The Unapologetic Fat Girl's Guide to Exercise and Other Incendiary Acts Quotes

“You have the right to not have to constantly manage how you look for other people’s sake. You aren’t here to decorate the world for other people. You’re here to live in it for yourself, no matter what that looks like.”
― Hanne Blank, The Unapologetic Fat Girl's Guide to Exercise and Other Incendiary Acts

“I want to get one thing straight right from the start: I am not a natural-born jock. I am about as intrinsically athletic as an oyster, with the innate grace and sporty prowess of a brick—a very cute oyster and a very intelligent brick, if I do say so myself, but oysterly and bricklike nevertheless.”
― Hanne Blank, The Unapologetic Fat Girl's Guide to Exercise and Other Incendiary Acts

“Opinions are like assholes. Everyone’s got one. Most people are quite fond of their own, especially in private. Yet they’re not really something that should be waved around too much in public. When they are, it’s okay to ignore them, because showing them off, unsolicited, is actually kind of rude.”
― Hanne Blank, The Unapologetic Fat Girl's Guide to Exercise and Other Incendiary Acts

“The more you behave like you have the right to exist in the world without interference, the less others will question it. The power of a fait accompli is astonishing. The more people see fat bodies moving and being physical and doing whatever makes them happy in the world, without apology and without shame, the more they get used to seeing that and thinking of it as normal.”
― Hanne Blank, The Unapologetic Fat Girl's Guide to Exercise and Other Incendiary Acts

“Personally, I have learned to welcome the sensation of boredom when I’m working out because boredom can actually provide opportunities that are relaxing and, dare I say it, even useful.”
― Hanne Blank, The Unapologetic Fat Girl's Guide to Exercise and Other Incendiary Acts

“Locker rooms are not, in actual fact, the secret clubhouses of the Effortlessly Thin Women’s Fat-Lady Harassment Society.”
― Hanne Blank, The Unapologetic Fat Girl's Guide to Exercise and Other Incendiary Acts

“Most of all, it teaches you that your body is not just a sort of jar made out of meat that you lug around because it’s what you keep your brain in, but an equal and in fact quite opinionated and demonstrative partner in the joint production that is you.”
― Hanne Blank, The Unapologetic Fat Girl's Guide to Exercise and Other Incendiary Acts

“Hell is other people,” said the French philosopher Jean-Paul Sartre, and he wasn’t even a fat guy.”
― Hanne Blank, The Unapologetic Fat Girl's Guide to Exercise and Other Incendiary Acts

“Sometimes “concern” is the foot someone jams in the door so you can’t close it against condescension, presumption, invasiveness, and, at times, outright abuse.”
― Hanne Blank, The Unapologetic Fat Girl's Guide to Exercise and Other Incendiary Acts

“Concern trolling is when someone appears to be concerned for your health or welfare, but only until they can catch you with your guard down so they can go after you about your weight, size, or whatever they presume is true about your fitness levels and general health.”
― Hanne Blank, The Unapologetic Fat Girl's Guide to Exercise and Other Incendiary Acts

“Our culture often expects women in general, and fat women in particular, to confine and limit themselves. We are often discouraged, in many different ways, from moving freely, playfully, and happily in the world. We’re not supposed to take up space and be visible and spontaneous and dynamic, colorful or loud or boisterous or rambunctious. Heaven knows we’re not supposed to be fierce, physically unafraid, and fully aware of our own physical power.”
― Hanne Blank, The Unapologetic Fat Girl's Guide to Exercise and Other Incendiary Acts

“57. Kiss. If this is not a whole-body exercise, keep trying.”
― Hanne Blank, The Unapologetic Fat Girl's Guide to Exercise and Other Incendiary Acts