Sara Jafari on beauty standards, diet culture and anti-fatness

<p><strong>Content warning: this episode contains detailed discussion of dieting, weight loss, specific weights, and discussion of disordered eating. For more information and recommended reading and listening, please check out the rest of the show notes for a list of brilliant articles, resources, and podcasts dealing with these topics.&nbsp;</strong></p><p><br></p><p>This week on <em>Growing up with gal-dem</em> we’re joined by award-nominated author and editor <a href="https://www.sarajafari.com/" rel="noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">Sara Jafari.</a> Ahead of the US publication of her debut novel <a href="https://www.penguin.co.uk/books/111/1119196/the-mismatch/9781787465015.html" rel="noopener noreferrer" target="_blank"><em>The Mismatch</em></a>, we speak to Sara about Muslim women’s representation in literature, and how <em>The Mismatch</em> tackles this through storytelling in 1970s Iran and contemporary Brighton.&nbsp;</p><p><br></p><p>Sara shares with us an extract from her teen years dealing with disordered eating and weight loss, and shares her experiences with Nie and Natty on how normalised fatphobia impacted her and her growth.&nbsp;</p><p><br></p><p><strong>Recommended reading / listening</strong></p><p><a href="http://maintenancephase.com/" rel="noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">Maintenance Phase Podcast</a> - Wellness &amp; weight loss, debunked &amp; decoded.</p><p><a href="https://uk.bookshop.org/books/hunger-a-memoir-of-my-body/9781472153791" rel="noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">Hunger: A Memoir of (My) Body by Roxane Gay</a></p><p><a href="https://www.instagram.com/thefatsextherapist/?hl=en" rel="noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">Sonalee Rashatwar - The Fat Sex Therapist on Instagram</a>&nbsp;&nbsp;</p><p><a href="https://www.stephanieyeboah.com/" rel="noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">Stephanie Yeboah</a> - writer and consultant working in fat acceptance &amp; activism&nbsp;</p><p><a href="https://gal-dem.com/queeries-fatphobia-internalised-white-supremacy-colonialism/" rel