We invite you to the premiere of the book "GRUBANCYPACJA" and the meeting with Urszula Chowaniec and Natalia Skoczylas

Urszula Chowaniec and Natalia Skoczylas - indefatigable myth-busters and activists fighting for equal treatment - weave a multifaceted tale about the fact that being fat is no shame.

Their joint book is a thick-headed primer through which:

- you will look differently at how we think and talk about thickness,
- you will be given the tools to change your perception of your body,
- you will learn about the reality of people experiencing systemic discrimination because of their body size.

Natalia and Ula - acting as Vingardium Grubiosa - were shortlisted by 'Wysokie Obcasy' in the Bold 2021 list and honoured in 2022 by 'Newsweek' with the title of exceptional Polish women who are trying to change the world. The Vingardium Grubiosa duo were also nominated in the Ofeminin Influence Awards (2022) and were named Glamour's Woman of the Year (2022) in the 'e-activism' category. Natalia and Ula are also authors of the acclaimed report "Haven't you thought about losing weight?". The experiences of fat people in contact with health care (2023). They have been running a podcast and a profile on Instagram - all under the same name - since 2021.

Ursula chowaniec: 'Since 2016, I have continually said that being fat is not the end of the world. This book collects and organises arguments for discussion: with the world - about 'promoting ot*ness', and with yourself - about not putting off life for a slimmer 'someday' that may never come. I hope it will bring you valuable insights into fatness as an identity and a sense that you are not alone with this."

Natalia skoczylas: 'I am tired of being belittled, of shrinking, of fitting myself into someone else's aesthetic expectations, of discussing my right to exist. With this book, I want to show that fatness is an unnoticed discriminated characteristic, even though the exclusion of fat people is a common phenomenon. Grab a handful of arguments and stop apologising for your body!"

"Thickancy is not a story about how to love yourself. It is not body positivity. It is a fact-based and research-based analysis of how fatness functions in society. It is a multidimensional story about the discrimination that fat people face. The authors don't want sympathy, they don't want their health to be bent over, they don't want to be treated leniently. It is a manifesto against the acceptance of the marginalisation of fat people. Reading this book not only allows us to better understand the experience of fatness, but also to see that many of the assumptions about how fat people live have nothing to do with them, while it says much more about our social control mechanisms."
/KATARZYNA CZAJKA-KOMINIARCZUK, writer/author/