#006: Living with Mental and Physical Illness as a Fat, Black Woman in America with Evette Dionne

Evette Dionne, a Black feminist culture journalist, critic, author and editor-in-chief, joins Nia Patterson this week on the sixth episode of the podcast to talk about her body's experiences with physical health and mental health while being black in America. We talk about how black and fat women are expected to uphold hyperfemininity in their day-to-day lives. Evette talks about how medical fatphobia and bias kept her from getting treatment for critical heart disease. We also break down what agoraphobia looks like in reality for someone suffering from it. And then we also talk about how hard it is to make friends as an adult! We get very serious on this episode but we also talk about a lot of lighthearted topics and we definitely get quite a few laughs in. We both share a great deal about your lives and our trauma. Join us as we talk about being fat and black in America while dealing with mental illness and physical health.

Evette Dionne, known across the internet as “free Black girl,” is a Black feminist culture journalist, critic, and editor who writes primarily about race, gender, and size. Presently, she’s the editor-in-chief of Bitch Media. Dionne is also the author of Lifting As We Climb: Black Women’s Battle for the Ballot Box, a young-adult book about the history of Black women suffragists, and Fat Girls Deserve Fairytales Too: Living Hopefully On the Other Side of Skinny. Find her on Instagram here @freeblackgirl

Check out Nia on Instagram over @thefriendineverwanted and @bodytraumapod You can also find her blogging at thefriendineverwanted.com and you can support the podcast on Patreon at patreon.com/thefriendineverwanted. Remember, if you have a question about this podcast or want to share your thoughts please email us at bodytraumapod@gmail.com