountered before. It revealed to me my own internalized submission to a culture that brutally tells me I'm not lovable as I am. I'm really grateful she wrote it.
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Virgie Tovar has had weight issues and in this very short novel she talks about how fat shaming is wrong and how people should be happy with their bodies and not worry about how other people think of their bodies.
I get her message, but I have some issues with it. I understand wanting to be comfortable in your own body no matter what size, but when you eat crap and eat a ton of it and don't exercise you are going to have health issues. I think being healthy should be a good priority for people. T ...more
I get her message, but I have some issues with it. I understand wanting to be comfortable in your own body no matter what size, but when you eat crap and eat a ton of it and don't exercise you are going to have health issues. I think being healthy should be a good priority for people. T ...more

I was so so excited for this book to come out and Virgie certainly did not disappoint. Her manifesto is part memoir, part culture critique and features excellent research and commentary on fatphobia and how diet culture and fear of fatness is directly linked to misogyny. I admire the surety with which Tovar names the hatred and shame fat people are made to feel not by our own shortcomings, but because of the culture we live in that aims to strip us of agency and the magic of our own bodies. Her
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Thank you to edelweiss for the E-ARC copy of this book.
I was not entirely familiar with this author’s work, but a friend assured me she’s awesome. I was not disappointed.
Tovar focuses on how fat phobia should truly be viewed from the perspective of “just let me be fat”, instead of fighting so much. If you don’t make demands the other side can not fight with you.
I was not entirely familiar with this author’s work, but a friend assured me she’s awesome. I was not disappointed.
Tovar focuses on how fat phobia should truly be viewed from the perspective of “just let me be fat”, instead of fighting so much. If you don’t make demands the other side can not fight with you.

Virgie Tovar’s nonfiction book, You Have the Right to Remain Fat, was published by Feminist Press in 2018. It’s 121 pages with what I thought was somewhat large font compared to most books. Thus, I read Tovar in one sitting. The basic synopsis is that Tovar dieted heavily for two decades before finding queer fat activism and learning that her body is not something to alter to please the male gaze or prop up white supremacy. Since then, Tovar has been writing about fat activism in Forbes and Ravi
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I realize now that all those times I had said "I want to be thin," I actually meant:
I want to be loved.
I want to be happy.
I want to be seen.
I want to be free.
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I want to be loved.
I want to be happy.
I want to be seen.
I want to be free.
...more

2018 Read Harder Challenge: A book of social science. Here's another case where the longer book I'm reading for this category, "Women, Race, and Class," I may not finish in time. I don't remember how this small book came onto my radar -- possibly on the social media I started following after my love of "The Body is Not An Apology." And as is so often the case, I started reading it even though I was in the middle of multiple other books!
Virgie Tovar's book is staunchly feminist, and I felt like I ...more
Virgie Tovar's book is staunchly feminist, and I felt like I ...more

I received this book as a gift for my birthday from my best friend, Kate. She and I are fierce feminists who often discuss our favorite Netflix show between diatribes against the patriarchy.
She is also fat, and proudly so. I often reference her as such, like "Yeah, my best friend is fat, and she deals with XYZ." I often get looks or stutters at that, and inevitably explain that Kate accepts the word and has given explicit permission for me to use it. "I am fat," she says. "It's a descriptor, li ...more
She is also fat, and proudly so. I often reference her as such, like "Yeah, my best friend is fat, and she deals with XYZ." I often get looks or stutters at that, and inevitably explain that Kate accepts the word and has given explicit permission for me to use it. "I am fat," she says. "It's a descriptor, li ...more

I love Virgie Tovar and love how she pushes for something much more than body positivity, how she advocates that every person has the right to feel completely valued in their own body.
"Controlling women's body size is about controlling women's lives."
"It's important to recognize that the desire to be thin is actually part of a drive to be compliant with current Western expectations of feminine submission and second class citizenship. This model of feminine submission is deeply informed by whit ...more
"Controlling women's body size is about controlling women's lives."
"It's important to recognize that the desire to be thin is actually part of a drive to be compliant with current Western expectations of feminine submission and second class citizenship. This model of feminine submission is deeply informed by whit ...more
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“My life wouldn't be easier if I were thin. My life would be easier if this culture wasn't obsessed with oppressing me because I'm fat. The solution to a problem like bigotry is not to do everything in our power to accommodate the bigotry. It is to get rid of the bigotry.”
—
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“We are taught that thin is synonymous with beauty, power, and love. But, in fact, it is not. Beauty is not something women earn; it is something people are. Power is not achieved through the dogged pursuit of homogeneity; it is something that is innate within us and that is strengthened by nonconformity. Love is not something people earn through obedience; it is each person’s birthright. We cannot starve our way into being loved, into being free.”
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