Ragen Chastain

Ragen Chastain

Bio

Ragen Chastain is a professional speaker, writer, and real live fat person.  She has spoken everywhere from friend's living rooms to Google Headquarters to Cal Tech and Dartmouth.  She will not stop until we live in a world where the full diversity of body sizes is respected, and fat people are able to live in fat bodies without shame, stigma, bullying, and harrasment, regardless of why they are fat, what being fat means, and if they could (or even want to) become thin. She lives in Los Angeles with her partner Julianne and their adorable rescue dogs, and is training for her first (and hopefully only!) IRONMAN triathlon. If you can't get enough of her on Ravishly, you can check out her blog www.danceswithfat.org

Ragen Chastain Articles

This is about way more than the freedom to dress in comfortable clothing while at school. Let’s talk about some stats that this principal should know if she’s going to talk to adolescent girls about body size. (Image Credit: YouTube/SanVic)

When A Principal Publicly Fat Shames Female Students

We could risk the mental and physical health of all the girls in the school by using fat shaming to try to control the way that they dress, or we could just let them wear some damn leggings. Seriously, how is this not a no brainer?

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Fat shaming doesn’t have any positive outcomes, but it has plenty of negative ones. A study found that fat shaming leads to eating disorders for some girls.

How Fat Shaming Leads To Eating Disorders

Fat shaming doesn’t have any positive outcomes, but it has plenty of negative ones. A study found that fat shaming leads to eating disorders for some girls.

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image mashup: Mariah Aro Sharp @mightymooseart

Is Wonder Woman On A Diet?

We are passing our unhealthy obsession with thinness onto girls and it’s causing them to have issues with food, movement, self-esteem, and body image that can last a lifetime.

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Google! A walk is not a cupcake!

A Walk Is Not A Cupcake: Google's Worst Idea Yet

Hey Google - encouraging people to walk, while ignoring there are plenty of people with disabilities, is engaging in ableism. Cupcakes only make it worse!

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Roxane Gay at a significantly less dreadful interview with Trevor Noah

How Mamamia's Treatment Of Roxane Gay Reveals The Fatphobia In Feminist Spaces

One has to wonder what they would have done if they had been trying to do it with a “mean spirit.”

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Fat people need Megyn Kelly and Maria Kang to STFU.

What Megyn Kelly And Maria Kang Think About Fat Shaming Doesn’t Matter

Megyn Kelly and her guest, Maria Kang, bragged about how having their loved ones fat shame them has been part of their fitness and nutrition routines.

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All police officers, no matter how well intentioned, live in — and are affected by — a society rife with racism and ableism.  Image: Utility_inc/Pixabay.

Yes, Being A Cop Is A Tough Job. No, That Doesn't Excuse Incompetence.

It is a very difficult and dangerous job, and it does require officers to have the ability to make good split second decisions. None of that should mean that it’s OK to be incompetent, or that we should all rush to justify, ignore, or excuse incompetence, racism, ableism, and the inappropriate use of force.

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A "fat tax" is an additional fee that is charged to fat patrons by services like pedicurists, spas, even massage therapists.

The "Fat Tax" At Spas & Salons Is Discriminatory And Unacceptable

A "fat tax" is an additional fee that is charged to fat patrons by services like pedicurists, spas, even massage therapists. Sometimes it even goes beyond a tax to complete exclusion.

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Hey There Fatty Game via Kickstarter

Hey There Fatty: The Game None Of Us Need 

There is a new game on Kickstarter called Hey There Fatty! It comes packaged in a stereotypical Chinese food delivery container.

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Come for the fat girls and the internet will smack you down!

Come For The Fat Girls, Get No Girls At All

As a fat woman on the internet I know, “Don’t read the comments. Never, ever read the comments.” But this time was different and it was awesome!

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