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Lesley Kinzel
Lesley Kinzel

1.7K Followers

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Apr 27, 2018

Nobody Owes You Fat Positivity: On Weight Loss Surgery as “Betrayal”

I’m tired. I’m tired of the circles we run in every time we read some high-profile story about a fat person choosing to get weight loss surgery rather than cope with the social pressures of being fat anymore. Even for those folks who credit health reasons for their decision —…

Body Positive

10 min read

Nobody Owes You Fat Positivity: On Weight Loss Surgery as “Betrayal”
Nobody Owes You Fat Positivity: On Weight Loss Surgery as “Betrayal”
Body Positive

10 min read


Jan 21, 2018

Before and After: A Mythology

In my earliest memories I am already fat. There is no before. My very first self-concepts are all grounded in my size, which is always larger than my peers’. For a time, I think being bigger is a good thing. But this changes. Even in the years from roughly age…

Body Image

5 min read

Before and After: A Mythology
Before and After: A Mythology
Body Image

5 min read


Dec 8, 2016

You Are Visiting The Library of Congress

If you walk into the public entrance of the Library of Congress in Washington DC expecting to gain access to the Main Reading Room, you will be sadly disappointed. The main entrance is for tourists and exhibits, and if you just want to sit and write in the reading room…

Travel

8 min read

You Are Visiting The Library of Congress
You Are Visiting The Library of Congress
Travel

8 min read


Dec 3, 2016

Socially Isolated Kids Are Not Weapons: They Need Help, Not To Be Labeled As Threats

There is an ad going around the internet; you may have seen it. If not, part of me wants to be all “just watch it!” and not spoil anyone but also part of me wants to be all “content note for implied violence!” I’ll put my own lengthy take below…

Gun Violence

6 min read

Socially Isolated Kids Are Not Weapons: They Need Help, Not To Be Labeled As Threats
Socially Isolated Kids Are Not Weapons: They Need Help, Not To Be Labeled As Threats
Gun Violence

6 min read


Oct 12, 2016

Self-Loathing, Weight-Loss Obsessed Kate On “This is Us” Is Not the Fat-Positive Role Model I Want Her To Be, But Maybe That’s Okay

A few weeks ago, I wrote a hot take on the pilot episode of NBC’s big fall family drama, This is Us. There’s a lot to say about this series, but I wanted to focus on Kate’s storyline, because Kate is fat. Not like size-16 fat, but fat-fat. Fat like…

Feminism

8 min read

Weight-Obsessed Kate On “This is Us” Is Not the Fat-Positive Role Model I Want, But Maybe That’s OK
Weight-Obsessed Kate On “This is Us” Is Not the Fat-Positive Role Model I Want, But Maybe That’s OK
Feminism

8 min read


Sep 21, 2016

“This is Us” Fails To Unpack The Tragic Fat Girl Trope At All And It’s Super Bumming Me Out

I’ll forgive you if you’ve somehow managed to remain unaware of This is Us, NBC’s high-expectation fall dramedy. I almost overlooked it myself, but TV shows with fat women in them have a way of finding me. The series’ premise is that it follows the lives of four people born…

Body Positive

8 min read

“This is Us” Fails To Unpack The Tragic Fat Girl Trope At All And It’s Super Bumming Me Out
“This is Us” Fails To Unpack The Tragic Fat Girl Trope At All And It’s Super Bumming Me Out
Body Positive

8 min read


Sep 20, 2016

HUGE REVISITED, Episode 1: Hello, Is It Me You’re Looking For?

When Huge first appeared on my radar in 2010, I was still a blogger writing about fat activism while working an impossibly boring office day job. The series didn’t sound promising — the YA book providing the source material was panned as terrible and fat-hating by all the smart folks…

Eating Disorders

16 min read

Huge Revisited, Episode 1: Hello, Is It Me You’re Looking For?
Huge Revisited, Episode 1: Hello, Is It Me You’re Looking For?
Eating Disorders

16 min read


Sep 8, 2016

The Writing Retreat From Hell; Or, A Completely Weird and Slightly Terrifying Adventure in Small Town New England

I’ve maybe never gotten writing retreats completely right. In collaboration with my dear friend, colleague, and occasional internet doppelgänger Marianne Kirby, I have tried more than once, but the writing has usually been somewhat less forthcoming than the local explorations, and the expansive and deliberate meals, the antique shops and…

Memoir

21 min read

The Writing Retreat From Hell; Or, A Slightly Terrifying Adventure in Small Town New England
The Writing Retreat From Hell; Or, A Slightly Terrifying Adventure in Small Town New England
Memoir

21 min read


Aug 22, 2016

Fat Shaming is Not an Individual Problem, It’s a Cultural One

Recently I read an essay by an extremely lovely average-sized woman in response to being weight-shamed by a stranger on the internet. I’m not calling out this essay or author in particular, as this isn’t about her (I think she is pretty great) or even the essay itself. It’s a…

Body Image

10 min read

Fat Shaming is Not an Individual Problem, It’s a Cultural One
Fat Shaming is Not an Individual Problem, It’s a Cultural One
Body Image

10 min read


Published in

Invisible Illness

·Aug 16, 2016

I Spent 90 Minutes In a Float Tank and Hallucinated I Had Extra Arms, Among Other Things

I looked into floating locally after reading an article about it as a potential treatment for PTSD. I don’t have PTSD myself, to be clear, only a standard form of decades-long anxiety that I am sometimes good at managing and sometimes not. The science of whether floating in a dark…

Meditation

13 min read

I Spent 90 Minutes In a Float Tank and Hallucinated I Had Extra Arms, Among Other Things
I Spent 90 Minutes In a Float Tank and Hallucinated I Had Extra Arms, Among Other Things
Meditation

13 min read

Lesley Kinzel

Lesley Kinzel

1.7K Followers

Writer, recovering editor, and mouthy fat broad. Usually sipping tea. Actual tea.

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