(If you didn’t know the expression “Lane Bryant fat” before, you will now.) That even famous, wealthy women don’t get to just be in their bodies. She explores the taxonomy of fatness, the way it creates fear and anxiety in thin people, and addresses the fat body as liminal state: both a reflection of the past and something to be corrected in the future, never permitting its owner to simply exist. The host of a podcast in Australia wondered if Gay, on her way to be interviewed, would be able to fit into an elevator.Įven Gay’s publicity tour for her book about her fat body simply existing in the world has been met with obliviousness and insult. Gay is the New York Times bestselling author of several books, including the story collections Ayiti and Difficult Women, the essay collection Bad Feminist, and the novel An Untamed State.
With the poet Yona Harvey, she co-authored the World of Wakanda series (a spin-off of Black Panther) for Marvel.
