Sexism, fat-shaming and internet trolling: journalist and writer Lindy West unapologetically disclosed her experiences with these topics, among others, in the Sheldon Hall Ballroom Wednesday night.

West is widely known for voicing her opinion on social justice and fat-acceptance on a number of media platforms including “The New York Times,” “This American Life,” “The Guardian,” “GQ” and “Jezebel.” West founded “I Believe You, It’s Not Your Fault,” an advice blog aimed at teenagers, and #ShoutYourAbortion, a campaign to destigmatize reproductive rights.

The Oswego Reading Initiative chose Lindy West’s “Shrill: Notes From a Loud Woman” memoir for this academic year. Each year, the Oswego State-based project selects one book out of various scores of pieces recently published and encourages the community to read it over the summer and participate in cultural events and discussions the following fall semester.

“Lindy offers a compelling narrative about her life growing up as young girl trying to hide her big body and her even bigger opinions. As an adult, Lindy is still fighting now against other comedians over their use of rape jokes and internet trolls harassing her for her ideas and her size,” according to the Oswego Reading Initiative website.

West visited Oswego State on Wednesday, where she spoke for the Living Writer Series, held a lecture and signed her book. Students, faculty and outside members of the Oswego community packed into the Sheldon Hall Ballroom where she read aloud passages of her book and discussed their meanings among more current issues and ideas.

“I completely agreed with everything I read, and it opened my eyes to ideas of body positivity a little bit more than they already were,” Sara Fralix, a student at Oswego State, said.

During the lecture, West revealed why she always tried to make herself smaller, physically and socially, when she was growing up. She credited her negative body image partly to the lack of positive heavyset female role models in literature and television. Many of the big characters in cartoons and animated movies she watched as a child were either villains or “sexless maternal figures,” West said.

“[Lindy West] definitely presented confidence,” John Hanover, an Oswego State student, said. “I thought she was funny.”

The passages West read included humorous stories, such as when she was young, she shoplifted a single bean from the grocery store and her mother made her return it to teach her right from wrong. She credits this experience as allowing herself to become less “clinically shy.”

“For me, the process of embodying confidence was less about convincing myself of my own worth and more about rejecting and unlearning what society had hammered into me,” West said in her memoir.

West also read serious passages where she felt embarrassed, such as the time where she bent over to pick up a napkin and a picnic table flipped over on top of her along with a personal pizza. The memoir chronicles her experiences with learning to accept her body through a series of humiliating anecdotes.

“Please don’t forget: I am my body. When my body gets smaller, it is still me. When my body gets bigger, it is still me. There is not a thin woman inside me, awaiting excavation. I am one piece,” West said in her memoir.

West was also an avid reader as a child, and she realized in more recent years that a majority of the books she read were written by men and had male protagonists. She also noted that several of the pieces of literature, including memoirs, written by women are largely read by women, leaving out half of the population, and have covers that are considered to be more feminine.

“Men should spend more time reading women’s memoirs,” West said.

West also noted that “fat is a feminist issue,” in that society expects women to be small, both physically and opinionatedly, she said. When West found her voice, she was criticized for her loud opinions and her large body.

“I do understand what it’s like to get a little pushback if you stand up for what you believe is a feminist issue,” Allison Schmidt, a visiting assistant professor in the history department, said. “Just being able to see somebody do that and be happy and successful is very inspiring.”

Shrill, according to Merriam-Webster dictionary, means to “utter or emit an acute piercing sound.” West transformed the negative connotation of this word into the title of her memoir where she tackled the criticism she has received throughout her lifetime.

“Life is really hard and complicated, and I think that keeping a sense of empathy, even for people you disagree with, is really helpful,” West said.

Photo:Taylor Woods | The Oswegonian