Bad Fat Black Girl
Notes from a Trap Feminist
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4.9 • 15 Ratings
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- $13.99
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- $13.99
Publisher Description
“Sesali Bowen is poised to give Black feminism the rejuvenation it needs. Her trendsetting writing and commentary reaches across experiences and beyond respectability. I and so many Black girls still figuring out who they are in this world will gain so much from whatever she has to say.”—Charlene A. Carruthers, activist and author of Unapologetic: A Black, Queer and Feminist Mandate for Radical Movements
“Sesali perfectly vocalizes the inner dialogue, and daily mantras needed to be a Bad Bitch.”—Gabourey Sidibe, actor, director, and author of This is Just My Face: Try Not To Stare
“A powerful call for a more inclusive and 'real' feminism.”—Publishers Weekly (starred review)
“Bowen writes from an authentic space for Black women who are often left out of feminist conversations due to respectability politics, but who are just as deserving of the same voice and liberation.”—Booklist (starred review)
From funny and fearless entertainment journalist Sesali Bowen, Bad Fat Black Girl combines rule-breaking feminist theory, witty and insightful personal memoir, and cutting cultural analysis for an unforgettable, genre-defining debut.
Growing up on the south side of Chicago, Sesali Bowen learned early on how to hustle, stay on her toes, and champion other Black women and femmes as she navigated Blackness, queerness, fatness, friendship, poverty, sex work, and self-love.
Her love of trap music led her to the top of hip-hop journalism, profiling game-changing artists like Megan Thee Stallion, Lizzo, and Janelle Monae. But despite all the beauty, complexity, and general badassery she saw, Bowen found none of that nuance represented in mainstream feminism. Thus, she coined Trap Feminism, a contemporary framework that interrogates where feminism meets today's hip-hop.
Bad Fat Black Girl offers a new, inclusive feminism for the modern world. Weaving together searing personal essay and cultural commentary, Bowen interrogates sexism, fatphobia, and capitalism all within the context of race and hip-hop. In the process, she continues a Black feminist legacy of unmatched sheer determination and creative resilience.
Bad bitches: this one’s for you.
PUBLISHERS WEEKLY
Journalist Bowen's bold and winning debut fuses an unabashed love of hip-hop with a feminist consciousness that is "educated, but always willing to throw these hands" and a celebration of the social power of "ratchet Black girls." Blending cultural analysis and memoir, Bowen explains why being a shoplifter able to code-switch "in a way that could both impress and disarm white folks" was an expression of power, and how her and a white male friend's different experiences after being arrested for stealing from Nordstrom's highlighted "disparities of class, race, and gender" in the justice system. Bowen also discusses fatphobia within hip-hop culture, defends plastic surgery ("I want no part of a fake ass body positivity that allows people to uphold unrealistic standards, shame women for not meeting them, but still demand that we love and embrace our bodies"), and celebrates the "raw realness" of Megan Thee Stallion and other "misogynoir"-busting female rap artists. Throughout, Bowen uplifts "the resilience, defiance, and attitudes of Black girls," while pointing out the "racial microaggressions" of mainstream, majority white feminist groups such as Planned Parenthood. This is a powerful call for a more inclusive and "real" feminism.
Customer Reviews
This one’s for all the baddies !!!!
Many of the words in this book got close to home and had me think of ways to improve how I think as a black queer woman in a fat body. I loved this book!!!!!!!