I was born in 1968, about the same time as the fat rights movement. I have reached maturity alongside the movement, and this book represents a coming to power for both of us.

Much of my life has been spent trying to come to terms with my fat body. I grew up feeling a deep discomfort that I was, and am, physically different to most people in my life, and this difference was always encoded as shameful. As a young woman I nurtured fantasies of slicing off the fat parts of my body. I dieted, and endured periods of compulsive exercising. I wanted only to see the mythical thin woman who was supposed to be hiding inside me. When I became clear that this ghost was never going to put in an appearance I had to find another way of living.

I first began to think of alternatives to fat hatred when I was a teenager. My ideas grew out of my nascent interest in feminism and sexual politics, and also, it must be said, from my disappointment with texts that are still considered definitive. I rejected books such as Suzie Orbach's Fat Is A Feminist Issue because of their false assumptions about fat people. I wanted something more than this.

By the time I began to read books such as Shadow On a Tightrope and Being Fat is Not a Sin, I was not only developing a deeper understanding of fat rights issues, but also working through the difficult process of integrating my ideals into my life. What helped and continues to support e was my increasing awareness of a movement of people and organisations who felt and believed similar things, and were actively challenging fat-hating attitudes. As a feminist I was excited that many of these initiatives were instigated by women. My involvement with the fat rights movement has enabled me to address both the fat hatred around me, and that which existed within myself. It has also given me a space in which to develop my own ideas about what it is to be fat.

Today I feel lucky to be fat. The difference my fatness connotes has been, and continues to be, one of the most challenging and enriching areas of my life. I am very proud of my difference, I feel like a survivor, and I think my perspective as a fat person is a benefaction that has made me special.