Bad fat Black girl : notes from a trap feminist

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Title:

Bad fat Black girl : notes from a trap feminist

Author:

Bowen, Sesali author.

ISBN:

9780063028708

9780063111745

Edition:

First edition.

Physical Description:

264 pages ; 22 cm.

Contents:

Trap feminism -- Bad bitches only -- Knuckin' buckin' ready to fight -- Five-star bitch -- Run me my money -- Plan B -- Selling it -- Not straight -- Fuck these [n-word] -- My bitches -- Real bitch.

Personal Subject:

Bowen, Sesali.

Subject Term:

Feminism -- United States.

Internet personalities -- United States -- Biography.

Body image in women -- United States -- Humor.

African American women -- Humor.

Genre:

Autobiographies.

Humor.

Summary:

"Growing up on the south side of Chicago, Sesali Bowen learned early on how to hustle, stay on her toes, and champion other Black women and femmes as she navigated Blackness, queerness, fatness, friendship, poverty, sex work, and self-love. Her love of trap music led her to the top of hip-hop journalism, profiling game-changing artists like Megan Thee Stallion, Lizzo, and Janelle Monae. But despite all the beauty, complexity, and general badassery she saw, Bowen found none of that nuance represented in mainstream feminism. Thus, she coined Trap Feminism, a contemporary framework that interrogates where feminism meets today's hip-hop. Bad Fat Black Girl offers a new, inclusive feminism for the modern world. Weaving together searing personal essay and cultural commentary, Bowen interrogates sexism, fatphobia, and capitalism all within the context of race and hip-hop. In the process, she continues a Black feminist legacy of unmatched sheer determination and creative resilience. Bad bitches: this one's for you." --

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Library	Call Number	Status
Searching... Hardwood Creek Library (Forest Lake)	305.420973 BOW	Searching... Unknown
Searching... R.H. Stafford Library (Woodbury)	305.420973 BOW	Searching... Unknown

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Summary

"Sesali Bowen is poised to give Black feminism the rejuvenation it needs. Her trendsetting writing and commentary reaches across experiences and beyond respectability. I and so many Black girls still figuring out who they are in this world will gain so much from whatever she has to say."--Charlene A. Carruthers, activist and author of Unapologetic: A Black, Queer and Feminist Mandate for Radical Movements

"Sesali perfectly vocalizes the inner dialogue, and daily mantras needed to be a Bad Bitch."--Gabourey Sidibe, actor, director, and author of This is Just My Face: Try Not To Stare

"A powerful call for a more inclusive and 'real' feminism."--Publishers Weekly (starred review)

"Bowen writes from an authentic space for Black women who are often left out of feminist conversations due to respectability politics, but who are just as deserving of the same voice and liberation."--Booklist (starred review)

From funny and fearless entertainment journalist Sesali Bowen, Bad Fat Black Girl combines rule-breaking feminist theory, witty and insightful personal memoir, and cutting cultural analysis for an unforgettable, genre-defining debut.

Growing up on the south side of Chicago, Sesali Bowen learned early on how to hustle, stay on her toes, and champion other Black women and femmes as she navigated Blackness, queerness, fatness, friendship, poverty, sex work, and self-love.

Her love of trap music led her to the top of hip-hop journalism, profiling game-changing artists like Megan Thee Stallion, Lizzo, and Janelle Monae. But despite all the beauty, complexity, and general badassery she saw, Bowen found none of that nuance represented in mainstream feminism. Thus, she coined Trap Feminism, a contemporary framework that interrogates where feminism meets today's hip-hop.

Bad Fat Black Girl offers a new, inclusive feminism for the modern world. Weaving together searing personal essay and cultural commentary, Bowen interrogates sexism, fatphobia, and capitalism all within the context of race and hip-hop. In the process, she continues a Black feminist legacy of unmatched sheer determination and creative resilience.

Bad bitches: this one's for you.

Reviews (4)

Publisher's Weekly Review

Journalist Bowen's bold and winning debut fuses an unabashed love of hip-hop with a feminist consciousness that is "educated, but always willing to throw these hands" and a celebration of the social power of "ratchet Black girls." Blending cultural analysis and memoir, Bowen explains why being a shoplifter able to code-switch "in a way that could both impress and disarm white folks" was an expression of power, and how her and a white male friend's different experiences after being arrested for stealing from Nordstrom's highlighted "disparities of class, race, and gender" in the justice system. Bowen also discusses fatphobia within hip-hop culture, defends plastic surgery ("I want no part of a fake ass body positivity that allows people to uphold unrealistic standards, shame women for not meeting them, but still demand that we love and embrace our bodies"), and celebrates the "raw realness" of Megan Thee Stallion and other "misogynoir"-busting female rap artists. Throughout, Bowen uplifts "the resilience, defiance, and attitudes of Black girls," while pointing out the "racial microaggressions" of mainstream, majority white feminist groups such as Planned Parenthood. This is a powerful call for a more inclusive and "real" feminism. Agent: Nick Richesin, Wendy Sherman Assoc. (Oct.)

Kirkus Review

This colloquial debut weaves memoir with cultural studies to illuminate genuine stories of surviving and thriving--and necessary lessons in between. "I'm fat," writes Bowen in the first chapter. "Let's start there." This frankness sets the tone for the book. Framing the text around trap music, "a hip-hop subgenre that expresses some of the realities and aspirational views of Black folks from the hood," the author uses specific experiences as points of reference to explain her life's guiding empowerment principle--what she terms "trap feminism." Before she named it, Bowen clarifies, this creed "was written into the codes I learned growing up broke, curious, Black, resilient, and female in some of the worst parts of Chicago. It's what I learned through fistfights, sex work, queerness, and fatness….It's still how I navigate and make sense of the world." Throughout, the author, the former entertainment editor for Nylon magazine, compellingly addresses themes of racism, sexism, body politics, anarchy, an unreliable justice system, confidence, money, and sexuality, among many others. In differentiating sex work and sex trafficking, Bowen shares her account of a man trying to pimp her out when she was 14, and she makes a case for decriminalizing sex work. "My love for trap makes me what Roxane Gay would call a 'bad feminist,' " Bowen writes, acknowledging that the music is frequently deemed misogynistic. Still, over decades of listening to female rappers, the author notes, "I learned to prioritize my own desires, ambitions, and pleasures, because for all the ways that they might reflect how men talk about us in their rhymes, these women are also adding a key piece of nuance…women, especially Black women, are inherently valuable." Of trap feminists, she concludes, "We do what we have to when we can't do what we want to." Bowen's writing will appeal to readers undeterred by profanity who are interested in both contemporary hip-hop and feminist autobiographies. Direct, driven, occasionally dirty, and undeniably fresh. Copyright (c) Kirkus Reviews, used with permission.

Booklist Review

Entertainment journalist Bowen coined the term trap feminist, which is the intersection of where feminism meets hip-hop. Here she meticulously deconstructs the elitist veil of feminism and honors Black women from the hood with long nails, loud voices, and tough exteriors. Bowen writes from an authentic space for Black women who are often left out of feminist conversations due to respectability politics, but who are just as deserving of the same voice and liberation. The pro-woman lyrics of rappers such as Megan Thee Stallion, The City Girls, and Cardi B provide principle and standards for women, who Bowen also lovingly refers to as "real bitches." Through personal essays, Bowen dissects the complexities of dealing with fat phobia, queerness, owning one's sexuality, and the importance of friendship. She doesn't shy away from the tough experiences of her first fight, a shoplifting conviction, and even her past choice of being a sex worker. Black women are encouraged to re-center themselves in their lives, focus on their paper, and have unwavering standards when it comes to dating. Bowen's insight empowers the unapologetic women who culture loves to emulate and highlights the inspiration behind some of hip-hop's most memorable songs.

Library Journal Review

Part memoir, part cultural analysis, this first book by journalist Bowen (who coined the term trap feminism) is an introspective work on making feminism more inclusive, and a searing indictment of mainstream versions of feminism that leave so many people behind. Bowen begins with an overview of the intersection of feminism and trap music, then offers meditations on blackness, queerness, and fatness; for Bowen, they all overlap in the forms of racism, sexism, and fatphobia. The entire work is remarkable, but especially its engagement with discourse about body positivity and beauty and fashion standards that are upheld by mainstream society. Bowen is perhaps at her best when exploring the nuances of what it means to call a Black girl confident and analyzing how the label is applied to Black women artists like Lizzo and Megan Thee Stallion. Similarly, she deconstructs the hypersexualization of Black women in popular culture and mainstream media, and unpacks why Black women (particularly those who are sex workers) are often devalued. VERDICT Expertly interviewing personal anecdotes with pop culture, Bowen has written a necessary work that centers Black women in the modern history of feminism. Pass along to fans of Hood Feminism, by Mikki Kendall.--Stephanie Sendaula, Library Journal

Introduction Trap Feminism	p. 1
Chapter 1 Bad Bitches Only	p. 21
Chapter 2 Knuckin', Buckin', Ready to Fight	p. 51
Chapter 3 Five-Star Bitch	p. 87
Chapter 4 Bun Me My Money	p. 111
Chapter 5 Plan B	p. 135
Chapter 6 Selling It	p. 159
Chapter 7 Not Straight	p. 183
Chapter 8 Fuck these Niggas	p. 207
Chapter 7 My Bitches	p. 233
Epilogue Heal Bitch	p. 253
Acknowledgments	p. 259
Notes	p. 263

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Summary

Summary

Reviews (4)

Publisher's Weekly Review

Kirkus Review

Booklist Review

Library Journal Review

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