Lindo Bacon, PhD
Author · Scientist · Educator · Activist
What if belonging-not exclusion-were at the heart of social justice?
For decades, I’ve explored what happens when our bodies, identities, and communities are shaped by systems of inequality—and what it takes to create something different.
Today, my work focuses on belonging, accountability, healing, and building social justice movements where we can challenge one another without losing our connection to one another.
A Different Way to Do Social Justice
We can hold one another accountable without destroying one another.
I believe we can create social justice movements that make room for both accountability and belonging.
We can challenge harmful ideas while remembering the humanity of the person we’re challenging. We can talk honestly about impact without assuming we know another person’s intentions. We can disagree deeply without turning disagreement into exile.
And we can make room for people to learn, change, repair, and grow.
There may be times when separation is necessary to protect people from genuine harm. But exclusion shouldn’t be our first response to difference, conflict, or imperfection—especially in movements whose purpose is to create a more just and compassionate world.
Read A Different Way To Do Social Justice
“This book is an absolute must-read for anyone interested in making the world a better place.”
Christy Harrison, MPH, RD
Radical Belonging
How to Survive and Thrive in an Unjust World (While Transforming It for the Better)
What happens when the world tells us we don’t belong?
Our experiences of othering—of being judged, excluded, or treated as less than—can profoundly shape how we see ourselves and how we relate to others.
In Radical Belonging, I explore the psychological and social costs of living in an unjust world, and ask a different question:
What would it take to create communities where people don’t have to earn their right to belong?
Drawing on science, personal stories, and social justice perspectives, the book explores how we can move from othering to belonging, isolation to connection, and individual survival to collective healing.
Radical Belonging was named a Foreword INDIES Gold Winner in LGBTQ+ and Silver Winner in Self-Help, and features a foreword by Ijeoma Oluo.
Explore Radical BelongingWhat I’m Exploring Now
My work has evolved over the years, but the underlying question has remained remarkably consistent:
How do we create conditions in which people can thrive?
Belonging
Belonging isn’t a luxury. It is fundamental to our humanity.
I’m interested in what creates genuine belonging—and what happens to individuals and communities when belonging becomes conditional.
Explore BelongingCompassionate Accountability
Accountability matters. So does compassion.
How can we confront harm, challenge one another, and take responsibility without making condemnation and exclusion our default responses?
Explore AccountabilityHealing in Community
We often treat healing as an individual project. But so much of what wounds us happens in relationship and community.
What becomes possible when we understand healing as something we can cultivate together?
Explore HealingBuilding Better Movements
The world we are trying to create should shape the way we treat one another along the way.
What would social justice movements look like if we practiced more fully the values we hope to see in the world?
Explore This WorkA Career Rooted in Changing the Conversation
For much of my career, I challenged conventional ideas about bodies, weight, and health.
My work in Health at Every Size® helped shift the conversation away from weight as a simple measure of health or personal responsibility and toward a deeper understanding of bodies, stigma, inequality, and the social conditions that shape our lives.
That work led to a larger question:
If our bodies are shaped by the world around us, what about our sense of belonging?
That question became the foundation for Radical Belonging—and continues to shape what I’m exploring today.
Health at Every Size
A groundbreaking challenge to conventional thinking about weight and health.
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Body Respect
What science can – and cannot – tell us about weight, health, and our bodies.
Learn MoreRadical Belonging
From changing how we understand bodies to changing how we understand belonging.
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Meet Lindo
Lindo Bacon is an author, scientist, educator, and advocate whose work sits at the intersection of health, social justice, and human connection.
For nearly two decades, Lindo taught and conducted research while challenging conventional ideas about weight, health, and bodies. Their books include Health at Every Size, Body Respect, and Radical Belonging.
Today, Lindo is exploring a broader question:
How can we build communities and movements grounded in dignity, accountability, compassion, and belonging?
Their work combines scientific evidence, personal experience, and a deep commitment to creating a more just and humane world.
More About LindoIdeas
New thinking on belonging, social justice, healing, and how we live together.
The Courage to Stay Connected
What happens when we stop treating disagreement as evidence that connection has failed?
Accountability Without Exile
Accountability is essential to justice. But does accountability require disconnection?
What Belonging Really Means
Belonging isn’t about being accepted by everyone. It’s about knowing that our humanity doesn’t depend on perfect conformity.
Let’s build something different.
I don’t have all the answers.
But I believe we can create communities where people can be challenged without being discarded, where accountability can coexist with compassion, and where our differences can make us stronger rather than tearing us apart.
I believe belonging is something we can create.
And I believe the world we’re trying to build should be visible in how we treat one another along the way.