Canadian Woman Studies / les cahiers de la femme (E-Journal, York University)

Kemp, Penn

VOLUME 35, NUMBER 1,2 65
on pro-ana/mia websites. Schott traces the ways in which 
“thinspiration” consists of “images, slogans, and videos 
aimed at inspiring the pursuit of extreme thinness” (1029). 
Schott argues that “…black women’s decision to join thin-
spiration is not an attempt to become Caucasian, but an act 
of survival in a social climate that valorizes a Eurocentric 
thin feminine beauty ideal” (1030). Schott raises a crucial 
point. The cultural logics of eating disorders and how they 
represent a desire for control, regulation, and responsibility 
over oneself are rooted in white, Eurocentric standards of 
femininity that privilege a thin ideal. Furthermore, Sabrina 
Strings demonstrates the racist origins of fatphobia and 
argues that ideals of slenderness and/or thinness are rooted 
in racism. Therefore, in addition to the importance of an 
intersectional approach towards fat studies and feminist 
studies, it is crucial to consider how Eurocentric expec-
tations, rooted in whiteness, cis-heteronormativity, and 
able-bodiedness deeply control cultural assumptions and 
expectations of eating disorders and femininity, which 
perpetuate systemic oppression and injustice. Concep-
tions of eating disorders are already controlled through 
such assumptions, even before a diagnosis of an eating 
disorder appears. Schott (2017) and Strings (2019) show 
how notions of thinness, “thinspiration”, and fatness are 
rooted in a cultural consciousness that is oppressive and 
systemically unjust, yet remain part of the diagnostic work 
that goes into anorexia and binge eating disorder, as well 
as normative expectations of femininity. 
The Diagnostic Underpinnings of Binge Eating and 
Anorexia 
Fatness is often constructed within health and political 
discourse to be a huge problem—the “obesity epidemic” 
(Boero; Lyons; Rothblum and Solovay; Wann). For in-
stance, the World Health Organization (WHO) states 
that obesity is on the rise, and has now reached “epidemic 
proportions” (WHO, n.p.). Now, much of how obesity 
is discussed, although it makes a huge appearance in 
medical discourse, is perhaps considered less often in the 
language of eating disorders. Let us, then, consider “binge 
eating disorder.” Importantly, any mention of fatness or 
“obesity” does not exist in the DSM-V classification of 
binge eating disorder. However, binge eating disorder 
still has a relationship to fatness, femininity, control, and 
notions of “disorder”. 
Binge eating disorder is a fairly recent addition into the 
DSM. It was not included in the DSM-IV (the version 
just prior to its fifth iteration) (Berkman et al.; Cowden 
n.p.). Binge eating disorder is classified and diagnosed 
as, “[e]ating, in a discrete period of time (for example, 
within any two-hour period), an amount of food that is 
definitely larger than most people would eat in a similar 
period of time under similar circumstance” (Berkman et 
al.). Additionally, I want to highlight two other elements 
of binge eating disorder that are of particular salience to 
this analysis: “A sense of lack of control over eating during 
the episode (for example, a feeling that one cannot stop 
eating or control what or how much one is eating)”, and 
“[f ]eeling disgusted with oneself, depressed, or very guilty 
afterwards” (Berkman et al.). 
Eating disorders in general have been discussed in 
relation to control, or the lack of it (e.g., Tiggeman and 
Raven; De Welles). Also, the idea of feeling disgusted 
with oneself or guilty are key elements of these diagnostic 
PENN KEMP
When Friends Introduced Me
 To my future
husband, I looked into sea-green eyes
and an ice floe melted inside.
A thin wire of nerve shivered in
recognition. Was I ready to
relax age-old tension and dissolve?
Would I accept this gentleman’s offering
of which he was apparently unaware?
I knew his gargantuan belly
would soon become my own by
fifty pounds. A trade-off
I took on, fair play for
decades of martial fare.
He took this poor poet out to dinner
and I devoured every morsel.
Penn Kemp has participated in Canadian cultural life 
for fifty years, writing, editing, and publishing poetry 
and plays. Her first book of poetry, on labour, Bearing 
Down, was published by Coach House in 1972. She 
has published more than thirty books of poetry, prose, 
and drama; seven plays; and ten CDs. The League of 
Canadian Poets acclaimed Penn as 2015 Spoken Word 
Artist. She is the League’s fortieth Life Member. She was 
London, Ontario’s inaugural Poet Laureate. At Western 
University, Penn was writer-in-residence, 2009–2010. 
In 2020, she was presented with the inaugural Joe 
Rosenblatt (Muttsy) Award for Innovative Creators.
CWS_35_12_a_Section_1_80_02_6th_pages.indd   65 2023-02-06   7:49 PM


English

When Friends Introduced Me

Cornell, Lakay

What We Don't Talk About When We Talk about Fat by Aubrey Gordon: Reviewed by Lakay Cornell

Ellison, Jenny

You Have the Right to Remain Fat by Virgie Tovar: Reviewed by Jenny Ellison, PhD

Robinson, Margaret

Andrew, Jill

Cranney, Brenda

Hales, Elizabeth

Tiller, Renée

Editorial/Éditorial

A personal essay detailing the author's experiences with fatphobia

Fatphobia througout a Lifetime

Martonfi, Ilona

38 CANADIAN WOMAN STUDIES/LES CAHIERS DE LA FEMME
I just wanted to say “fuck off my body isn’t for you!” At 
one point I began saying to myself: “Who does it benefit 
when I hate my body?” I knew the answer intellectually 
but emotionally it took a lot longer to stick, until one 
day it finally did. I will always have my ups and downs. I 
will always have days where I curse every god for putting 
me in this vessel but now, I know that it is not about me. 
It’s about how society has failed me and others like me. 
How can I hate my body when my body has always been 
there for me? How can I hate the vehicle that can take 
me anywhere I want to go? The heart that allows me to 
dance to my favorite songs? How could I ever hate my 
belly that perfectly balances bowls of food on it—I can’t. 
I am young. Most of my life is ahead of me and I know as 
life goes on, I will continue to face resentment and aversion 
from the general public regarding my body. I will also face 
systemic discrimination through medical care and hiring 
processes. Me having a good relationship with my body 
will do little to help combat the systemic discrimination 
and adversity I as a fat person will face in our society, but 
I am ready to fight. I will fight for the children in my life 
who at 3 years old already somehow know that calling 
someone fat is one of the worst insults there is and I will 
fight for people like Venus who has been attacked by society 
and still must live with the lasting damage. 
Unlike Venus, I am hopeful that things will change. 
Anti-fatphobia communities have been thriving online 
and “body positivity” is becoming mainstream.  It will 
take a long time for individuals to completely unlearn the 
fatphobic rhetoric that has been drilled into our minds 
since childhood but hopefully one day, fat people as a 
whole will not only be able to accept our bodies but also 
have our bodies accepted. Finally.
Renée Tiller is a BIPOC student at York University. As the 
first youth representative on the Inanna Publications board of 
directors, Renée’s experience working with disabled, LGBTQ+ 
folx, and inner-city youth influences her activism greatly. The 
intersectionality of identities is a main focus of her work.
ILONA MARTONFI
Trümmerfrauen (Rubble Women)
On Walhallastrasse,
women dressed in kerchiefs
cotton aprons, old shoes
at breadlines and burying corpses
waiting to buy cabbage, potatoes
with their ration coupons
rubble, intact rooms,
gutted silhouettes
the old Messerschmitt airport
war refugees from Budapest
we live in Halle # 7
windowless factory hangar
by the Moosgraben creek,
Bavarian chalk hills, bomb craters.
Purple wild irises
bog nunnery manor
cleaning red bricks,
my mother, Magda.
Ilona Martonfi is an editor, poet, curator, and activist. 
Author of four poetry books, the most recent Salt Bride 
(Inanna, 2019) and The Tempest (Inanna, 2022). 
Writes in journals, anthologies, and seven chapbooks. 
Her poem “Dachau on a Rainy Day” was nominated 
for the 2018 Pushcart Prize. Curator of Visual Arts 
Centre Reading Series and Argo Bookshop Reading 
Series. QWF 2010 Community Award.
CWS_35_12_a_Section_1_80_02_6th_pages.indd   38 2023-02-06   7:49 PM


Trümmerfrauen (Rubble Women)

Trainer, Yvonne

VOLUME 35, NUMBER 1,2 75
YVONNE TRAINER
Betrayal
This February my body betrayed me
It was always wanting to lie down or waddle into the living room
and sit in a cushioned chair to spill its pale full moon over
the horizon of my waistline
My thighs just sat there like two dumb stone-boats
bearing the weight of this four-million-year-old lunar object
Outside the trees grew tall as towers without leaves
The footprints in the snow appeared as long and narrow
as the milky way in a thin line of sky
Every picket in the fence stood long and lean
as if to mock my curved spine burdened by layers of flesh
Then slowly March staggered in
The sky became weighted down with cold
The Canada geese grew heavy  They flew low
Chickadees grew round and full  It was as though they might burst
The roofs of houses sagged with tons on snow
After three tries    I hoisted myself up
I was a mountain waiting to topple
My round face looked out the window The earth’s face looked back.
Yvonne Trainer (Lethbridge, Alberta) holds an MA in English/Creative Writing and a PhD in Contemporary Literature/
Special topics in Medicine in Literature. As a member of the League of Canadian Poets, and full-time poet/freelancer, she 
has published five works of poetry plus numerous poems and non-fiction pieces.
Taylor, Allison. “‘Flabulously’ Femme: Queer Fat Femme 
Women’s Identities and Experiences.” Journal of Lesbian 
Studies, vol. 22, no. 4, 2018, pp. 459–481. doi:10.108
0/10894160.2018.1449503. 
S. Kasaei. Mixed media on canvas. 20 x 60 cm
White, Francis Ray. “‘We’re Kind of Devolving’: Visual 
Tropes of Evolution in Obesity Discourse.” Critical 
Public Health, vol. 23, no. 3, 2013, pp. 320–330, doi:
10.1080/09581596.2013.777693. 
CWS_35_12_a_Section_1_80_02_6th_pages.indd   75 2023-02-06   7:49 PM


Betrayal

Driedger, Diane

Disrupting Breast Cancer Narratives: Stories of Rage and Repair by Emilia Nielsen: Reviewed by Diane Driedger

Deux étudiant.e.s Métis avec des identités compliquées discutent de leurs expériences comme leaders au doctorat en anglais et en français. Elizabeth et Rebecca plaident plus de soutien départemental et institutionnel aux étudiants et professeurs du BIPOC. Cet article aborde de difficiles questions traitant de l’identité, des alliés et des gardiens des normes en éducation et en histoire

Best, C. Elizabeth

Lazarenko, Rebecca

We Were Warned: A Conversation about Identity in Education and History

Ashby, Kathy

24 CANADIAN WOMAN STUDIES/LES CAHIERS DE LA FEMME
I flee the sun—
head towards water—
dive deeper—
to drown 
Bänoo Zan has numerous poems and three books, 
including Songs of Exile and Letters to My Father. 
She founded Shab-e She’r, Toronto’s most diverse and 
brave poetry series in 2012.
MEGHAN EAKER
best interests for whom
the white decision makers
sit around the table bloated
with good intentions
eurocentric ethical principles
weaponized to willingly
(un)knowingly administer
the colonial project
with a self-satisfied smile
to justify stealing yet another
indigenous child
to purposefully withhold vital services
to use as a reward
when we are finally
forced to give up
our children
to normalize the theft
of our bodies
from our homes
our lands
in their eyes to be an indian
is to be in need of rescuing
they flock to us
to provide it
mercifully
demanding our gratitude
for their selfless labour
are we destined
to be continuous casualties
of a system of recycled 
white saviours?
Meghan Eaker (she/they) is an amiskwaciywaskahikan 
(Treaty 6) based poet, registered nurse, and artist of european 
and nehiyaw (Cree) ancestry. She is a member of the Woodland 
Cree First Nation in Treaty 8 and is pursuing a PhD in 
Indigenous Studies at the University of Alberta, studying 
storysharing as a creative practice towards miyo pimatisiwin 
(a good life) for two-spirit, trans, and queer Indigenous youth.
KATHY ASHBY
Beautiful Black
Once upon a time we could see night as it 
was meant to be 
black, 
tired, we slid our skin under skins 
eyes open 
as light dimmed it held down our limbs 
relaxed, nothing needed to be brave about 
anonymous black 
commenced descent 
 
in lap of obscurity, indistinct lover 
fetching sweetness 
twinkled and sprinkled  
sifted and drifted 
hovered and covered 
wrapped and packeted 
 
dawn far to come 
our impatience numb 
we savoured the nothingness 
yet fancied the fullness 
the void and the thatness 
of beautiful blackness 
Kathy’s poetry and stories have appeared in publications 
such as Descant Magazine, Canadian Woman Studies 
Magazine, Chicken Soup for the Soul and broadcast 
on the CBC Radio program Outfront. Author of the book 
Carol ‘A Woman’s Way’ (DreamCatcher). Kathy is also 
an Associate Member of the Canadian League of Poets.
CWS_35_3_a_Section_1_96_6th_pages.indd   24 2023-05-10   4:48 PM


Beautiful Black

Not a member yet