You say I'm fat like it's a bad thing... and that really confuses me...

About Us
Our Audience and Our Purpose

We are three library science students at the University of North Carolina Chapel Hill specializing in youth education and development. We know that creating and maintaining healthy body image is an immensely important stage of self development, understanding, and acceptance for young people.

As such, our main goal is to provide young people with the resources they need to promote not only acceptance of, but JOY for their bodies, fat or otherwise; Because all bodies are good bodies.

Our main audience is young adults, teens, and adolescents located in the Research Triangle of North Carolina. On our Instagram you will find up-to-date recommendations for fashion, movies, influencers, doctors, and so much more for youth with big bodies in the area!

On the research page of this site, parents, professionals, and/or teens looking for further information will find reading materials and resources that provide a deeper understanding of the issues surrounding fat youth, and adults, alike, in society today. These resources address the: #BodyPositivity movement, White supremacy's invovlement in the stigmatization of fat bodies, intersectionality, fatphobia in library spaces, normalizing fat bodies in literature, the issues with BMI, body neutrality, and public structures that do not support fat bodies. The sources are taken from the fields of adolescent psychology, human development, social sciences, education, and library and information science.

We hope these resources help young people, parents, colleagues, and others find fat joy in their lives. Enjoy!

Our Instagram

What exactly is body image and why does it matter for young people??

According to the Mayo Clinic, "body image is how you think or feel about your appearance, your body and how you feel in your own skin." Body image lies on a continuum from healthy perceptions, which are accurate and mostly positive, to unhealthy perceptions, which are inaacurate and mostly negative (USU). These perceptions are effected by external, internal, and societal forces, ranging from friends and parents to media representations of what a body 'should' look like.

The physical and mental period of development that is adolescence combined with the immense identity formation that goes on at this stage makes developing a healthy body image an extremely important part of young adulthood. In fact, during this period, youth are at a higher risk of developing negative body image (Reel, Voelker, & Greenleaf, 2015).

Thus, it is extremely important for young people as well as those of us who support their identity development (parents, teachers, and librarians, alike!) to help youth access resources that will make them feel included, appreciated, and proud of their bodies, and be as inclusive of all bodies as possible.

Visit the 'resources' page of our site for further reading/research on the importance of body image development in the adolescent stage, as well as the issues that fat people face in society today.