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It's Always Been Ours: Rewriting the Story of Black Women's Bodies

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It's Always Been Ours: Rewriting the Story of Black Women's Bodies

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Overview

WE WILL REWRITE THE NARARTIVE OF BLACKNESS THAT CENTERS AND CELEBRATES OUR JOY.

In It’s Always Been Ours eating disorder specialist and storyteller Jessica Wilson challenges us to rethink what having a "good" body means in contemporary society. By centering the bodies of Black women in her cultural discussions of body image, food, health, and wellness, Wilson argues that we can interrogate white supremacy’s hold on us and reimagine the ways we think about, discuss, and tend to our bodies.

A narrative that spans the year of racial reckoning (that wasn't), It’s Always Been Ours is an incisive blend of historical documents, contemporary writing, and narratives of clients, friends, and celebrities that examines the politics of body liberation. Wilson argues that our culture’s fixation on thin, white women reinscribes racist ideas about Black women's bodies and ways of being in the world as "too much." For Wilson, this white supremacist, capitalist undergirding in wellness movements perpetuates a culture of respectability and restriction that force Black women to perform unhealthy forms of resilience and strength at the expense of their physical and psychological needs.

With just the right mix of wit, levity, and wisdom, Wilson shows us how a radical reimagining of body narratives is a prerequisite to well-being. It’s Always Been Ours is a love letter that celebrates Black women’s bodies and shows us a radical and essential path forward to rediscovering their vulnerability and joy.

Product Details
About the Author

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9780306827693
Publisher:	Hachette Books
Publication date:	02/07/2023
Pages:	288
Sales rank:	672,442
Product dimensions:	5.90(w) x 9.10(h) x 1.20(d)

About the Author

Jessica Wilson is a dietitian, storyteller, and community organizer whose experiences navigating the dietetic and eating disorder fields as a Black, queer woman have been featured on public radio shows and in print media, including the New York Times. She is the co-creator of Amplify Melanated Voices, a movement to center Black and Brown people in conversations about social justice. Jessica knows the grandeur of Black joy and invites everyone to celebrate it for the magnificence and resistance it is.

From the B&N Reads Blog

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Editorial Reviews

"I could not put this book down. Throughout each page I felt seen, heard, and validated in my experiences as a Black woman who has dealt with body oppression and as an eating disorder provider, who has supported Black women in healing their relationship with our bodies. Jessica offers an accurate account of eating disorders in Black communities and allows us to experience her heart through each chapter, her passion for Black women and call for liberation is evident. This book is long overdue and an imperative read for Black women and for providers within the eating disorders field"—Alishia McCullough, (she/her) MS, LCMHC, founder of BlackandEmbodied Counseling and Consulting PLLC

"Having known Jessica for several years a few things are irrefutable. Her analysis is astute, her call to eradicate racial injustice is dart direct and care and investment in the lives of women of color is complete. There simply is no better literary voice for this moment in history than Jessica Wilson."—Sonya Renee Taylor, activist and author of the bestselling The Body is Not an Apology

"Aside from my passionate belief that the Black Lives Matter movement is literally a matter of life and death on a fundamental human rights level, Jessica’s work specifically gut punched me as a woman who has had an eating disorder for nearly 30 years. I have been very publicly vocal about my eating disorder for many years because I feel it is my duty as a public figure to be transparent about the unrealistic beauty and body standards that I have (as a result of a debilitating mental illness) unfortunately helped perpetuate. Jessica opened my eyes to how rooted in white supremacy the eating disorder recovery field is and now I simply cannot unsee it. I’m not sure if you are aware but eating disorders have the highest mortality rate of any other mental illness. And every eating disorder treatment program I’ve been in (or for that matter any that my fellow ED warriors have encountered) only center the white experience and white body/beauty norms and end up either completely excluding or causing even more harm to Black folx.

On top of all the work Jessica has been doing during this particularly traumatizing year for Black folx everywhere she has also dedicated many hours of her precious time to help myself and some of my fellow actress friends start an activism pod that is trying to tackle body diversity and dangerous beauty and physical standards in our industry."—Anna Paquin, Oscar-winning actress

"As an eating disorder clinician Jessica has an intersectional lens and a trauma-informed approach that challenges the status quo of the historically white eating disorder field and brings a much needed perspective. Jessica brings a complex and nuanced perspective that will progress the dietitian field to being accessible and supportive to all people with eating disorders. She doesn’t use a one-size-fits-all approach, but instead works with each client differently to meet their specific needs and help them understand both their individualized treatment goals and the societal forces that impact their relationship with food and their bodies.

We're still early in our antiracism journey and the learning curve is steep and we have centuries of oppression to dismantle which is obviously not going to happen overnight. But THIS is how people such as ourselves, who benefit from white/social/career privilege, can help right these wrongs. This book by a Black, Queer dietitian would not only be groundbreaking but also set an example for other publishers in amplifying the voices of Black women and letting them lead conversations about body liberation."—Alison Pill, actress

"She is both practical and scientifically factual while being body AND food positive. She recognizes that our relationships to our bodies and the foods we put in them are political...” —Ari Max Bachrach, NP, eating disorder medical provider
“A Black, queer dietitian and expert in disordered eating, Wilson invites readers to reflect, rethink, reclaim, resist and reimagine living a life of pure joy.”
—Ms.

From the Publisher

2022-12-20
A deeply intimate critique of systematic racist and sexist inequities behind the so-called health-and-wellness industry.
“Health has been connected to whiteness for over a century, it’s nothing new,” writes Wilson, a self-described “regular-degular” dietician. She continues: “Colonialism, white supremacy, and capitalism ensure that people assigned Blackness will never fit within the confines of Health.” Written “specifically for Black women,” the author’s first book makes the case for “putting Black women at the center of the narratives, rather than having our stories filtered through a white lens.” Wilson rewrites the narratives surrounding Black women’s bodies and maps a collective and individual reclamation of Black joy. After the introduction, the author presents three sections. The first, “Live, Laugh, Love,” features chapters such as “It Isn’t Diet Culture, It’s White Supremacy” and “Too Much, Yet Not Enough: Restriction.” The second section, “ ‘Solutions’/Having a Body Is Hard,” digs deeper into the myriad perils of body image and “the impacts of pathologizing people’s bodies,” and the final third, “A New Story,” is dedicated to Black joy. Wilson peppers her arguments with dashes of humor, and her directness, acerbic tone, and honesty about her personal life and struggles with seizures make for compelling reading. Many of the author’s arguments and insights are undeniable, and she unpacks them with both originality and candor—e.g., “Health disparities are not solved by teaching people how to cook quinoa and put sliced almond on salads.” She recounts her experience at the 2021 Gwyneth Paltrow’s In Goop Health summit, which gave “a glimpse of what it would mean to live a life of ease” but made her sick. She also references recent significant moments, such as Mo’Nique’s 2021 Instagram live video on respectability. The most-repeated line Wilson tells her clients is to eat more food, in hopes that they will “enjoy it without overthinking it.”
This fiery polemic and celebration stands out among contemporary books on the subject of Black women’s bodies.

Kirkus Reviews

As an eating disorder clinician Jessica has an intersectional lens and a trauma-informed approach that challenges the status quo of the historically white eating disorder field and brings a much needed perspective. Jessica brings a complex and nuanced perspective that will progress the dietitian field to being accessible and supportive to all people with eating disorders. She doesn’t use a one-size-fits-all approach, but instead works with each client differently to meet their specific needs and help them understand both their individualized treatment goals and the societal forces that impact their relationship with food and their bodies.

We're still early in our antiracism journey and the learning curve is steep and we have centuries of oppression to dismantle which is obviously not going to happen overnight. But THIS is how people such as ourselves, who benefit from white/social/career privilege, can help right these wrongs. This book by a Black, Queer dietitian would not only be groundbreaking but also set an example for other publishers in amplifying the voices of Black women and letting them lead conversations about body liberation.

actress Alison Pill

Aside from my passionate belief that the Black Lives Matter movement is literally a matter of life and death on a fundamental human rights level, Jessica’s work specifically gut punched me as a woman who has had an eating disorder for nearly 30 years. I have been very publicly vocal about my eating disorder for many years because I feel it is my duty as a public figure to be transparent about the unrealistic beauty and body standards that I have (as a result of a debilitating mental illness) unfortunately helped perpetuate. Jessica opened my eyes to how rooted in white supremacy the eating disorder recovery field is and now I simply cannot unsee it. I’m not sure if you are aware but eating disorders have the highest mortality rate of any other mental illness. And every eating disorder treatment program I’ve been in (or for that matter any that my fellow ED warriors have encountered) only center the white experience and white body/beauty norms and end up either completely excluding or causing even more harm to Black folx.

On top of all the work Jessica has been doing during this particularly traumatizing year for Black folx everywhere she has also dedicated many hours of her precious time to help myself and some of my fellow actress friends start an activism pod that is trying to tackle body diversity and dangerous beauty and physical standards in our industry.

Oscar-winning actress Anna Paquin

Having known Jessica for several years a few things are irrefutable. Her analysis is astute, her call to eradicate racial injustice is dart direct and care and investment in the lives of women of color is complete. There simply is no better literary voice for this moment in history than Jessica Wilson.

activist and author of the bestselling The Body is Sonya Renee Taylor

She is both practical and scientifically factual while being body AND food positive. She recognizes that our relationships to our bodies and the foods we put in them are political...

Ari Max Bachrach

It's Always Been Ours: Rewriting the Story of Black Women's Bodies

It's Always Been Ours: Rewriting the Story of Black Women's Bodies

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