Author Event! Céline Leboeuf - The Tyranny of Thinness

Join us on Thursday, 10/22/2026 at 6 PM for an event with Céline Leboeuf in conversation with Riki Heck. The Tyranny of Thinness: Understanding and Resisting the Pressure to Be Skinny by Celine LeBoeuf “Bold, intimate, and philosophically rich, The Tyranny of Thinness is an essential guide to how the thinness ideal got its claws on us, and how to get free.” —Kate Manne, professor of philosophy at Cornell University and author of Unshrinking and Down Girl A fearlessly feminist philosophical approach to defying diet culture, cultivating radical self-care, and rediscovering empowered embodiment Drawing on memoir, feminist theory, and cultural analysis, The Tyranny of Thinness by Céline Leboeuf Ph.D. is a wide-ranging and erudite treatise on how the skinny ideal shapes our earliest memories and experiences—and steals joy, agency, and self-determination from our adolescences, our social identities, our ambitions, and even our sense of moral worth. Part 1 traces the origins of fatphobia in anti-Black racism, unpacking how thinness as an ideal is both carefully constructed and state-sanctioned. Dr. Leboeuf shows how self-objectification is instilled in young girls and diverted toward activities that enforce objectification. Part 2 offers a path forward. Through embodied practices like intuitive eating, joyful movement, sensual awareness, community care, and the philosophical exercise of world-remaking, The Tyranny of Thinness outlines compassionate, realistic, and self-empowering strategies for resisting the lies and pressures that we’ve been programmed to strive for. From the resurrection of heroin chic and thinspo to the rise of #SkinnyTok and Ozempic, Dr. Leboeuf exposes how thinness becomes a political weapon—and shows how the body positivity movement has been co-opted and repackaged. This book is an elevated must-read for anyone struggling with body image—and every reader searching to understand what the culture dictates about beauty and perceived worth. Céline Leboeuf Ph.D. is an Associate Professor of Philosophy and Affiliate Faculty in Women, Gender, and Sexuality Studies at Florida International University. A queer woman of color and biracial scholar, she examines how beauty standards and body ideals are shaped by race and gender, and what it feels like to live in a body that never seems “good enough.” Drawing on both feminist philosophy and her own recovery from restrictive eating, her work blends theory, personal narrative, and cultural criticism to challenge our fixation on thinness. Her essays have appeared in outlets such as Medium, the Project Vox blog, and Psyche, and her writing has been recognized by the American Philosophical Association. She has been featured as an expert in VOGUE, The Atlantic, and The New York Times.