The self-proclaimed “loud woman” speaking out against fat shaming

Shrill is subtitled ‘Notes from a Loud Woman’ and the blurb uses words like ‘kick ass’ and ‘black humour’. What reading had I let myself in for, I wondered.

The blurb assured me the author, Lindy West was famous, so I googled her as the book didn’t give me a real sense of her fame, except she was a blogger. I am not a big fan of blogs which, to me, over share someone’s personal life. I guess that is partly a generational thing.

Lindy West is an American freelance journalist writing for, among other magazines, GQ and the Guardian. She is a performer, a film criticism editor, a feminist, and an activist in the fat acceptance movement.

Writing about these things on her blog and in columns has lead to her being a victim of trolls. When I googled her, some of these troll posts came up. The most repeatable of these was from the site Chateau Heartiste, ‘Linda ‘Immense’ West Got Married.’

She has been trolled because of some feminist statements. She particularly targets her opposition to jokes about rape, and the fact that rape victims are so rarely believed and often blamed. The greatest amount of trolling has been against her stand about fat shaming and in particular her view that one does not have to be thin to be happy. This came to a head with her marriage when Lindy West made much of the fact that she’d had a wonderful wedding day, even though she was fat.

Read more: Author calls for end to cyber bullying and fat shaming.

West reveals some of her heartaches – her off and on relationship with her now husband, the death of her dearly loved father.

In her writing West believes she is fighting for ‘diverse voices’, the ‘inherent value of fat people’, ‘believing rape victims’ and ‘refusing to cave in to abortion stigma’.

Lindy West believes in kindness and compassion. We can’t have too much of that in this tired old world.

Shrill by Lindy West (published by Hachette Australia) is available now from Dymocks. Click here to learn more.