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by Vanessa Rochelle Lewis (Author)
Redefining UGLY for individual and collective liberation--uplift, glorify, and love yourself in an uglified world.
In a deep analysis of the constructs of uglification and their impact on our social structures, collective psyche, and identities, author Vanessa Rochelle Lewis flips the script on how we think about ugly--what it is, what it means, and how it functions in our culture--and shows readers how to to Reclaim, Uplift, Glorify and Love Yourself. Blending incisive social analysis with personal narrative and joyful self-help magic, Reclaiming UGLY! empowers readers to connect, revolt, and heal from the oppression of uglification with creative prompts, reflective meditations, and guided opportunities for self-love and community-building. But what is uglification? Uglification is a tool, ideology, and type of oppression. It's ugly weaponized--it designates some bodies as more or less worthy of love, respect, or access. It determines who gets to exist in which spaces, and acts as a tool of the white supremacist cisheteropatriarchy. Like all forms of oppression, uglification is at work on systemic, interpersonal, and internalized levels--painfully interrupting life, love, joy, pleasure, hope, and possibility for those our culture uglifies. Lewis unpacks the insidious impacts of uglification--and shows us how reclaiming ugly is a subversive, empowering act in which we embrace joy, healing, and community. Moving us closer to a collective liberation that takes back what society tells us is ugly and taboo (and what we've told ourselves is ugly and taboo), Lewis' analysis, personal journey, and activity toolkit compassionately guide readers to radical self-acceptance, joyful community-centered healing, and authentic self-love.Author Biography
VANESSA ROCHELLE LEWIS is a Queer, Fat, Black, Femme performer, facilitator, educator, writer, activist, healer, joyful weirdo, and Faerie Princess Mermaid Gangsta for The Revolution. Lewis has danced across many professional and creative stages. She has been a writer and co-managing editor for acclaimed feminist magazines, Everyday Feminism and Black Girl Dangerous; a community college instructor at multiple Bay Area schools and radical transformative justice programs; a fundraiser and events coordinator for the Black Healing October, the Queer Women of Color Media Arts Project; and more. Lewis is a shameless flirt who loves to swoon over life and dive deep into intimacy. Silliness and sensuality are her survival strategies. She loves the people that society forgot to love the most.
Lewis founded the organization Reclaim UGLY: Uplift Glorify Love Yourself--And Create A World Where Everyone Else Can As Well! Her vision is to co-create a world where everyone knows that they are a safe, welcomed, and valued member of their communities; has the support to dream authentically and exists in their truths; and accepts that there is no face, no body, and no person who is ugly or unworthy of love and acceptance.
