It's Always Been Ours

Jessica Wilson

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This “necessary book” (Roxanne Gay, New York Times bestselling author, Bad Feminist and Hunger) shares an essential look at the ways in which Black women are left out of conversations about “diet culture,” health, and wellness.

In It’s Always Been Ours, eating disorder specialist and storyteller Jessica Wilson challenges us to rethink the politics of body liberation by centering the bodies of Black women in our cultural discussions of self-image, food, health, and wellness. Interrogating a status quo that perpetuates white supremacist ideas about who Black women are, how they live in their bodies, and what Black health means, she creates a context for understanding how whiteness and capitalism have shaped the ways we view and treat our bodies, and how even well-intentioned solutions to this problem continue to center thin white women.

With an incisive blend of historical documents, the work of popular authors, and the narratives of clients, friends, and celebrities, Wilson examines the ways that ideas about respectability and restriction have harmed Black women. With wit and levity, she challenges what it means to have the “right” body, and helps all women understand that a radical reimagining of body narratives is a prerequisite for vibrant wellbeing.

It’s Always Been Ours is a love letter that encourages Black women to find joy in their bodies and their identities.

“There simply is no better literary voice for this moment in history than Jessica Wilson.” —Sonya Renee Taylor, New York Times bestselling author, The Body is Not an Apology

Posts about this title from Fat Forward Books

Fat Liberation Recommendations

If you’re new to fat liberation or want to build your knowledge base around the movement, here are 12 books to get you started!

1. Unshrinking: How to Face Fatphobia by Kate Manne
2. It’s Always Been Ours: Rewriting the Story of Black Women’s Bodies by Jessica Wilson, MS, RD
3. Weightless: Making Space for My Resilient Body and Soul by Evette Dionne
4. Fat Talk: Parenting in the Age of Diet Culture by Virginia Sole-Smith
5. Reclaiming Ugly!: A Radically Joyful Guide to Unlearn Oppression and Uplift, Glorify, and Love Yourself by Vanessa Rochelle Lewis
6. Unashamed: Musings of a Fat, Black Muslim by Leah Vernon
7. Will I Ever Have Sex Again? by Sofie Hagen
8. Mechanic Shop Femme’s Guide to Car Ownership by Chaya M. Milchtein
9. Quietly Hostile by Samantha Irby

Stay tuned for more fat book recs in other genres and age groups, and check our stories for a refresh of what we recommended last year! ✨

Compiled by Samantha Puc (@theverbalthing)

Fat Liberation Month: Nonfiction

If you want to add more books by fat authors and/or about fat characters to your shelves, may I suggest starting with this stack of nonfiction books? #FatLiberationMonth is the perfect time to pick up these titles.