Episode 6 Queer Fat Latinas: Navigating Self-Love & Mental Health
Lorena Nunez (She/Her)
This podcast will focus on queer fat Latinas and how they navigate self-love and their mental health. Podcaster Lorena shares an autoethnographic qualitative research project as she describes having experienced limited representation with these intertwined identities, and reflects on these stories in the context of Queer Studies. In this podcast, she tells the story of how coming to terms with her intersectional identities has been a rollercoaster of dismantling patriarchal beliefs about her body, beauty, and value. This journey has led to her breaking generational curses and disturbing cultural norms. She has been able to reverse years of internalized hate through therapy and begin healing. The podcast analyzes personal testimony to connect her experience with broader cultural, political, and social meanings, and showcases similar testimonies of resilience in how other empowered queer fat Latina Women have cultivated their own self-love.
Biography
Lorena Nunez (She/Her) is a psychology major with a minor in queer studies. Her passions are in counseling and she aspires to achieve a Marriage & Family Therapy license after receiving her bachelor’s degree. She is a First-Generation Mexican American student and strongly advocates for the importance of mental health. After facing and overcoming obstacles throughout her academic career such as imposter syndrome, struggles with queer and cultural identities, depression, ADHD, and more, she has developed profound insight and empathy into the struggles many people in marginalized communities face. Her goal is to be in positions where she can facilitate safe spaces to create opportunities for dialogue and healing. Through the education and experience she has received at CSUN, she is confident that she will spread this message of self-care and empowerment wherever life takes her.
Further Reading
Johns, Michelle M, et al. “Resilient Minds and Bodies: Size Discrimination, Body Image, and Mental Health Among Sexual Minority Women.” Psychology of Sexual Orientation and Gender Diversity, vol. 4, no. 1, 2017, pp. 34–42. https://csun-primo.hosted.exlibrisgroup.com/permalink/f/13s4f0l/TN_cdi_proquest_journals_1832252649
Luna, Dafne Faviola. (Ill)Usionary Fatness Syndrome: [Un]Framing the Chicana Lesbian Fat Body Towards Body Liberation. U of California MA Thesis, 2019. https://csun-primo.hosted.exlibrisgroup.com/permalink/f/13s4f0l/TN_cdi_proquest_journals_2293149423
Pausé, Cat., et al. Queering Fat Embodiment. Ashgate Publishing Ltd, 2014. https://csun-primo.hosted.exlibrisgroup.com/permalink/f/12066q5/01CALS_ALMA71405107350002901