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Fat Chicks Rule!: How To Survive in a Thin-Centric World
“I can’t wait for this book!”—Marilyn Wann, author of FAT! SO? A fun, fact-filled guide to living the big girl’s life with style, Fat Chicks Rule!: How To Survive in a Thin-Centric World , tackles the weighty issues that large women face in our thin-obsessed society. This lavishly illustrated book provides information on everything that the plus-size woman needs to know, including where to shop, the dieting scam, how to be fat and sexy, the fat acceptance movement, famous fat chicks in history, fat chick entertainment, snappy comebacks against the fat-phobic and much more. Dedicated to every woman who feels she needs to lose a few pounds but really doesn’t, Fat Chicks Rule! shows you how to live fat and happily ever after. Lara Frater is a New York City-based fat acceptance activist.
200 pages, Paperback
First published June 1, 2005
143 people want to read
About the author
Lara Frater
17 books23 followersLook upon my squid hat! Look upon it!
I’m your atypical fat gamer girl who loves to write: Horror, non-fiction, poems, paranormal suspense, non-fiction, and sci-fi.
Although I prefer to write fiction, my first book was the non-fiction Fat Chicks Rule! A guidebook on being a big girl in a thin world and included information on how to find fat positive books, movies, and TV, where to find fashion, comfortable seating, and how to deal with fat hatred. Writing this book changed my life and perspective on dieting and fat bodies. I also wrote the essay "Fat Heroines in Chick Lit" for the Fat Studies Reader. (This essay from mentioned in the New York Times and the Wall Street Journal, so woohoo!)
But my first love was fiction, which I returned to with the End of the Line series. Three zombie novels that take place in a world almost dead of the flu and having to deal with the zombies who rose from the ashes. End of the Line was followed by Stuck in the Middle and Full Circle (Coming 2024). And maybe more books to come.
Changing gears I moved on to a more lighthearted paranormal suspense/ horror series Paranormal Pest Control. Where exterminators and paranormal investigators fight demonic bugs. The first book is out. The second book “Dark Thing in the Cemetery” is expected April 2024.
I have also appeared in Tales from the Canyon of the Damned and Necrotic Tissues, and have essays about library science (my fun day job).
I'm heavily influenced by Joe R. Lansdale, Stephen King, Toni Morrison, Octavia Butler and Richard Matheson.
I live in New York City, married to fellow author Jon Frater and have lots of animals and people in my house. I’m in need of an exterminator or an obedient Dalek.
I’m your atypical fat gamer girl who loves to write: Horror, non-fiction, poems, paranormal suspense, non-fiction, and sci-fi.
Although I prefer to write fiction, my first book was the non-fiction Fat Chicks Rule! A guidebook on being a big girl in a thin world and included information on how to find fat positive books, movies, and TV, where to find fashion, comfortable seating, and how to deal with fat hatred. Writing this book changed my life and perspective on dieting and fat bodies. I also wrote the essay "Fat Heroines in Chick Lit" for the Fat Studies Reader. (This essay from mentioned in the New York Times and the Wall Street Journal, so woohoo!)
But my first love was fiction, which I returned to with the End of the Line series. Three zombie novels that take place in a world almost dead of the flu and having to deal with the zombies who rose from the ashes. End of the Line was followed by Stuck in the Middle and Full Circle (Coming 2024). And maybe more books to come.
Changing gears I moved on to a more lighthearted paranormal suspense/ horror series Paranormal Pest Control. Where exterminators and paranormal investigators fight demonic bugs. The first book is out. The second book “Dark Thing in the Cemetery” is expected April 2024.
I have also appeared in Tales from the Canyon of the Damned and Necrotic Tissues, and have essays about library science (my fun day job).
I'm heavily influenced by Joe R. Lansdale, Stephen King, Toni Morrison, Octavia Butler and Richard Matheson.
I live in New York City, married to fellow author Jon Frater and have lots of animals and people in my house. I’m in need of an exterminator or an obedient Dalek.
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Displaying 1 - 9 of 9 reviews
July 28, 2022
A book to help "fat chicks" navigate a thin-centric world, everything from shopping to health, from choosing an airplane seat, to the best sex positions for the fuller figured. The 2 star rating is not because it's a particularly badly written book, the issue is that it only skims the surface of the problems with how society views & treats fat people & I've read several in-depth books on the subject so this seemed quite superficial. I also found some of the 'witty retorts' to fat shaming comments were almost as bad but aimed at thin people. Surely we should be aiming to not body shame anyone?
It left me feeling rather dissatisfied, but it doesn't purport to be an academic work, however, & it's probably best as a quick introduction to the subject of fat acceptance. Plus it was written in 2005, 17 years ago, & so much of it is now out-of-date, many of the links no longer work, or shops or magazines featured are no longer around.
So what has changed in the last 17 years? I've noticed that there are a lot more books which feature plus-sized main characters, but it seems that very little else has changed, & there's still precious little representation on mainstream TV & film. In fact we seem to have regressed lately to making the expected standard of female beauty even narrower - I saw an article about the cast of a particular reality TV show over the last few years, & apart from changing their hair & eye colour, all the women looked practically identical. I don't blame the women for this, I blame society for its weird obsession with wanting to airbrush any natural beauty or signs of ageing out of existence. It seems representation & diversity is very much only a surface thing where society's actions don't necessarily mirror its words & that needs to change.
It left me feeling rather dissatisfied, but it doesn't purport to be an academic work, however, & it's probably best as a quick introduction to the subject of fat acceptance. Plus it was written in 2005, 17 years ago, & so much of it is now out-of-date, many of the links no longer work, or shops or magazines featured are no longer around.
So what has changed in the last 17 years? I've noticed that there are a lot more books which feature plus-sized main characters, but it seems that very little else has changed, & there's still precious little representation on mainstream TV & film. In fact we seem to have regressed lately to making the expected standard of female beauty even narrower - I saw an article about the cast of a particular reality TV show over the last few years, & apart from changing their hair & eye colour, all the women looked practically identical. I don't blame the women for this, I blame society for its weird obsession with wanting to airbrush any natural beauty or signs of ageing out of existence. It seems representation & diversity is very much only a surface thing where society's actions don't necessarily mirror its words & that needs to change.
June 4, 2018
It is hard to describe Fat Chicks Rule! : How to survive in a thin-centric world by Lara Frater, and I definitely have mixed feelings over it. Overall, I was decently pleased with the book because of the knowledge I learned from it. I learned things and situation that I wouldn’t have realized otherwise such as: possibly needing to buy two airplane seats to sit comfortably (and that a lot of places will charge you extra for it), which clothing departments sell plus-sized outfits (such as Torrid--I love that store) as well as some good online websites that carry or cater to the plus-sized persuasion, and what the fat acceptance movement is. These are definitely good things to know and to be aware of. With that being said, I do have to be honest about some things that Lara Frater wrote that I wasn't fond of.
One aspect of this book that I didn’t quite enjoy such as the “snappy comebacks” section. This part of the book provides quick-fire “comeback” responses to someone who is vocally fat-shaming you or someone else. The responses were often juvenile and usually revolved around sex a lot and I felt such petty comebacks would either lower yourself to the fat-shaming individual’s level or would turn the whole serious situation into a bad joke. I understand where Lara Frater was trying to go with this--she was trying to be witty and funny with these suggested replies, but this part ultimately fell flat and left a disappointed taste in my mouth after reading it.
A second aspect of this book that I didn’t enjoy was the lack of self-love discussion in this book. Granted, Frater DID discuss this a little bit (and boy do I mean just a little), but it was peppered in one of the chapters (it didn’t even have a chapter devoted to it) and it really wasn’t something that was mentioned throughout the book. Instead of trying to focus on self-love and self-care or being healthy, Frater essentially accuses the world of attacking fat people (okay, perhaps not in so many words but the vibe is definitely there)-- air lines with their small seats, stores having plus-sized clothing in the backs of stores, the overwhelming dieting industry, etc.
Now that I've mentioned Frater's opinion of the dieting industry, instead of dieting, the author advises plus-sized women to simply “eat normal”... whatever “normal” is. She doesn’t really go into the specifics other than “eat veggies and fruit”, which… sure, that’s always a good goal. But I would have liked to have seen Frater offer up some ways to incorporate more fruits and vegetables in dishes or the best places to go to get fresh produce at reasonable prices.
Although Lara Frater’s Fat Chicks Rule! had me feeling indecisive, I was glad to read this even if just to open my awareness of the issues that larger women face in our society today. I would recommend this book if you have a general curiosity about this topic. But if you were hoping for a more positive and more self-accepting book, I would probably look elsewhere.
One aspect of this book that I didn’t quite enjoy such as the “snappy comebacks” section. This part of the book provides quick-fire “comeback” responses to someone who is vocally fat-shaming you or someone else. The responses were often juvenile and usually revolved around sex a lot and I felt such petty comebacks would either lower yourself to the fat-shaming individual’s level or would turn the whole serious situation into a bad joke. I understand where Lara Frater was trying to go with this--she was trying to be witty and funny with these suggested replies, but this part ultimately fell flat and left a disappointed taste in my mouth after reading it.
A second aspect of this book that I didn’t enjoy was the lack of self-love discussion in this book. Granted, Frater DID discuss this a little bit (and boy do I mean just a little), but it was peppered in one of the chapters (it didn’t even have a chapter devoted to it) and it really wasn’t something that was mentioned throughout the book. Instead of trying to focus on self-love and self-care or being healthy, Frater essentially accuses the world of attacking fat people (okay, perhaps not in so many words but the vibe is definitely there)-- air lines with their small seats, stores having plus-sized clothing in the backs of stores, the overwhelming dieting industry, etc.
Now that I've mentioned Frater's opinion of the dieting industry, instead of dieting, the author advises plus-sized women to simply “eat normal”... whatever “normal” is. She doesn’t really go into the specifics other than “eat veggies and fruit”, which… sure, that’s always a good goal. But I would have liked to have seen Frater offer up some ways to incorporate more fruits and vegetables in dishes or the best places to go to get fresh produce at reasonable prices.
Although Lara Frater’s Fat Chicks Rule! had me feeling indecisive, I was glad to read this even if just to open my awareness of the issues that larger women face in our society today. I would recommend this book if you have a general curiosity about this topic. But if you were hoping for a more positive and more self-accepting book, I would probably look elsewhere.
November 7, 2011
I love this book. Its a wonderful guide. Sadly some of the websites listed in the book are no longer around.
January 26, 2013
A few personal stories surround a practical guide for life as a big person. Caveat: This book is from 2005 so many of the goods and services listed may not be offered anymore. Otherwise a really good guide with the exception of the clothing section where too many of the goods available end at a 3x, which to me is where plus size STARTS.
July 14, 2016
A bit out of date today as it was written 11 years ago. I know many of the plus-size brands and stores mentioned no longer exist, and many more (and better) ones have taken it's place.
Think of this book as the grandmother of the body positivity movement we have today, because that's what it is.
Think of this book as the grandmother of the body positivity movement we have today, because that's what it is.
July 16, 2010
I really like the links and resources in this book - good stuff!
December 30, 2012
I love my own book. Fattie Fat Fat!!
May 28, 2011
I regret wasting my money on this book ! Lara Frater cannot write a book and should not try to be an author, some pages from this book are similar to other books about this subjet. She should be sued for plagarism. Do not waste your money. Embrace yourself !
February 23, 2015
This book is stupid. Apparently as a fat girl, I've never been able to dress myself or watch "fat girl" entertainment. So this book felt the need to list every option for me. What? I wanted a narrative, not the world's longest blog post. As a book this totally sucked. Can you say boring?
Displaying 1 - 9 of 9 reviews