Roxane Gay: ‘If I was nventnally hot and had a slamm’ body, I would be print’ | Women | The Guardian

Contents:

• ROXANE GAY REVEALS WEIGHT LOSS SURGERY MOVG SAY
• ROXANE GAY ON GETTG WEIGHT LOSS SURGERY AND LOVE-HATE RELATNSHIP WH HER BODY
• ROXANE GAY: ‘IF I WAS NVENTNALLY HOT AND HAD A SLAMM’ BODY, I WOULD BE PRINT’
• ROXANE GAY: ‘NO ONE IS GUARANTEED LOVE OR AFFECTN’
• THE BOLDNS OF ROXANE GAY’S HUNGER
• THE AUDACY.SUBSCRIBESIGN {"@NTEXT":","@TYPE":"NEWSARTICLE","URL":","MAENTYOFPAGE":","HEADLE":"VALUE JUDGMENTS","SCRIPTN":"ON TRYG TO VELOP A DIFFERENT RELATNSHIP TO FOOD","IMAGE":[],"DATEPUBLISHED":"2021-07-21T02:16:42+00:00","DATEMODIFIED":"2021-07-21T02:16:42+00:00","ISACCSIBLEFORFREE":FALSE,"THOR":[{"@TYPE":"PERSON","NAME":"ROXANE GAY","URL":","SCRIPTN":"WRER, EDOR, CULTURAL CRIC. I'M A FAN OF BABY ELEPHANTS, BUT REALLY, WHO ISN'T?","INTIFIER":"ER:1849120","IMAGE":{"@TYPE":"IMAGEOBJECT","NTENTURL":","THUMBNAILURL":"}}],"PUBLISHER":{"@TYPE":"ORGANIZATN","NAME":"THE AUDACY.","URL":","SCRIPTN":"WRG THAT BOLDLY DISREGARDS NORMAL RTRATS. ","TERACTNSTATISTIC":{"@TYPE":"INTERACTNCOUNTER","NAME":"SUBSCRIBERS","TERACTNTYPE":","ERINTERACTNCOUNT":10000},"INTIFIER":"PUB:237330","LOGO":{"@TYPE":"IMAGEOBJECT","URL":","NTENTURL":","THUMBNAILURL":"},"IMAGE":{"@TYPE":"IMAGEOBJECT","URL":","NTENTURL":","THUMBNAILURL":"},"SAMEAS":["]}}SHARE THIS POSTVALUE COPY LKFACEBOOKEMAILNOTOTHERVALUE JUDGMENTS
• ‘I’LL ALWAYS BE A BAD FEMIST!’: ROXANE GAY ON LOVE, SUCCS – AND UPSETTG PIERS MAN
• ROXANE GAY: “WHAT FULLNS IS”ON THE FIRST EPISO OF MEDIUM PLAYBACK, ROXANE READS HER SAY AND CHATS ABOUT HER CISN TO UNRGO BARIATRIC SURGERYMEDIUM PLAYBACK·FOLLOW3 M READ·JUN 13, 2018--1SHAREFOR THE FIRST EPISO OF OUR FIRST-EVER PODST, THERE WAS ONLY ONE POSSIBLE GUT WE HAD MD: ROXANE GAY. HER POWERFUL AND VASTATGLY HONT SAY “WHAT FULLNS IS” IS ONE OF THE MOST READ STORI ON MEDIUM THIS YEAR. IN THE PIECE, ROXANE DISCLOS HER CISN TO UNRGO BARIATRIC SURGERY — OM THE MOMENT THE R WHEN SHE MA UP HER MD, TO THE PAFULLY AWKWARD MOMENT WH THE NURSE POST-SURGERY, TO HER FEARS ABOUT HOW HER FANS MIGHT RPOND. IT’S THE TYPE OF STORY THAT STAYS WH YOU FOR MONTHS: “I WAS AN UNLY BODY FOR HIM TO FIX, NOTHG LS, NOTHG MORE,” SHE WR.LISTEN TO MEDIUM PLAYBACK ON APPLE PODSTS OR GOOGLE PODSTSIN THIS EPISO, ROXANE PERFORMS THE SAY (2:06), ALONG WH MIC AND SOUND SIGN, AND THEN CHATS WH HOST KARA BROWN (27:52) ABOUT WHY SHE PUBLISHED THE SAY, TELLG HER FAY ABOUT HER CISN, WHY SHE BELIEV ALL SURANCE PANI SHOULD NEED TO VER WEIGHT LOSS SURGERI, THE RECENT MAGAZE SHE PUBLISHED WH MEDIUM, AND THE DIFFERENCE BETWEEN TROLLS ON TWTER VS. REAL LIFE. (VIEW THE SHOW CREDS.)PRS PLAY AT THE TOP OF THIS PAGE TO LISTEN TO THE EPISO — OR LISTEN ON APPLE PODSTS, GOOGLE PLAY, GOOGLE PODSTS, SPOTIFY, POCKET CASTS, OR YOUR PODST APP OF CHOICE.TEN QUTNS WH ROXANE

ROXANE GAY REVEALS WEIGHT LOSS SURGERY MOVG SAY

Roxane Gay has revealed she has unrgone weight loss surgery, a movg personal Bad Femist thor wrote that she had a sleeve gastrectomy January a piece published on the onle self-publishg platform, Medium, as part of a seri Gay has thored on the webse tled, "Unly Bodi" Roxane Jay Grabiec"I pulated to a procre after more than 15 years of ristance and had a sleeve gastrectomy at the UCLA Ronald Reagan Hospal January 2018, " Gay wrote.

LoadgShe scribed her 2017 book, Hunger: a memoir of (my) body, as "a book about livg the world when you are three or four hundred pounds overweight, when you are not obe or morbidly obe but super morbidly obe" her say, Gay, 43, said the day she cid to get weight loss surgery was an "ordary day". "Throughout the say, Gay wrote of her fear that someone would fd out she had cid to have weight loss surgery, after prevly wrg Hunger of her ntempt for the practice after attendg an take semar wh her father more than a earlier. "Please don't tell the ter I'm here, " Gay relled sayg.

"A lot of planng has to go to a vis om bt-sellg thor, llege profsor and wrer, Roxane Gay, " the troductn to Gay's terview wh Mamamia's publisher, Mia Freedman, read.

ROXANE GAY ON GETTG WEIGHT LOSS SURGERY AND LOVE-HATE RELATNSHIP WH HER BODY

""I am appalled by Mamamia, " Gay tweeted rponse. Roxane Gay, the thor of Hunger, is no stranger to topics about her body, weight loss, and food habs.

How Roxane Gay’s Weight Ga StartedIn Hunger, Gay has tailed her trmatic experience wh rape at jt 12 and how that changed her life. Roxane Gay has always unrgone weight loss for everyone else around her. (Photo: Roxane Gay/Instagram) She hid om everyone, even her parents, and found fort food.

" Roxane Gay’s Weight Loss JourneyGay first ntemplated weight loss when she attend an orientatn semar at the Cleveland Clic wh her father. Gay — spe whatever she had done to lose weight the past — did not want to be th.

ROXANE GAY: ‘IF I WAS NVENTNALLY HOT AND HAD A SLAMM’ BODY, I WOULD BE PRINT’

Roxane Gay’s Hunger: A Memoir of (My) Body was scribed to me by multiple people as an almost unbearably btal book, and is. You yearn for Gay to be a ltle kr to herself as she glis through her past, reckong wh all the thgs she did wh her body and, more signifintly, the thgs that were done to .

We don’t hold back when we talk to ourselv about ourselv, and that’s what Gay has given here: elegantly renred says wh the timacy of an ner monologue. Gay may not want to be a spokperson for all fat people – Hunger is adamantly her story, not a universal story – but the fact is that th people will read this book and be changed. That you ed craft to wre the book, that ’s not a therapy ssn, or a diary A Memoir of (My) Body by Roxane Gay Photograph: PR Company HandoutThere is this ia that ’s, like: “Oh yeah, I jt sort of jotted down a few memori, ” but no, that’s not te.

ROXANE GAY: ‘NO ONE IS GUARANTEED LOVE OR AFFECTN’

That is somethg I do enjoy wrg about, as much as one n enjoy , bee jt boggl the md that we’re still havg the nversatns about equable accs to women’s Gay: ‘I’ve spent at least $150, 000 on weight loss. But I support people who want to do – I get reachg the breakg Gay. Born Omaha, Nebraska, 1974, Roxane Gay is an thor, sayist, New York Tim opn wrer and associate profsor of English at Indiana’s Purdue Universy.

It als wh Gay’s rape at the age of 12 and the lifelong nsequenc of her cisn to make her body as big as possible as a form of self-protectn.

THE BOLDNS OF ROXANE GAY’S HUNGER

And yet aga, Roxane Gay offers this gift wh a well-crafted say on her cisn to have gastric sleeve surgery January this year. Gay scrib the fal straw:.

” Gay phed back a b on nmng the choic of other women. Read this say by Roxane Gay.

Roxane Gay, photograph © Marla Aufmuth / TED via flickr. The Boldns of Roxane Gay’s HungerIn her movg new memoir, the wrer explor sire, nial, and life an “unly body. At a time when there is no shortage of remendatns for women on how to disciple or make peace wh their bodi, Roxane Gay’s book, Hunger: A Memoir of (My) Body, stands out precisely bee she begs by clarg that she hasn’t overe her “unly body and unly appet.

THE AUDACY.SUBSCRIBESIGN {"@NTEXT":","@TYPE":"NEWSARTICLE","URL":","MAENTYOFPAGE":","HEADLE":"VALUE JUDGMENTS","SCRIPTN":"ON TRYG TO VELOP A DIFFERENT RELATNSHIP TO FOOD","IMAGE":[],"DATEPUBLISHED":"2021-07-21T02:16:42+00:00","DATEMODIFIED":"2021-07-21T02:16:42+00:00","ISACCSIBLEFORFREE":FALSE,"THOR":[{"@TYPE":"PERSON","NAME":"ROXANE GAY","URL":","SCRIPTN":"WRER, EDOR, CULTURAL CRIC. I'M A FAN OF BABY ELEPHANTS, BUT REALLY, WHO ISN'T?","INTIFIER":"ER:1849120","IMAGE":{"@TYPE":"IMAGEOBJECT","NTENTURL":","THUMBNAILURL":"}}],"PUBLISHER":{"@TYPE":"ORGANIZATN","NAME":"THE AUDACY.","URL":","SCRIPTN":"WRG THAT BOLDLY DISREGARDS NORMAL RTRATS. ","TERACTNSTATISTIC":{"@TYPE":"INTERACTNCOUNTER","NAME":"SUBSCRIBERS","TERACTNTYPE":","ERINTERACTNCOUNT":10000},"INTIFIER":"PUB:237330","LOGO":{"@TYPE":"IMAGEOBJECT","URL":","NTENTURL":","THUMBNAILURL":"},"IMAGE":{"@TYPE":"IMAGEOBJECT","URL":","NTENTURL":","THUMBNAILURL":"},"SAMEAS":["]}}SHARE THIS POSTVALUE COPY LKFACEBOOKEMAILNOTOTHERVALUE JUDGMENTS

”Hunger is about weight gaed and lost and gaed—at her heavit Gay weighed 577 pounds. ” The story of Roxane Gay’s body did not beg wh this vlatn of her nocence, but was the acture that would e to fe her relatnship wh food, sire, and nial for s.

‘I’LL ALWAYS BE A BAD FEMIST!’: ROXANE GAY ON LOVE, SUCCS – AND UPSETTG PIERS MAN

Remend ReadgHunger builds on Gay’s wrg about femism, women’s bodi, and rape culture to unflchgly tackle personal experienc. Or I do” and “I do not have an answer to that qutn, or I do, ” imply that Gay unrstands all too well a broar culture that ref to acmodate fat bodi and the rtrat required to scribe the slights she’s experienced wh Gay is grapplg wh a paful, first-person story, she gracefully weav the sharp mentary that she’s e to be known for. But what Hunger illumat is that food and the anonymy of wrg on the ter were two of the salv for the lonels and anxiety that enveloped Gay to her 20s.

ROXANE GAY: “WHAT FULLNS IS”ON THE FIRST EPISO OF MEDIUM PLAYBACK, ROXANE READS HER SAY AND CHATS ABOUT HER CISN TO UNRGO BARIATRIC SURGERYMEDIUM PLAYBACK·FOLLOW3 M READ·JUN 13, 2018--1SHAREFOR THE FIRST EPISO OF OUR FIRST-EVER PODST, THERE WAS ONLY ONE POSSIBLE GUT WE HAD MD: ROXANE GAY. HER POWERFUL AND VASTATGLY HONT SAY “WHAT FULLNS IS” IS ONE OF THE MOST READ STORI ON MEDIUM THIS YEAR. IN THE PIECE, ROXANE DISCLOS HER CISN TO UNRGO BARIATRIC SURGERY — OM THE MOMENT THE R WHEN SHE MA UP HER MD, TO THE PAFULLY AWKWARD MOMENT WH THE NURSE POST-SURGERY, TO HER FEARS ABOUT HOW HER FANS MIGHT RPOND. IT’S THE TYPE OF STORY THAT STAYS WH YOU FOR MONTHS: “I WAS AN UNLY BODY FOR HIM TO FIX, NOTHG LS, NOTHG MORE,” SHE WR.LISTEN TO MEDIUM PLAYBACK ON APPLE PODSTS OR GOOGLE PODSTSIN THIS EPISO, ROXANE PERFORMS THE SAY (2:06), ALONG WH MIC AND SOUND SIGN, AND THEN CHATS WH HOST KARA BROWN (27:52) ABOUT WHY SHE PUBLISHED THE SAY, TELLG HER FAY ABOUT HER CISN, WHY SHE BELIEV ALL SURANCE PANI SHOULD NEED TO VER WEIGHT LOSS SURGERI, THE RECENT MAGAZE SHE PUBLISHED WH MEDIUM, AND THE DIFFERENCE BETWEEN TROLLS ON TWTER VS. REAL LIFE. (VIEW THE SHOW CREDS.)PRS PLAY AT THE TOP OF THIS PAGE TO LISTEN TO THE EPISO — OR LISTEN ON APPLE PODSTS, GOOGLE PLAY, GOOGLE PODSTS, SPOTIFY, POCKET CASTS, OR YOUR PODST APP OF CHOICE.TEN QUTNS WH ROXANE

Its short, timate chapters follow Gay through the brokenns of her teens, the recklsns of the followg , and her current, ongog stggle to rencile the fact that beg an overweight black woman at tim mak her body a se for mentary and her humany visible. You are your body, nothg more, and your body should damn well bee is not the first time Gay has wrten about her weight, the asslt she experienced her youth, and the ways that society assigns value to women of her size. An Untamed State, a novel that some ways parallels Gay’s own experienc, follows a protagonist who is btally kidnapped and then raped.

Bad Femist clud an say about Gay’s trip to fat mp, and untls says she’s prevly published onle—cludg “Breakg Uniform, ” and “My Body Is Wildly Undiscipled And I Deny Myself Nearly Everythg I Dire”—are reprted Hunger. Last year she appeared on This Amerin Life, where she noted the difference between beg “Lane Bryant fat” and super-morbidly obe (the latter the clil term for Gay’s size) Hunger, she repeatedly juxtapos an herent, ternal nflict: the survival mechanism of makg herself bigger the years followg her rape and the ways which that very act has ma her life difficult a new way. In one revealg sectn, Gay scrib the kds of exhstg nsiratns that she mak daily bee of her size—om googlg event venu to see if there are stairs, to worryg about airport seatg, to drsg mostly jeans and tton shirts, to wonrg whether a rtrant’s chairs will have arms that will pch her.

In a 2012 article for The Rump, Gay wrote that she is “always terted the reprentatns of strength women... In addrsg unwieldy topics such as weight, sexual vlence, and trma, Gay’s takeaways are many and her endg impossible to classify as a statn. Th was Roxane Gay propelled to the lerary stratosphere and – as such fairytal tend to go – sted to be forever after probed about the current state of, ne years on, do the wrer, edor, profsor, podster, cultural cric, and Gloria Steem Endowed Chair Media, Culture and Femist Studi at Rutgers Universy, New Jersey, still nsir herself a bad femist?