Women En Large: Images of Fat Nudes

Women en Large is a collection of breathtaking nude studies. The photographs are deep, rich, and powerful. The women shown are completely at home in their bodies, and their steady gaze challenges common assumptions about what kind of body is suitable for framing. This is a groundbreaking work, an important salvo in the body wars. It should be in every feminist library.

As a result of this book Laurie Toby Edison is my idol. ;) Seriously, every woman [and men too!]should get their hands on a copy. It's rebellious and freeing. It can make you re-evaluate who you are and who you will be. How? Read on... Our culture is currently worshipping the media-induced singular image of a woman increasingly starved. What has become acceptable as "ideal beauty" in this new millennium is a horrific portrait of emaciation reminiscent of the photos of the holocaust survivors of WWII. An image of beauty that the vast majority, unbeknownst to them, is supposed to never achieve. However, fueled by pressure from a 4 billion dollar a year diet industry- women, young and old, are buying into it and are literally dying to have bodies that fit the mold -regardless of health- with constant dieting, pills, shakes, bulimia, anorexia, surgery, etc... Women AND men are letting themselves be brainwashed down to the most intimate and private layers of their being. We conduct our businesses and most intimate relationships all in faithful obedience to this irrational oppressive social dogma. In America, we judge and allow ourselves and those around us to be judged. Then we live accordingly, without question, in this disgraceful, presently dominant looks-based caste system. We, in reality, are like a flourishing and diverse forest of humanity; yet, in America society would like you to believe that the young leafless little saplings with white bark are the only beautiful trees! What a weak forest that would be! Imagine trying to force all the trees to conform to that one ideal? ...shave 'em all down to twigs and paint 'em white? Sound silly? now apply it to people! Give me a tree that has some strength and character anyday! ...And thus we arrive at Laurie Toby Edison and Debbie Notkin's masterpiece, Women En Large. They have brought together images and words that speak for the over 60% of women in this country considered 'too heavy' to be part of the 'ideal' image of beauty. All women everywhere should see this book and try to absorb what it would really mean if we were all considered beautiful... that it IS possible to break out of this harsh and evil underlying caste system that plagues our ability to find joy in living in our own skin [thin or fat]. It isn't an easy task to take on. We are bombarded constantly over and over with one message 24 hours every day on radio, tv, magazines, billboards etc... and that is that we are too fat! We are now so pre-occupied with weight, that valueable chunks of our lives are wasted focusing on our size! I imagine that if our world ended today and a new society found our remains, they would think that only about five or six women over 95 pounds ever existed in our culture! .....Unless they found this book. ---You must get your hands on a copy and absorb it. Even if it is hard to look at at first, find joy in it. It can be powerful, scary, and wonderful. It is the anti

Powerful and memorable photos regardless of the subject matter, and feminine beauty in every size and shape -- a wonderful work whether you love large women or love beautiful art or both. The images will stay with you forever.

This book allows the larger ones of us to show that we can look just as beautiful as the slimmer and often more appreciated people on earth. The women are stunning and reflect that fat people can look stunning just as less fat people.This book is a must for anyone larger than life.

Reviewed by Cathy Miller(NAAFA) There is nothing more powerful than the visual image. In fat activism, we've had only powerful words to speak our truth: "Fat is beautiful!," "Fat is not unhealthy!," "Fat is neither stupid or lazy." With Women En Large at last we have pictures to trumpet our news. Beautiful, powerful photographs of naked fat women. Fat women of all sizes, ages, and colors. Fat women int heir homes, in their gardens, in their wheelchairs. Fat women dancing, fat women dreaming, fat women sharing the solidarity of each other's company, fat women looking out of the page with pride and hard-won strength. "Here I am, here we are;" they say, "we are here for ourselves but we want you to look at us, to see our truth. Drink us in, see the fat woman reclaim her place among valuable human images." There are 41 black and white photographs, most faced by a blank white page. A few of the photos are accompanied by a poem or thought (by the model pictured opposite); however, the main text was wisely included at the end of the book. In so doing, the power of both word and image is preserved, the one not diluting the other. Author Debbie Notkin has penned two eloquent essays. In the first, "Enlarging: Politics and Society," Notkin speaks of the double-whammy of being fat and being a woman, and shares other women's stories about living fat. Some of the models' voices are heard, recounting their experiences of posing for the photos and how being in Women En Large affected their lives. The second essay, "Enlarging: The Personal Story," tells the story of how two friends - one fat and one thin, both aware of fat oppression - birthed the idea and finally the book. When they proudly presented the finished product to prospective publishers - over 25 feminist and alternative presses - not one was brave enough to publish the book. So these two women went back to work, raising the capital necessary to publish the book themselves. It's a great story, and a blueprint for grassroots endeavors. Women En Large is a very important book. It speaks out with love and strength and pride for fat women and, because of the universality of its message, for all women and all fat people. "Please join me in singing honor and praise to fat women" asks a recovered anorexic woman in Women En Large, "that we may come to a time when no more of us need to starve ourselves to death for lack of having enough room, or love, to be who we are." Laurie Edison with her camera, and Debbie Notkin with her pen, have created an anthem of praise with Women En Large: Images of Fat Nudes. Let it sing from your bookshelf.