#163 - Rebecca and Bernie with Aubrey Gordon, on What We Don't Talk About When We Talk About Fat

In this emotional episode, Bernie Salazar, former “winner” of NBC’s The Biggest Loser share his regrets and what he has learned from reading Aubrey Gordon’s new book, What We Don’t Talk About When We Talk About Fat. We discuss how anti-fat bias shows up everywhere from air travel to our children’s schools and we envision a new world where higher weight people are treated with respect, kindness, and full humanity.

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Show notes

We discuss:

• Aubrey’s new book
• The intentional and unintentional ways in which people and culture exclude people based on size.
• Bernie and Aubrey’s experiences with others expectations and beliefs, such as being an inconvenience and dehumanized.
• How COVID-19 has amplified fear of medical size-related discrimination.
• Rebecca’s experience as a dietitian advocating for weight neutrality and the call for a new definition for health.
• Bernie’s regrets from NBC’s The Biggest Loser
• Aubrey’s vision for a whole new world that ends anti-fat bias.
• Bullying in schools

Links mentioned:

• Driving While Black: Space and Mobility in America - PBS
• Leave Fat Kids Alone by Aubrey Gordon - New York Times Sunday Review
• Body Kindness Episode 123: Why We Finally Said “I’m Sorry” to Our Bodies and How You Can Do It Too (featuring Bernie's poem, Over Weight)
• All of Bernie's Body Kindness episodes
• Body Kindness Episode 90: You Have the Right to Remain Fat (And Be A Fat Ally) with Virgie Tovar
• Work with Rebecca in 2021

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Guest info
Aubrey Gordon writes under the pseudonym of “Your Fat Friend,” illuminating the experiences of fat people and urging greater compassion for people of all sizes. Her work has reached millions of readers and has been translated into nineteen languages. She is a columnist with SELF magazine, where she writes about health, weight stigma, and fatness. Her work has also been featured in Health magazine, Vox, and Gay Mag, among others. She lives in the Northwest, where she works as a writer and organizer. Aubrey’s book, "What We Don't Talk About When We Talk About Fat" is out now from Beacon Press, and her podcast with Michael Hobbes, "Maintenance Phase" is out on Apple Podcasts, Spotify, and wherever folks get podcasts.

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