American fat acceptance activist Aubrey Gordon (November 9, 1983 —) is a New York Times best-selling author of the books What We Don't Talk About When We Talk About Fat (2020) and "You Just Need to Lose Weight" And 19 Other Myths About Fat People (2023). Initially writing under the pseudonym Your Fat Friend, she is the co-host of the popular podcast Maintenance Phase with reporter Michael Hobbes that focuses on the "wellness-industrial complex" and debunking the junk science behind health fads and nutritional advice.
Gordon grew up in Beaverton, Oregon and worked for many years as a community organizer focusing on LGBTQ+ rights, voting rights, and immigrant rights. Following a body image argument in 2016 with a friend who just didn't understand what she was trying to say, she wrote her friend a letter composing her thoughts and posted it anonymously on Medium. Based on its positive reception, she continued writing and posting essays, and was eventually contacted by Hobbes seeking her participation in a podcast. While critics point out that Maintenance Phase engages in questionable interpretation of scientific research as Gordon and Hobbes appear to have no credentials in data science or statistics, defenders contend the podcast is meant to be fun and entertaining, and is about awareness, not academia.
A self-described "very fat person", Gordon lives in Portland, Oregon and identifies as queer. She writes a regular column for Self magazine and has had articles published on Vox and in the New York Times. A documentary directed by Jeanie Finlay entitled Your Fat Friend (2023) that chronicles two years of Gordon's life during her ascent as an activist premiered at the 2023 Tribeca film festival. At the time of this writing it is being screened at selected cinemas across the United States and the United Kingdom. 299
Personal note
After watching the documentary, I was able to decode that Gordon lives in my neighborhood, about eight blocks from my house. I drive by her place all the time, and had no idea. Cool!