Episode 2.18 Landwhales and Fat Liberation with Jes Baker

Explicit content warning

05/18/18 • 47 min

Content warning for discussions of diet culture, mental health, and suicide.

This episode is a real Momentous Occassion for me because I have been a fan of Jes Baker‘s work for YEARS. She was probably the first body positive activist who crossed my radar, and her “Attractive & Fat” campaign felt revolutionary to me. So it was a goddamn joy to talk to her about the release of her new book, Landwhale, the ongoing journey of activism, what it means to be an ally, and more. ALSO FEATURED is an invitation to the first ever #SecretFeministAgenda meet-up, in Regina on May 27. Be there!

In addition to Jes’s new book Landwhale and old book Things No One Will Tell Fat Girls, we also talk about Lindy West’s Shrill and Roxane Gay’s Hunger. These are all good books and you should read all of them!
Jes shouts out the influence of Rachele Cateyes aka @radfatvegan who I also love!
For those of you interested in diversifying your Instagram feeds, here are 135 accounts Jes recommends.
I talk about threshold concepts with a middling degree of accuracy but you can get a solid definition of the term here and read more about them here.
You should also read more about SURJ aka Showing Up for Racial Justice and maybe find your local chapter!
If, like me, you are fascinated by the phrase “infinifats” and want to hear more, here’s an episode of The Fat Lip podcast where you can start learning.
Looking for a more scholarly take on fatness and disability and how they intersect, in terms of both medicalization and embodiment? Here is a thing to read! (Paywalled, but hmu if you wanna read it.)
Jes and I talk briefly about the violence of discourses of health, and I want to link this incredible piece, “The Unproven Body” by Katie Lew, which tackles just this topic in stunning fashion.
As per Jes’s instructions I googled “how to be a fat ally” and one of the first results was this Instagram post from Jes herself! You should also read this Twitter thread about what it looks like when a thin ally uses their privilege to advocate for a fat person’s comfort (and go ahead and read the responses if you want a reminder of what it is like being a fat person).

https://secretfeministagenda.com/wp-content/uploads/2018/05/sfa-2-18.mp3

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The podcast theme song is “Mesh Shirt” by Mom Jeans off their album “Chub Rub.” Listen to the whole album here or learn more about them here. Jes’s theme song is “Secrets” by Mary Lambert which honestly should probably be the whole podcast’s theme song.

Secret Feminist Agenda is recorded on the traditional and unceded territories of the Squamish, Musqueam, and Tsleil-Waututh First Nations.

Content warning for discussions of diet culture, mental health, and suicide.

In addition to Jes’s new book Landwhale and old book Things No One Will Tell Fat Girls, we also talk about Lindy West’s Shrill and Roxane Gay’s Hunger. These are all good books and you should read all of them!
Jes shouts out the influence of Rachele Cateyes aka @radfatvegan who I also love!
For those of you interested in diversifying your Instagram feeds, here are 135 accounts Jes recommends.
I talk about threshold concepts with a middling degree of accuracy but you can get a solid definition of the term here and read more about them here.
You should also read more about SURJ aka Showing Up for Racial Justice and maybe find your local chapter!
If, like me, you are fascinated by the phrase “infinifats” and want to hear more, here’s an episode of The Fat Lip podcast where you can start learning.
Looking for a more scholarly take on fatness and disability and how they intersect, in terms of both medicalization and embodiment? Here is a thing to read! (Paywalled, but hmu if you wanna read it.)
Jes and I talk briefly about the violence of discourses of health, and I want to link this incredible piece, “The Unproven Body” by Katie Lew, which tackles just this topic in stunning fashion.
As per Jes’s instructions I googled “how to be a fat ally” and one of the first results was this Instagram post from Jes herself! You should also read this Twitter thread about what it looks like when a thin ally uses their privilege to advocate for a fat person’s comfort (and go ahead and read the responses if you want a reminder of what it is like being a fat person).

https://secretfeministagenda.com/wp-content/uploads/2018/05/sfa-2-18.mp3

Download Episode / Read Transcription

Secret Feminist Agenda is recorded on the traditional and unceded territories of the Squamish, Musqueam, and Tsleil-Waututh First Nations.

Previous Episode

Episode 2.17 Brooklyn Nine-Nine

Look at that I dyed my hair

This episode is late because I am so so tired and couldn’t think of anything to talk about and then Fox cancelled Brooklyn Nine-Nine and my task was clear.

Here’s a short article about why people love the show and whether it might be picked up elsewhere.
This is the Twitter thread I mentioned about Jake Peralta and toxic masculinity!
Probably the most important tweet yesterday?

RENEW BROOKLYN NINE NINE
I ONLY WATCH LIKE 4 THINGS
THIS IS ONE OF THE THINGS#RenewB99

— Lin-Manuel Miranda (@Lin_Manuel) May 10, 2018

Did you know Brooklyn Nine-Nine has a Youtube channel and it’s great if you want to waste hours of your life watching clips? DO THAT HERE. Probably start with just ten solid minutes of cold opens:

And here’s the episode!

https://secretfeministagenda.com/wp-content/uploads/2018/05/sfa-2-171.mp3

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The podcast theme song is “Mesh Shirt” by Mom Jeans off their album “Chub Rub.” Listen to the whole album here or learn more about them here. Follow me @hkpmcgregor, follow Kaarina @kaarinasaurus, and tweet about the podcast using #SecretFeministAgenda.

Secret Feminist Agenda is recorded on the traditional and unceded territories of the Squamish, Musqueam, and Tsleil-Waututh First Nations.

Next Episode

Episode 2.19 Growing Up

Content warning for discussions of death and family loss.

HI IT’S MY BIRTHDAY! Listen, I know a lot of adults don’t like to make, like, a THING out of their birthdays, but I am not one of those adults. Let’s just blame it on my Leo Rising, which likes attention. Don’t worry though, this episode isn’t just about me and why everyone should pay attention to me, it’s mostly about this complex business of growing up / getting old(er), and how it intersects with all kinds of other messy things like the normative timelines of adulthood and our shifting relationships to our bodies and the ongoing legacy of family loss. PLUS Kaarina follows up with some strategies for anti-capitalist self-care. Really, this episode is an all-around winner.

Read this Hyperbole and Half post about adulting if you haven’t already (or you know what, even if you’ve already read it, read it again).
Here’s the article on being a queer, ace grad student and “facing the future without a map”.
Stacy London talks about “grow[ing] up without becoming a conventional grown-up” and how that impacts her style.
Also I don’t talk about it on the episode but I feel like that “By the age of 35” meme is PRETTY relevant to this discussion so go read about it.

And here’s the episode!

https://secretfeministagenda.com/wp-content/uploads/2018/05/sfa-2-19.mp3

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Secret Feminist Agenda is recorded on the traditional and unceded territories of the Squamish, Musqueam, and Tsleil-Waututh First Nations.