Reclaiming Ugly! A Radically Joyful Guide to Unlearn Oppression and Uplift, Glorify, and Love Yourself

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.