The Body Liberation Project: How Understanding Racism and Diet Culture Helps Cultivate Joy and Build Collective Freedom by Chrissy King
(Format used for this read: Print–hardback)
From author and wellness personality Chrissy King, an exciting, genre-redefining narrative mix of memoir, inspiration, and activities and prompts, with timely messages about social and racial justice and how the world needs to move beyond body positivity to something even more exciting and revolutionary: body liberation.
When Chrissy King first joined a gym, she had one goal in mind: to “get skinny.” In pursuit of this goal, she fell into the all-too-common cycle of “not enough-ness”; no matter what she achieved, there was always something she felt she needed to change about her body, her appearance, herself. This made her realize the most liberating truth of all: She was not the problem. Diet and fitness industries rooted in white supremacy were the problem; Eurocentric and carefully manufactured beauty standards were the problem; discourses telling her that her happiness was directly tied to her physical appearance were the problem. So she created an actionable method to redefine the relationship we have with our bodies, thereby achieving a sense of self-worth that is completely separate from how we look.
The Body Liberation Project is about finding actual freedom in our bodies by discovering strength and aspects of fitness, movement, and eating that work for YOU. It’s about realizing that the goal is not to look at our bodies and love everything we see; it’s to understand that at our essence we are so much more than our bodies. But it’s also about recognizing the harsh realities that prohibit people in marginalized bodies from being able to do so. Society constantly bombards those who fall outside Eurocentric standards of beauty (think Black, fat, trans, etc.) with the message that they are less attractive, and part of the journey toward body liberation is examining your own privilege, acknowledging the harm you may be causing others, and mourning your old ideas about what a body “should” look like.
Recognizing that none of us are free until all of us are, Chrissy King shares the wisdom, the tools, and the inspiration to motivate readers to find body liberation and, even more important, to pass it on.
WARNING: this is gonna be a LOOOONG one, yall…so go ahead and settle on in.
I have been reading this book for WEEKS.
This is one I have spent a long time digesting– not because it is lengthy in words (it’s just over 300 pages) but because it is FULL of so much thought provoking content.
Books like this one are written to really have you take time to process what you are reading and to have you reassess and reevaluate your own thoughts and feelings.
You aren’t supposed to just READ this kind of book…you’re supposed to ABSORB it.
At the end of every chapter there are questions for the reader to journal about labeled “From Principle to Practice”.
I loved this.
Because reading all the info and wisdom is GREAT…but that ain’t the WORK.
Taking the time to TRULY reflect on how to apply the words you read, taking time to sit in your realizations of what can evolve and change within your own self is where the work begins…and what can make a HUGE difference.
This book is one I bought to help me learn, grow and evolve as a fitness professional—and I think it is SUPER DUPER important for EVERYONE in this industry to read.
But I also bought it to help me learn, grow and evolve just as a human being too.
As yall know I am a BIG audiobook person, but when I read books for growth, I prefer to do it in print so I can highlight and take notes….so when I use as a reference at a later date, I can easily find the things that stood out to me.
Yall….my highlighter was on OVERDRIVE for this book. There were SO MANY knowledge nuggets to be had.
Ms King shares so much about her own personal journey, some of which I have also experienced and could completely relate to (body dysmorphia) and some of which I have never had to deal with (racism and oppression).
She uses her own story along with facts and data to educate others in this book and I am beyond grateful for her bravery, honesty, wisdom and hard work.
There is so very much I want to share but it would take up pages in this review if I did so.
Plus, I want you to GO BUY THIS BOOK YOURSELF.
So I can’t share EVERYTHING 😆
What I am going to do is share the titles of each chapter (because then you’ll see some of the tremendous topics addressed in these pages) and 1 or 2 things I highlighted in each.
Here we go:
INTRODUCTION: IDENTITY, REPRESENTATION AND LIVING IN A MARGINALIZED BODY
“Even though I was the smallest I had been in my adult life, and people constantly complimented my body, I had a horrible body image and an extremely complciated and unhealthy relationship with food, and I was scared of gaining a single pound.”
“As we do the work of anti-racism in our lives, we also decolonize our ideas about our bodies…We can’t possibly unlearn the narratives we have learned about our bodies without delving into white supremacy.”
CHAPTER 1: UNDERSTANDING THE BASIC CONCEPTS: BODY POSITIVITY VS BODY NEUTRALITY VS BODY LIBERATION
“…body positivity shouldn’t just be about loving your body. It should be demanding justice for all bodies, especially the most marginalized…If social justice isn’t at the core of the movement, there’s nothing really radical about it, and it definitely isn’t helping people find liberation.”
“The body positivity space was created by fat Black women as a space to celebrate themselves because the world didn’t. Now it centers white women, and therein lies the problem.”
CHAPTER 2: WHY BODY LIBERATION IS NEEDED: EDUCATING YOURSELF ABOUT THE HISTORICAL ROOTS OF THE INTERSECTION OF DIET CULTURE AND WHITE SUPREMACY
“The hyperfocus on self love within body positivity fails to address the fact that self love doesn’t change the systemic oppression that one may experience from living in a fat body or a trans body or a Black body….all the self love in the world won’t save a person from the western standards of beauty that are rooted in white supremacy.”
CHAPTER 3: DECOLONIZING OUR THOUGHTS ABOUT OUR BODIES
“It’s no coincidence that it plagues every one of us, and try as we might, few are immune to the harmful realizities of growing up in a patriarchal society rooted in white supremacy. Add capitalism to the mix, and it becomes pretty clear that very few of us have a chance of escaping body image issues or questioning our enoughness. And for those of us with more mariginalized identities, it’s a double whammy.”
“Is your committment to dismantling white supremacy and systems of oppression bigger than your love affair with capitalism? Are people more important than profit? The work of dismantling doesn’t occur without personal sacrifice.”
CHAPTER 4: BREAKING UP WTIH DIET CULTURE AND EXAMINING YOUR PRIVILEGE: WHAT IT’S COSTING YOU AND OTHERS
“Foods that are more culturally aligned with whiteness have historically been upheld as the “right” way to eat, especially if it’s a salad with “all the colors of the rainbow” present….The push for “organic” and whole foods is steeped in racism, ableism, and capitalism, as it doesn’t account for the fact that large portions of the population simply don’t have geographic access to quality fresh fruits and vegetables or the means to feed their entire families grass fed, non GMO, unprocessed, “fed only the best”, “allowed to run around in the sun”, pesticide free–and whatever else I am missing–meat.”
CHAPTER 5: ACKNOWLEDGING THE HARM YOU MAY BE CAUSING OTHERS. PART 1: THE INCLUSIVITY BRAND BAND AID AS A BLOCK TO LIBERATION
“The term ‘ally’ is not a title you can claim for yourself. Being an ally is an action, not an identifier. It’s exemplified by the way you live your life…..instead of trying to be an ally, seek to be a co-conspirator, someone who chooses to take action against racism regardless of the consequences.”
CHAPTER 6: ACKNOWLEDGING THE HARM YOU MAY BE CAUSING OTHERS. PART 2: THE TRAUMA LOOP
“…toxic fitness culture…defined by them as ‘social characteristics, language and habits that promote/reinforce ableism, fatphobia, racism, classism, elitism, body shaming/policing, LGBTQIA+ hatred under the guise of fitness and wellness. Toxic fitness culture is rooted in white supremacist ideals regarding health, ability, size, gender, age and beauty. Toxic fitness culture and diet culture are intertwined, with both placing blame on an individual for the ways their body shows up in this world.'”
“If we wish to be co-conspirators, we have to be willing to hold our peer accountable when we see them engaging in problematic behavior. When our peers cause public har, we must be willing to hold them accountable publicly. Far too often white women are allowed to cause public harm to BIPOC and marginalized communities with little to no consequences.”
CHAPTER 7: EMBRACING PLEASURE AND REVOLUTIONIZING OUR RELATIONSHIP WITH OURSELVES: CELBRATING HOW FAR YOU’VE COME AND EMBODYING THE JOY OF BODY LIBERATION
“My personal ideology is that we should all fall deeply in love with ourselves–unapologetically, unabashedly, and wholeheartedly. My goal every day is to walk through life with what I call ‘main character energy’. “
CHAPTER 8: GRIEF, REMORSE AND THE MOURNING OF OUR BODIES
“..breaking up with diet culture can sometimes mean that your body will change…It’s one thing to say there’s nothing wrong with a person being in a larger body, and it’s entirely different to decide that you personally are okay living in a larger body.”
CHAPTER 9: BOUNDARIES AND THE BODY
“The thing about fatphobia is that it’s so similar to white supremacy in that unlearning it is a lifelong journey….Regardless of our intent, we perpetutate diet culture and fatphobia when we compliment someone on their smaller body….We should never–and I mean NEVER–make unsolicited comments about someone else’s body. EVER. Period.”
CHAPTER 10: LOVE, DATING AND BODY LIBERATION: OUR BODIES ARE NOT THE MEASURE OF OUR WORTH
“Western culture has put a huge emphasis on bodies, especially the bodies of women, adn the idea that the body is a direct reflection of our worth and worthiness, especially as it pertains to our sexuality and desirability.”
“…getting smaller didn’t help me actually feel better about myself or more worthy of love. Because the truth is, the measure of our worth does not come from our external appearances.”
CONCLUSION: OUR LIBERATION MUST BE COLLECTIVE: PASSING ON BODY LIBERATION TO OTHERS
“When we unlearn the scripts and release the social constructs we’ve been taught since birth, we free ourselves.”
“The goal of body liberation is that we all experience the joy of true liberation.”
SEE WHAT I MEAN????
SO SO SO much good stuff in these pages, yall!
That is *just* a sample.
Listen…I know that diet culture is steeped in patriarchal white supremacy and has soaked into the bones of our society and health industry and has caused SO MUCH COLLECTIVE HARM….
BUT I did not realize some of the ways I myself have contributed to or furthered these toxic and damaging narratives…as a regular person AND as a fitness professional.
Chapter 1 & 2 REALLY hit home for me, as I am guilty AF for not understanding the history or true meaning of the body positive movement came from.
I am SUPER guilty of co opting the phrase and using it in a way that was NOT originally intended. 💔
Reminder to me to keep on striving to learn more so I can know more…so I can stop causing harm, DO BETTER and KEEP doing better.
Thank you to Ms. Chrissy King for your dedication, hard work and wisdom…I am grateful and appreciative in so many ways.
Fitness peeps out there: GO READ THIS BOOK. NOW.
And non fitness peeps out there: YOU GO READ THIS BOOK TOO.
If we all work together, we can create the changes we so desperately want to see.