Lesley Kinzel

I like Lesley. I always read her pieces at XOJane because every time without fault they are interesting, well written, and informative. In fact, she is the reason I found out about XOJane in the first place. She is one of those people who exist on the Internet (because, like, I live in Greece guys) but who with their presence have made me feel better about myself, and generally made me happier.

So yeah, when my favorite fat blogger publishes a book about body acceptance you bet your ass I'm going to support it.

And I do not only support it because of the author, but because we NEED more books like this in the culture we live in. We need positive messages that do not carry commercial and oppressive baggages (we have enough of those oppressing books thank you very much).

Two Whole Cakes was pretty close to what I expected. Lot's of personal experiences that will make your heart race -and may trigger some of your own-, a fun writing style, some feminist theory and body positivity to the max!!

As Lesley eloquently puts it "Your body is not a tragedy".

What I really liked that Lesley briefly mentions in the first chapters, but unfortunately doesn't expand upon, is that every time we hear about a fat person talking about body acceptance and happiness, we instantly distance ourselves, and devise some reason so as to make what they say inapplicable to us. "She's thinner than me so of course it's easy for her to advocate fat acceptance" or "she's fatter than me so she's given up/is desperate to see it that way" or "well yeah but she can do that random thing while I can't so what she says doesn't apply to me" and so on.

We constantly seek out excuses for us not to be happy because we are made to believe that we are inherently at fault for everything that is (what others define as) "wrong" with our body. I think this is why Leslie gives full disclosure in the beginning. Yes, she gives us the terribly dreaded NUMBERS, weight & height. Not only does she do that, but she also talks about her experiences while growing up and gaining weight, so we end up with a book that talks about body acceptance with experiences from bodies from size 16 to 26. I firmly believe that she does that in order to crush that default mechanism of "she wouldn't know, she's not as big as I am", "she's too fat, she doesn't know how it is for smaller fatties".
Thankfully she also talks a great deal about this constant sense of guilt, but to be honest this is a subject that needs to have it's own bibliography.

You don't have to be a fat woman to identify with some of Lesleys' experiences. We live in a fat shaming and body shaming world and I believe that most -if not all of us- have experienced guilt, internalized fat shaming and body shaming and harassment from friends, family and even strangers.



Now let us talk about what is wrong with Two Whole Cakes.


The main problem of this little book is that it lacks structure. It's more like a compilation of small articles and less like a coherent book (even though there has been some effort to short some of the stories chronologically, so as to be able to reference them later on). And while I really do enjoy Lesleys' writing and storytelling, it was hard for me to understand what she wants to talk about, and if she has a specific point in mind she wants to make (we jump from The Biggest Looser and the abusive Gillian Michaels to a story about an annoying classmate). Unfortunately this doesn't only happen from chapter to chapter, but also within some of the chapters themselves.

I feel that this is because she tries to talk about everything. Fat-acceptance, her own experiences, consumer culture, the dieting industry, fashion, eating, guilt, feminism and intersectional feminism, being harassed etc, which is a tough, if not impossible thing to do in a 163-page book. It's a bit disorienting and since it doesn't focus on anything for more than 10-15 pages it's tough to even say who this book is for.

As an intersectional, body-positive & fat acceptance feminist I cannot say that this book offered me much, despite a pleasant time and a warm feeling while reading some parts that reminded me of my own experiences. I think it might be a good intro for someone who doesn't know about fat acceptance, but I'm not so certain that she gets the point across since some things aren't given the pages they need for a neewbie to understand what this is all about.

My other objection is about the title "How to stop...". As another reviewer mentioned, this is not a how-to book and not even a self-help one (well, at least with the conventional use of that genre). It's a pity because this might drive people off, people who need to read this, since how-to books are considered very low-brow, and I have to admit that I feel like it's "cheating" those who picked it up because they wanted a how-to book, because this is certainly not it! (well, maybe that cheating will prove to be for the best, but still...)


Lastly, let us talk about the tragedy that is the cover. Oh, the cover. I literally hate it. It's a complete hit & miss and in fact it's one of the reasons I delayed purchasing it for so long. I found it so off-putting that every time I went to bookdepository with the intention of buying it I ended up getting some other fat acceptance book, usually one with a happy cover like [b:Hot Heavy Fierce Fat Girls on Life Love Fashion|13594976|Hot & Heavy Fierce Fat Girls on Life, Love & Fashion|Virgie Tovar|http://d202m5krfqbpi5.cloudfront.net/books/1344743053s/13594976.jpg|19183509]. I know it's a silly thing to say, but I couldn't bring myself to buy a book with two sad and badly decorated space-cakes on the cover. Seriously, have you seen the white one? Look closely. It looks like it's been licked by an alien. Creepy shiny lumps of a strange white thing with a sad little biscuit on top. And don't even get me started on the brown one because I will get all 2girls1cup on you and it will be bad for everyone.

Maybe I am a perfectionist, but if you're going to put cakes on the cover of a book, better choose some good looking ones, and place them in a background that doesn't resemble the night sky. It's looking seriously depressing and it's a fat acceptance book for crying out loud. It should have a bright happy cover that reflects the content and the beautiful ideas of self love it expresses. It's not like there's a shortage of beautiful cakes with bright colors and nice minimal decorations.

-You see that I am kind enough to not mention the terrible gradient and font of the title...Oh wait, I just did!… (más)

People make all sorts of assumptions about others all the time, I am as guilty of this fault as everyone else is, less you think I am being holier than thou.

Many assume heavy people, I being one of them, just lay on the sofa all day eating cake, and while that may be true for the emotional and binge eaters, myself again being one of those, which is why I have not been an appropriate weight since 1983 consistantly, it is untrue that every heavy person is a glutton or has an eating disorder.

I do believe you can be fat and fit. Despite my weight while living in England, I would walk 5-15 miles daily, and no I did not lay on the couch all day eating cake.

This book if nothing else serves to remind us all that we should not judge a book by its cover.… (más)

I don't usually read memoirs, but I enjoy Kinzel's blog (also titled Two Whole Cakes) and her occasionally-updated podcast, and the subject of fat acceptance is interesting and important to me. This book details Kinzel's journey from a slightly-larger-than-average teen mired in diet culture to the wonderfully self-assured and outspoken advocate for fat acceptance that she is today. She also touches on current issues such as the so-called obesity epidemic, the First Lady's Let's Move campaign, fat fashion, and healthcare.

Kinzel packs a huge amount of history and information into such a short book. The informal prose makes it easy to read, although some of the ideas may be difficult for anyone not already involved in the FA movement to absorb or accept immediately. I could wish there were citations for quotations and facts, but it's a memoir, not a scholarly work. Overall, it's a great book and well worth reading.… (más)