Belonging has been a formative struggle for me.

Like most people with marginalized identities, my experience has taught me that it’s hard to be yourself and feel like you belong in a culture that is hostile to your existence. That’s why my body of work as a scientist, author, professor, speaker, and advocate for body liberation always comes back to the impact of belonging or not belonging. Radical Belonging is my manifesto—to promote healing from the individual and collective trauma of injustice and to support our transition from a culture of othering to one of belonging.

Dr. Lindo Bacon

We are in the midst of a cultural moment. #MeToo. #BlackLivesMatter. #TransIsBeautiful. #AbleismExists. #EffYourBeautyStandards. Those of us who don’t fit into the “mythical norm” (white, male, cisgender, able-bodied, slender, Christian, etc.)—which is to say, most of us—are demanding our basic right: To know that who we are matters. To belong.

Being “othered” and the body shame it spurs is not “just” a feeling. Being erased and devalued creates structural and material realities that impact our ability to regulate our emotions, our relationships with others, our health and longevity, our finances, our ability to realize dreams, and whether or not we will be accepted, loved or even safe.

Radical Belonging is not a simple self-love treatise. Focusing only on self-love ignores the important fact that we have negative experiences because our culture has targeted certain bodies and people for abuse or alienation. For marginalized people, a focus on self-love can be a spoonful of sugar that makes the oppression go down. This groundbreaking book goes further, helping us to manage the challenges that stem from oppression and moving beyond self-love and into belonging.

With Lindo Bacon’s signature blend of science and storytelling, Radical Belonging addresses the political, sociological, psychological and biological underpinnings of your experiences, helping you understand that the alienation and pain you are experiencing is not personal, but human. The problem is in injustice, not you as an individual.

Whether you are transgender, queer, Black, Indigenous or a Person of Color, disabled, old, or fat — or you more closely resemble the “mythical norm” — Radical Belonging is your guidebook for creating a world where all bodies are valued and all of us belong — and for coping with this one, until we make that new world a reality.

Find Radical Belonging wherever books are sold.

Media/Publicity

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Radical Belonging is a lifeline out of the excruciating pain of personal and societal separation. Lindo Bacon’s heartfelt book identifies the necessity of belonging, the personal and cultural cost of separation, and a guide to building belonging within ourselves and our communities. I have been waiting my whole life for this book.
STEPHANIE ZONE, PSYD professor and psychologist
Lindo Bacon’s refreshing honesty, compassion, and vulnerability in sharing their personal story make Radical Belonging an accessible read for those who are on their own healing journey as well as for professionals. I am especially enthusiastic about this book’s potential to radically transform the way people connect with one another, something I believe is absolutely necessary for the survival of the planet. Chapter after chapter, I could feel my hope for the fate of the human race expand. I will be recommending Radical Belonging to every single person I know.
Connie Sobczak author of Embody: Learning to Love Your Unique Body (and quiet that critical voice!) and cofounder of The Body Positive
I read Radical Belonging through tears. Tears of solidarity from the vulnerable personal stories which give a voice to anyone who has ached to belong. Tears of sadness from seeing our hostile culture laid out in such painfully plain terms. Tears of happiness at feeling deeply ‘seen’ in a way that is rare. And tears of gratitude for being able to read a book that couldn’t feel more appropriate or needed than it is right now. Thank you Lindo Bacon, for boldly gracing our world with this collection of perfect words during this imperfect time.
JES BAKER activist and author of several books, including Things No One Will Tell Fat Girls: A Handbook for Unapologetic Living
What Bacon offers in Radical Belonging is paramount: an opportunity for readers to reimagine healing, relationships, and connection, and to refocus our activism on community care.
MELISSA A. FABELLO, PHD author and former managing editor of Everyday Feminism
This book is a wholly necessary contribution to our world. An expansive guide to the impacts of living in an oppressive world, this book offers an antidote to mainstream ‘bootstrapping’ self-help culture and illuminates real solutions for how we can thrive while pushing to create a world where social justice is present for everyone.
MATT MCGORRY activist and actor on Orange Is the New Black
Dr. Lindo Bacon has written the book I didn’t know I so desperately needed. Radical Belonging seamlessly weaves together what we know about physical health, mental health, and social health, all through the lens of a candid, vulnerable, wrenching memoir.
YOUR FAT FRIEND activist and anonymous essayist
Lindo Bacon blends thoughtful analysis, poignant storytelling, important scientific evidence, and trauma- and social justice–informed perspectives to help people understand and cope with the all-too-common experiences of discrimination and disconnection. Radical Belonging offers hope that we all are capable of transforming our pain into healing and growth.
CHRISTY HARRISON, MPH, RD dietitian and author of Anti-Diet