Wendy Shanker
Wendy Shanker's humorous, hopeful memoir about women and body image, The Fat Girl's Guide to Life (Bloomsbury USA) changed the way many women related to their weight. You may have seen Wendy discussing her book on The View, Good Morning America, CBS Sunday Morning, or on her national tour sponsored by Macy's Woman. The Fat Girl's Guide was recently released in paperback, and will be published in seven different languages, including Italian, German, and Japanese (but not French because French Women Don't Get Fat).
Wendy's byline has appeared in Glamour, Grace , Self, Shape , Us Weekly (Fashion Police), Cosmopolitan, Marie-Claire, Seventeen, alternative mags like Bust and Bitch, and on MTV. She contributed to the anthology Body Outlaws: Rewriting the Rules of Beauty and Body Image (Seal Press), and her essay Big Mouth: Women; Appetite was recently published in The Modern Jewish Girl's Guide To Guilt (Dutton).
Also, check out her introduction in the new book Big Girl Knits: 25 Big, Bold Projects Shaped for Real Women with Real Curves (Potter Craft).
Wendy is honored to be a national spokesperson for NOW's Love Your Body Day get info at http://loveyourbody.nowfoundation.org . She's also the senior beauty editor for the e-zine for a well-rounded life, AmaZe (www.amazemagazine.com). You know what that means: free makeup.
Between viewings of Rescue Me and reruns of The Office, Wendy is currently working on her next book.
“Let’s take the focus off “fat” and put it on health. Let’s take the focus off “skinny” and put it on good common sense. Let’s take the focus off body image and put it on education, women’s rights, human rights, the economy, baseball cards, anything.”
“For a long time I was incredibly nervous about going through the checkout line at the supermarket. I'd assume that the checkout lady would be silently evaluating my groceries: "She could use more vegetables... Is the girl going to eat all of this tonight?... She should put the frozen yogurt back and pick the bagels OR the oatmeal." Maybe she is. More likely she's wondering when the hell her shift is over and should she grab some of that cereal to take home to her family. Either way, what I buy is not her concern. She can think whatever she wants.”
“It's easy to hate women and hate women's bodies when we don't do very much to fight back. We have to step into the skin we're in. Your body isn't perfect? Well, neither is mine. Neither is anyone's. It's time to redefine "perfect" or drop the expectation. It's time to feed ourselves with compassion instead of grief. Compassion instead of starvation. Compassion instead of food.”
“I don't expect to meet the man of my dream today, but if I do, then I guess if he's really the man of my dreams he won't reject me when he sees the pudge around my knees.”
“As far as I know, Gwyneth Paltrow has not compared herself to me today, so I've decided that I will not compare myself to her.”