Title: Bad Fat Black Girl: Notes from a Trap Feminist

Author: Sesali Bowen

Publisher: Amistad 2021

Genre: Nonfiction - Memoir

Pages: 272

Rating: 5/5 stars

Reading Challenges: 

Growing up on the south side of Chicago, Sesali Bowen learned early on how to hustle, stay on her toes, and champion other Black women and femmes as she navigated Blackness, queerness, fatness, friendship, poverty, sex work, and self-love. 

Her love of trap music led her to the top of hip-hop journalism, profiling game-changing artists like Megan Thee Stallion, Lizzo, and Janelle Monae. But despite all the beauty, complexity, and general badassery she saw, Bowen found none of that nuance represented in mainstream feminism. Thus, she coined Trap Feminism, a contemporary framework that interrogates where feminism meets today's hip-hop.

Bad Fat Black Girl offers a new, inclusive feminism for the modern world. Weaving together searing personal essay and cultural commentary, Bowen interrogates sexism, fatphobia, and capitalism all within the context of race and hip-hop. In the process, she continues a Black feminist legacy of unmatched sheer determination and creative resilience.

Bad bitches: this one’s for you.

I’m not usually one for memoirs as I find them to be too self-absorbed and also generalizing. I appreciated this volume focusing on intersectional feminism because of Bowen voice and experiences. We get something very different from the white lady feminism common on Women’s Studies bookshelves. I really dove into her experience and the ways that her life has informed her view of feminism. This was such a great “window” book for me. I cannot understand Bowen’s experience, but I could learn from her stories and her critiques. Definitely a must read for any feminist.

Next up on the TBR pile: