Summary

Gay begins Part IV by refocusing her memoir back on her own personal experience, asserting that "I know that to be frank about my body makes some people uncomfortable" (153). She then goes on to describe the people made most uncomfortable by her honest discussion of her body, people she calls Lane Bryant fat: "They can still buy clothes at stores like Lane Bryant, which offers sizes p to 26/28. They weight 150 or 200 pounds less than I do. They know some of the challenges of being fat, but they do not know the challenges of being very fat" (153). Gay spends the rest of Part IV explaining what some of these challenges are.

First, Gay admits that she is "no stranger to dieting" (156), explaining the number of diets she has tried and the reasons she ultimately stopped them. She also explains that she has had countless...