Fat acceptance coloring book Allison Tunis
photo: Instagram/allisontunis

While fat women have made great strides to be recognized in fashion and media, fat acceptance is still considered radical. That's exactly what artist and illustrator Allison Tunis is aiming to undo with "Body Love," a fat activism coloring book.

"Too often, fat is considered to be synonymous with lazy, ugly, and inactive," she told Revelist. "The personalities featured in my book combat these stereotypes of fatness — they are athletes, models, successful designers, public speakers, and so on. They have many many talents and attributes, which in no way are defined or diminished by their body size."

"Body Love" features black-and-white illustrations of 23 fat activists and writers, including Ashleigh Shackelford, Marie Southard Ospina, and Jessamyn Stanley.

The "educational coloring book" is designed to honor these activists for raising awareness about the importance of fat acceptance.

Each of the participants were consulted and compensated for their inclusion.

"I'm using their names and their images and their reputations to sell this book," she told Mashable. "They deserve acknowledgment — and that means monetary recognition."

Each activist had a choice: They could either take a 25% profit or donate their portion to the Canadian Mental Health Association, an organization that Tunis supports.

Tunis decided to create "Body Love" in December 2015 as a thank you to these fearless fat acceptance leaders.

I have been so inspired by the people that I've included in the book, and I really wanted something that would be able to share the message that these personalities promote, both in the body positive community and beyond. My own personal journey toward body acceptance and self-love has been ongoing for a few years now, and the people I included in this book were those who were influential in my own growing knowledge of activism for body diversity and fat positivity.

Tunis also wanted the coloring book to be a form of art therapy, a subject that she has a graduate degree in from the Vancouver Art Institute.

"["Body Love"] forces you to think about the different bodies and what your relationship is with them," she told Mashable. "It forces you to work out your own issues with bodies. It's not only a soothing and relaxing meditation through the act of coloring, but also a meditation on self."

Creating the coloring book also helped Tunis reconcile her own issues with her body.

"As I was drawing these pictures, I realized I was able to see all of the beauty in these people — so why wasn't I able to see it in myself?" she said. 

Those are the moments of enlightenment that Tunis hopes to facilitate with her book, which is, surprisingly, a hit among parents.

I think it has resonated well in general because it offers an opportunity for more people to see similar representations of themselves in artwork, which is woefully lacking still. As well, it may be sitting well with parents because many people are looking to expand the diversity of media imagery that our children and the next generation are consuming. It offers a chance for people to learn about what the fat activism movement really is, and shows that people of different sizes can accomplish many different things. It begins to start filling a gap in media where body diversity has not been present. 

Ultimately, normalizing fat bodies is a cause that's worth the $11.99 price tag.

Substantia Jones, a photographer who shoots the inclusive adipositivity calendars, said that Tunis' mission is notable for that reason.

"Utilizing alternative forms of media to bring the message of body love and fat acceptance to people — particularly young people — is nothing short of brilliant," Jones told Mashable. "Wallpapering the planet with positive depictions of fat folks is proving effective, and I'm glad to be aboard Allison Tunis' project."

Updated with comment from Allison Tunis.

Main Image: Instagram/allisontunis