Author Talk: Fat Girls in Black Bodies

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About the Book:

Combatting fatphobia and racism to reclaim a space for womxn at the intersection of fat and Black  To be a womxn living in a body at the intersection of fat and Black is to be on the margins. From concern-trolling—“I just want you to be healthy”—to outright attacks, fat Black bodies that fall outside dominant constructs of beauty and wellness are subjected to healthism, racism, and misogynoir. The spaces carved out by third-wave feminism and the fat liberation movement fail at true inclusivity and intersectionality; fat Black womxn need to create their own safe spaces and community, instead of tirelessly laboring to educate and push back against dominant groups.  Structured into three sections—“belonging,” “resistance,” and “acceptance”—and informed by personal history, community stories, and deep research, Fat Girls in Black Bodies breaks down the myths, stereotypes, tropes, and outright lies we’ve been sold about race, body size, belonging, and health. Dr. Joy Cox’s razor-sharp cultural commentary exposes the racist roots of diet culture, healthism, and the ways we erroneously conflate body size with personal responsibility. She explores how to reclaim space and create belonging in a hostile world, pushing back against tired pressures of “going along just to get along,” and dismantles the institutionally ingrained myths about race, size, gender, and worth that deny fat Black womxn their selfhood.

About the Author:

DR. JOY ARLENE RENEE COX is a Philadelphia native, born on the blessed thirty-first day of December. Joy is a claircognizant Capricorn that thrives through connection and love, rooting for the underdogs in life to take their rightful place as overcomers. She is also a doctor; she received her PhD from Rutgers University-New Brunswick in 2018. Her field of work is centered on fatness, identity, and social change.  Reflective of the name she bears, Joy has the cheeks to outsmile her detractors. Reflective of her work in print, she has the research to back up her claims. While the spotlight has never been a position she’d prefer to stand in, Joy does believe in speaking up and advocating for what’s right. She is the host of the pro-fat, pro-Black podcast Fresh Out the Cocoon and has been featured in articles by the Huffington Post and SELF magazine. Joy has also been on several podcasts, such as Positive Nutrition with Paige Smathers and Food Psych with Christy Harrison. Dr. Cox is simply a conduit through which love, wisdom, and justice flow. Her pride is in her people and her values. Her strength is in her disposition and her intuition.

About the Moderator:

Toni Wilson (she/her/hers) is a social worker, community organizer, and self identified Black/Hood Feminist and protector of all things Black Girl Magic. She is a Black girl born and raised in Brooklyn with roots in Jamaica; dancing to dancehall, soca, and afrobeats is her resistance. Through youth work, community organizing, and social justice work, Toni uses her radical imagination to help herself and her community envision a world where everyone believes in the promise of all Black and Brown young people, specifically Black girls. Toni has managed and facilitated The Young Women’s Advisory Council and supported young people as they engaged in Girls for Gender Equity’s campaign work. Now as Girls for Gender Equity’s Director of National Organizing, she  leads and supports in expanding NYWI (National Young Women’s Initiative) and A National Agenda for Black Girls; a campaign calling for elected officials and policymakers to center the needs and lives of Black girls and Black gender expansive young people.

Toni grounds her healing work at the intersections of race, gender, class, sexuality, body, and culture because she strongly believes only through those lenses is true liberation possible. Toni is an activist of Body Liberation and avid believer in radical and unapologetic self love. Toni is also a steering committee member for the Undoing Racism Internship Project helping MSW students to organize for anti racist curriculum and schools across New York City and a Youth Counselor for the Ali Forney Center. Toni is also a New Leaders Council 2020 Fellow. In her own time, she is  ½ of the hosts of Stay In the Sun Podcast; a podcast hosted by two Caribbean American Black Women navigating politics, music, identity, and life as Black millenial social workers and she grows her cultural critic platform and shares her fat girl analysis as a freelance writer for The Curvy Fashionista. She enjoys journaling, Caribbean Carnival, live concerts, & collecting bamboo earrings. Toni holds a Masters in Social Work from Hunter’s Silberman School of Social Work and a BA in Sociology & Gender Studies from Purchase College, State University of New York.

Please note Cafe con Libros has a zero tolerance policy for harassment or intimidation of any kind during this virtual event.