About this item
In this illuminating narrative on the daily onslaught of body shame that kids face from peers, school, diet culture, and parents themselves, journalist Virginia Sole-Smith offers a compelling reported look at how families can change the conversation around weight, health, and self-worth.. By the time they reach kindergarten, most kids have learned that "fat" is bad. As they get older, kids learn to pursue thinness in order to survive in a world that ties our body size to our value. Multibillion-dollar industries thrive on consumers believing that we don't want to be fat. Our weight-centric medical system pushes "weight loss" as a prescription, while ignoring social determinants of health and reinforcing negative stereotypes about the motives and morals of people in larger bodies.
About the Author
Virginia Sole-Smith has reported from kitchen tables and grocery stores, graduated from beauty school, and gone swimming in a mermaid's tail. Her writing has appeared in the New York Times Magazine, Harper's, Elle and others. She's also a contributing editor with Parents Magazine. The Nation Institute's Investigative Fund and the Economic Hardship Reporting Project has supported several of her projects. She lives in New York's Hudson Valley with her husband, two daughters, and three cats.
