Bad Fat Black Girl is as hilarious as it is precise in its feminist analysis bringing critique and rigor to Sesali Bowen’s stories and view of the world. Centering Black women in everything she does, Bowen, breaks down how we can build a world ensuring all of us are loved, cared for, and seen.

This is an excellent book that is part social commentary and part memoir, blended together into a read that makes feminism easily understood for any audience. This will challenge many preconceived notions many hold, and will be an essential reference for any intersectional feminist.

This was a fantastic memoir as well as social commentary on respectability politics, body image, and femme empowerment. There is excellent discourse on trap culture, Black femininity, and sexuality and how these concepts are demonized while simultaneously appropriated by mainstream society. I really enjoyed learning about the author's ideology of Trap Feminism.

As a scholar, i think this book is one that should be added in teaching of undergraduate classes. It is easy to understand and addresses important topics

I loved the story, the world building and meeting the different characters. I felt completely immersed in the story and couldn't stop reading it.

Absolutely loved this book! I'm a hip-hop lover through & through, and while I love my raunchy lyrics, I know they can be problematic to a degree. Am I still going to dance to those songs? Sure am! And I believe Sesali Bowen can relate. Reading her share several essays in "Bad Fat Black Girl" about how she navigates the south side of Chicago + beyond as a queer black plus-sized woman was intriguing. As a black woman in America, I enjoy reading other black women share their experiences, especially when they are as transparent as Sesali Bowen. Reading this book made me feel like I was having a long conversation with my homegirl that I didn't want to.get off the phone with. Loved this book and cannot recommend it enough. Now I want to sign up to be a trap feminist, too.

⭐⭐⭐⭐💫

Thank you to Netgalley and the publisher for an ARC of this book in exchange for an honest review.

Thank you Netgalley for letting me read and review this book. Bad Fat Black Girl talks about inclusive feminism in the modern world, about how it is not just for white women. Sesali writes about sexism, fatphobia, and capitalism in the context of race and hip-hop. Bowen's non-fiction memoir is an intriguing and inspirational book, about determination, Black women, and resilience. Thank you for sharing your story. I learned a lot in this book, and couldn't put it down! Sesali has a beautiful writing style, and writes with power and truth.

✨ Review ✨ Bad Fat Black Girl: Notes from a Trap Feminist by Sesali Bowen

I've been sitting on this one for awhile and picked it up as one of my last reads of 2022, and I am SO glad I did. I read some and listened to some on audio, and Bowen narrates herself which just brings her writing to life.

This book is part memoir, part reflective essays, part trap feminist philosophy, in which she brings together trap music and feminism to propose a philosophy for her way of life. It runs the gamut from pop culture to dating and relationships to classism and queer identity. Throughout, she centers Black women and femmes, and preaches self-love and boundaries within this concept of trap feminism.

This reminded me a little of Mikki Kendall's Hood Feminism in its content, but this takes a different approach -- more grounded in pop culture, memoir, and philosophy. I loved both books, and they'd pair well together

⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️
Genre: non-fiction, memoir
Reminds me of: Mikki Kendall's Hood Feminism
Pub Date: Out now

Read this if you like:
⭕️ books written by bad bitches, for bad bitches
⭕️ books that pair theory and memoir
⭕️ topics of feminism and Black culture

Thanks to Amistad and #netgalley for an advanced e-copy of this book!

Say it louder for the Fat Black women in the back! I thoroughly enjoyed this book. It's a Black, ratchet feminist's bible on how to live authentically and embrace everything that society has deemed unacceptable. It's a self-love manual for those who struggle with honoring the culture, women, and themselves.

Thank you to NetGalley and Amistad for allowing me to read this amazing book!

Sesali Bowen and her book Bad Fat Black Girl: Notes from a Trap Feminist are Five Star Bitch*s! Literally. This is for the hipster bitch*s that shop at Lenox, for the hoes, my ni**as that's p poppin at Magic City, and bitch*s bout that money. Them bad hoes at spelman too. Basically if you are black and femme, like Drake said "This is not to get confused, this one's for you."

If you are looking for the next level up into feminism for the black woman, after reading Hood Feminism, look no further. Bad Fat Black Girl gives it to the reader raw and uncut! It was as though I was reading an unapologetic dissertation in AAVE. What a time to be alive!

I related to Sesali in so many ways even when our experiences didn't align. I learned and identified with her so much that I wrote 4 pages worth of notes. She left no stone unturned and didn't apologize for the awakening she stirred within you by being authentically her. She covered fat phobia, sex work, poverty, queerness, capitalism, the justice system and more. I knew she truly didn't give a f, when she called out everyone's favs (J. Cole, Kendrick Lamar and Beyonce). Just be warned, get your Got 2 B glue ready because she is snatching wigs and bringing your bs into the light.

Some (not nearly all) of my favorite quotes are:
" We live lives that are complex, political and sometimes contradictory."
" Sometimes the weight of your situation doesn't hit you until you hear the hurt, disappointment and fear in your parents voice"
" we do what we have to when we can't do what we want"
"our love has been equated with a form of martyrdom; it grows stronger the more we suffer and hold ni**as down"

I honestly could go on and on and on about this book but the bottom line is.... Black women look out for yourselves and look out for other black women. Step one for you who are reading this review is to read this book and tell someone else about it. Best believe I'm going to be pushing it!

This is an excellent and original mashup of memoir and new Black feminist manifesto. From my roundup for NPR.org:
Both manifesto and memoir, Sesali Bowen's Bad Fat Black Girl is another standout. It's written from the perspective of someone who's both a media scholar and activist, and it shows.

Like the other authors, Bowen weaves together observations about cultural expression with broader social attitudes and ideas. But there's more of an urgency and grit and an irrepressible, profane irreverence to a book titled "Bad Fat Black Girl." Bowen also brings more of an outsider perspective. She grew up working class and she's not trying to aspire or fit into white dominated "mainstream" culture.

Influenced by Joan Morgan's When Chickenheads Come Home to Roost (about reconciling feminism and hip-hop) and trap music, Sesali Bowen weaves together feminist theory and hip-hop analysis from the perspective of someone who loves and lives for it.

Read more: https://www.npr.org/2022/03/21/1087494475/5-books-at-the-intersection-of-black-feminist-thought-culture-and-politics

Love this book! I read the copy of this ARC a while ago, and forgot to update here. So I ordered the audiobook and listened to it this time - and I love it even more!

So many of the things discussed in Bowen's essay were easily things people I know have talked about but were never able to convey so expertly. This is just what I needed -a perspective I could understand and relate to. This will be purchased and added to my library.

I really like the approach Ms. Bowen took with this work. Coming at feminism from this angle was innovative, and she does a wonderful job of explaining her viewpoint. The social and pop culture commentary is on point.

Fast paced/easy read. . . It felt like a long essay rather than a book. The author shared a lot of personal information that made the read more exciting and humorous but It took me a long time to finish because I didn’t feel like I was gaining much from reading it.

Hip hop plus feminism is like tailor-made for me so I was so excited about this book! She defines trap feminism and it's much needed place in the current world. Cannot recommend enough!!

First, this is an amazing book that becomes very, very readable after the introduction. Many terms and concepts not familiar to those of us with different backgrounds are beautifully defined, which is one of my favorite parts of the book. In fairness, if you know what trap music is, which I did not, the introduction makes tons of sense. (Nope, not about "The Sound of Music" and the Von Trapp family) It was worth it to reread the introduction after finishing the book but no matter what, do NOT let the introduction stop you from reading this book.. Bad Fat Black Girl is part memoir-- totally engaging-- and, in my opinion and experience of it, it is part self-help book, useful and somewhat universal in its perspectives. In deciding how to review this book, I kept thinking about me, me, me. Because I'm an unlikely audience for this book. It felt very narcissistic of me to want to explain why I chose to read this and yet, this desire continued in the brain of this privileged, sixty-something, white, cisgender, female "progressive." And then I saw Bowen's epilogue about a publisher who rejected "Bad Fat Black Girl" because the audience would not be broad enough. "Her feedback was that women who were older, more settled into professional lives, or even those who didn't have ties to the hood wouldn't be able to relate. For her, trap feminism was something that only young, ratchet Black girls could relate to." For over sixty years, I thought I was "all that: with my long-standing civill rights, activism thanks largely to my activist mother and my various jobs involving enforcement of discrimination laws. In fact, I needed and need way more education and understanding and (might not sound like it so far) way more humility. So, when I find the description of a book by a Black author (fiction or nonfiction) interesting and its initial reviews look good, and and if the book offers me a chance to get further down this road of understanding, I read it. First, this is a book about the experiences of a Black girl, now a Black woman, who was sexually active with older men at a very young age, who grew up on the South Side of Chicago with very little money, but with more of a safety net than many of her contemporaries because of her grandmother and relatives in the suburbs as well as the fact her mother worked for many years in an ob gyn office in the community. Bowen's relationship with her mother is difficult, in part because of common themes she identifies in Black parenting in her community, an authoritarian approach to raising children with no room for questions. Also, her mother struggled with addiction for many years leaving their living situation unstable and chaotic. She loves trap music, a subgenre of rap originating in Atlanta in the 1990s/early 2000s that mostly involved lyrics that were misogynistic and objectified women. As Bowen evolved and became more introspective about herself, her life and her studies, she needed to revisit this love and figure out whether she wanted to stay true to trap. She listened with a new ear and decided, fairly in my understanding of all this, that in many of the songs, the women at issue have agency. There is power in being the man's object of desire and the women make decisions about where they choose to be and how they choose to act. Thus, the origin of "trap feminism." Agency. Living authentically. There are gems throughout this book. , I mentioned it on my Facebook page as I dwelt on how to describe it to a "broad" audience.... I quoted " 'Friendship is one of the purest forms of love precisely because you love your friends voluntarily.' From a book that likely would shock you but I'm thinking about a lot. "Bad Fat Black Girl: Notes from a Trap Feminist" by Sesali Bowen. This small segment of a relationships chapter includes that Bowen won't get intimately involved with anyone who doesn't have friends. Wise, wise-ass, full of choices and perspectives that are totally jarring even to those of us who think we are fairly unconventional." So yes, this book will speak immediately to people already further down the road with a broad view of sex and sexuality and Black experience in the world generally. And, after some of us draw back for a moment, Bowen's choices and perspectives make sense and we are more educated about sex and sexuality and Black experience in the world generally. Bad Fat Black Girl sent me to the internet to watch trap videos, read trap lyrics, particularly those Bowen cites, and to listen to a podcast interview of Bowen on her book and her trap feminist theory. There is no middle ground here. But there is plenty to think about with an open mind. Bowen writes a lot about gender fluidity, identifying as "queer." (I believe she uses female pronouns, since she adores looking good and calling herself femme, so don't fault me there folks!) She writes about sexuality and sexual behavior and her own background as a sex worker. Bowen eventually went to college, stumbling a bit but getting through in part because of opportunities she found through a mentor and her own talent for writing and inspiring people. What I get from this immersion into her book, trap music, her Instagram and interview is respect for this woman who can explain so well the things we do not know and remove stereotypes, while defining the influences on her life and her philosophy thus far of how to be who she wants and needs to be --- without apology.

Sesali Bowen is the self-proclaimed trap feminist. The funny fearless entertainment journalist grew up on the south side of Chicago and learned early on how to hustle, champion other Black women and navigate fat phobia, poverty, friendship and self-love. Her love of trap music led her to hip hop journalism where she soon found the balance between feminism and hip hop.

Bowen treats us to personal essays in this debut memoir titled Bad Fat Black Girl: Notes from a Trap Feminist. The cover is very eye-catching and matches the content. She shares how trap music lyrics often conflicts with her support of Black women and being a feminist. Phrases like "bad bitches" and "top notch hoes" float across tracks that she may sing along to but not necessarily overlook. Neither does it diminish her confidence or own identity.

"When people joke that 'Knuck If You Buck' is an old Negro spiritual, they're referencing the surge of emotion and adrenaline Black folks feel when it comes on." ~ 31%

I can certainly relate. I can rap along to a lot of songs and still be able to disconnect myself from the women described in lyrics. I know my worth. I know what I am and what I am not. I am one of the most polite people you will ever meet but will still rhyme Diamond's verse word-for-word like I'm a fighter. I still advocate for women's rights but you can't tell me I'm not the Susie that Gucci thinks he loves. And Bowen totally understands and translates this well!

Bad Fat Black Girl will probably be dissected by scholars or music critics. I found it to be an agreeable, entertaining read and recommend for others. You don't have to like trap music to enjoy but it will definitely enhance your reading experience of this new memoir.

~LiteraryMarie

I started this book but the vulgarity and generational language was too much for me to continue. Thanks for the opportunity to review.

“Even an artsy chick who’s into crystals and meditation can like to shake her ass”

Bad Fat Black Girl by Sesali Bowen was one of those books I knew I would be great, yet I still completely underestimated how deeply it would resonate with me.

I hugely identified with Bowen’s points around rap music and female rappers. As a Black woman who loves rap, I’ve also struggled to find a way to properly articulate the nuance of loving a genre that can be hyper-sexual and misogynistic. Bowen did a brilliant job of explaining the duality and empowerment that comes from female rap. This book was the reminder I needed that women, Black women especially, are allowed and deserve duality. I can be a mom, an academic, and a therapist. I can be all that and love trap rap, cannabis, and shaking my ass too.

This book is absolutely required reading if you identify as a feminist. Bowen offers commentary on the experience of Black women in America, specifically Black women that are too often overlooked or seen as too “hood” for mainstream feminists to uplift. I loved that this book centered discussions about fatphobia, sex work, trans women, and queerness. It was insightful, funny, and humanizing. Hands down, one of my favorite and most valuable non fiction reads so far this year.

Thank you @netgalley for allowing me to read this in advance. I will for sure be purchasing a physical copy to annotate.