Belly of the Beast

The Politics of Anti-Fatness as Anti-Blackness

By: Da'Shaun L. Harrison, Kiese Laymon - foreword

Narrated by: Da'Shaun L. Harrison

Length: 3 hrs and 29 mins

Publisher's summary

**The 2022 Lammy Award Winner in Transgender Nonfiction**

Exploring the intersections of Blackness, gender, fatness, health, and the violence of policing.

To live in a body both fat and Black is to exist at the margins of a society that creates the conditions for anti-fatness as anti-Blackness. Hyper-policed by state and society, passed over for housing and jobs, and derided and misdiagnosed by medical professionals, fat Black people in the United States are subject to socio-politically sanctioned discrimination, abuse, condescension, and trauma.

Da’Shaun Harrison—a fat, Black, disabled, and nonbinary trans writer—offers an incisive, fresh, and precise exploration of anti-fatness as anti-Blackness, foregrounding the state-sanctioned murders of fat Black men and trans and nonbinary masculine people in historical analysis. Policing, disenfranchisement, and invisibilizing of fat Black men and trans and nonbinary masculine people are pervasive, insidious ways that anti-fat anti-Blackness shows up in everyday life. Fat people can be legally fired in 49 states for being fat; they’re more likely to be houseless. Fat people die at higher rates from misdiagnosis or nontreatment; fat women are more likely to be sexually assaulted. And at the intersections of fatness, Blackness, disability, and gender, these abuses are exacerbated.

Taking on desirability politics, the limitations of gender, the connection between anti-fatness and carcerality, and the incongruity of “health” and “healthiness” for the Black fat, Harrison viscerally and vividly illustrates the myriad harms of anti-fat anti-Blackness. They offer strategies for dismantling denial, unlearning the cultural programming that tells us “fat is bad”, and destroying the world as we know it, so the Black fat can inhabit a place not built on their subjugation.

©2021 Da'Shaun L. Harrison and Kiese Laymon (P)2021 North Atlantic Books

Critic reviews

“This modern classic relishes in collapsing conventional and clichéd orthodoxies. As formative as Harrison’s proclamations are, it is Harrison’s pacing that gives the book the lingering feeling of the most sensual whisper.” (Kiese Laymon, author of Heavy: An American Memoir)

“Da’Shaun Harrison is an insightful visionary, world-builder, and ingenious writer who brings us into deeper understandings and frameworks of the intersections of anti-Blackness and anti-fatness. Belly of the Beast brings us closer to ourselves because it brings us closer to the truth - that anti-Blackness is the foundation to how violence shapes our relationships to our bodies and each other. Harrison not only intervenes in the terror of White supremacist paradigms but develops the tools to imagine and build a new world. Belly of the Beast eats, and it leaves no crumbs.” (Hunter Shackelford, author of You Might Die for This)

This Book is Life Changing, and Life Affirming

Whether you're already invested in the space, or a space adjacent to those discussed in this book, or outside of it, this book is both Affirming and Life Changing.

It's the kind of book that needs to be read or heard by everyone, regardless (or because) of identity

Heavy listen but good

I had to take some breaks because it was kinda a heavy listen, but it is very good. The fat transgender struggle was particularly profound.

Interesting and Relatable

Loved this book and the narration. I was so captivated, I couldn't put it down and read it in a day. Darshan L Harrison is a talented writer.

Excellent

This is a very comprehensive, systemic and effective analysis of the pressure, oppression and stigmatization of people of color, trans, and any other labels to target said people.

This takes the markers, biological and social with their experiences and effectively ties it to the system. Showing how it abuses everyone within the system.

I deeply appreciate what I learned.

Great Read!

I absolutely loved this book. Da’Shaun is an eloquent writer. I really loved reading this book because it was easy for me to comprehend, understand, & start conversations around. It made me feel smart because I really understood what they were saying & the information stuck with me. The words were striking and resounding. I literally couldn’t wait to put this book on again. I love your voice, Da’Shaun! I posted this on my IG & Twitter cuz I seriously need everyone to read this book!❤️

Must read for folks invested in freedom

This book is amazing and a must read for anyone invested in freedom and in fat liberation specifically. We cannot be free without fat liberation. This book is full of theory, history, care, and love. It is one of the books I’m glad to say has changed me. Thank you so much for this labor of love Da’Shaun Harrison!

Best book on fat politics

This is the best book on fat politics for both introductory audiences and experts. Harrison packs so much information and depth into this concise work, while centering the Black masculine experience his insights shed light on many dimensions of fat experiences. This is truly a universal work because of its particularity and grounding outside of whiteness as a dominating ideology. I cannot recommend this book highly enough! As a white fat disabled queer non-binary person and fat activist and educator this book spoke deeply to me. I highly recommend checking out Harrison’s other work on their website as well. They are one of the great minds of this century. I’m so grateful for this book.

Necessary and needed

Very few social justice and cultural theory writers go the distance in naming what is wrong while pointing to what right might look like. Da’Shawn goes there. They respectfully crack open existing progressive theory to make room for ‘the Black fat’ including the Black trans fat. I’ve not read anything else that does this. I think it establishes its place among works of 21st century literature centrally recognizing the power and place of the physical being of Black people. It’s both a dense and quick listen.

Groundbreaking and Clear

Da'Shaun is very intelligent and inspiring. I knew this book was gonna hit like this. They are very concise in describing how anti-fatness is an injustice to all of us and how it is directly linked to anti-blackness. I love how they went into details about the politics of ugliness and desirability plus the origins of it. De'Shaun gave us history lessons, receipts. This book should be shared and socialized. Amazing work De'Shaun!

A must-read book!

A thoughtful, well researched read. Be ready to be meaningfully challenged by Harrison’s perspective and their care.

Would definitely recommend!