Reviews tagging 'Sexism'

You Just Need to Lose Weight: And 19 Other Myths About Fat People by Aubrey Gordon

13 reviews

katie0528's review against another edition

challenging emotional informative reflective fast-paced

4.5

I've been a huge fan of Aubrey Gordon since finding her podcast Maintenance Phase during the early months of the COVID pandemic in 2020, and this book is a consice, easy-to-follow recap of that podcast. Gordon breaks down myths used to discriminate against and shame fat people. Her no-nonsense approach includes painful personal anecdotes, amazing levels of research from places like the CDC and American Medical Association past and present, and the words and voices of other fat people. Gordon is quick to point out her own levels of privilege and every chapter directs readers to books and stories from disabled, queer, trans, or BIPOC authors to explore the intersection of fatness and other forms discrimination. Each chapter also includes self-reflection questions that are nonjudgement but encourage readers to really delve deep into their own biases and how they behave around fat people, including directly challenging the reader to explore if they are a safe person to be around. 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Body shaming, Fatphobia, Misogyny, Racism, and Sexism

Moderate: Ableism, Chronic illness, Eating disorder, Homophobia, and Classism

obfuscatress's review against another edition

challenging informative sad medium-paced

3.25

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Fatphobia and Medical trauma

Moderate: Racism and Sexism

claudiajanette's review against another edition

challenging hopeful informative inspiring reflective fast-paced

4.5

I’m a big fan of Aubrey’s work, especially the podcast Maintenance Phase, so I had a feeling I would enjoy this book! I specifically wanted to read (listen to?) the audiobook version as I also really appreciate her voice and narrating style. Parts of the book felt a bit repetitive to me, but I assume that’s partially because it can be read out order and/or because some of the content overlaps with discussions I’ve read of hers elsewhere. I thought the reflection questions and calls to action that accompanied the end of chapters were a nice addition! I also really appreciated the intersectional lens of the book.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Fatphobia

Moderate: Ableism, Chronic illness, Eating disorder, Homophobia, Mental illness, Misogyny, Racism, Sexism, Police brutality, Medical trauma, and Sexual harassment

Minor: Transphobia and Acephobia/Arophobia

msgslibrary's review against another edition

hopeful informative reflective fast-paced

5.0

An essential entry text for the current state of fat liberation philosophy. 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Body shaming, Bullying, Eating disorder, Emotional abuse, Fatphobia, Hate crime, Physical abuse, Sexism, Sexual assault, Sexual violence, Police brutality, Medical trauma, Sexual harassment, Dysphoria, and Pandemic/Epidemic

Moderate: Ableism, Chronic illness, Genocide, Homophobia, Mental illness, Misogyny, Pedophilia, Racism, Sexual content, Suicidal thoughts, Terminal illness, Transphobia, Violence, Forced institutionalization, Xenophobia, Grief, Colonisation, and Classism

caitlynlargent's review against another edition

informative reflective medium-paced

3.75

Very informative, well researched, and well written. A little less than 4 stars because I felt that a lot of the information was recycled during the different “myths”. While there is bound to be some connection, at times I felt like I had hit rewind on accident because I was hearing the same things. 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Body shaming, Eating disorder, and Fatphobia

Moderate: Misogyny, Racism, Sexism, and Medical trauma

Minor: Homophobia, Sexual violence, and Transphobia

ttorisaurus's review against another edition

informative reflective fast-paced

5.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Body shaming and Fatphobia

Moderate: Gaslighting

Minor: Chronic illness, Eating disorder, Racism, Sexism, Terminal illness, and Dysphoria

bambooboy's review against another edition

challenging emotional informative reflective sad fast-paced

5.0

I don't really have words for how important this book is. 

There are years of works available to us, shouting the dangers of anti-fat bias, the lies we are told; but Aubrey Gordon lays it out, step-by-step, in a way that is accessible and digestible. It solicits empathy in its honesty. Gordon does a great job too of offering other equally important titles of equally important voices on fat people and the history and now of how we treat each other. 

I wish I could shove this into the hands of everyone I meet! I kept reading passages and rereading them and wanting to post them but then realizing I'd be posting the entire chapter because that's how good every single chapter was. 

If you're a fan of Maintenance Phase you'll love this, though be aware that tonally it isn't as silly as her and Michael get together. It's much more serious. And if you're not a fan of Maintenance Phase but like this book, you should check out Gordon's podcast! They dive deep into different health crazes/diet books/health "influencers". They have a great chemistry and it's a good way to both laugh and rage at the machine. 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Body shaming, Bullying, Cancer, Death, Eating disorder, Emotional abuse, Fatphobia, Mental illness, Misogyny, Racism, Medical content, Grief, Medical trauma, and Dysphoria

Moderate: Chronic illness, Hate crime, Sexism, Gaslighting, and Colonisation

Minor: Sexual assault, Sexual violence, Violence, Sexual harassment, and Classism

Deeper discussion of content warnings below cut.

Gordon speaks in general on many topics that could be triggering, such as the medical malpractice many doctors partake in when they refuse to provide adequate healthcare for their fat patients, the general attitude toward fat people existing, etc.
She also gets into some specific stories about people who were disabled or died due to this malpractice. As a fat person Gordon also talks about all the aggressions, micro and macro, that she experiences or has experienced.

Overall the content is heavy, and I definitely suggest taking it slow, especially if you are someone who has had to deal with these traumatic experiences on the daily.

dillsbookdiary's review against another edition

challenging informative reflective fast-paced

3.75

this book was phenomenal! my main complaint, as someone who read it from beginning to end, is that there were several chapters that had 2-3 pages functionally repeating something said in a previous chapter. however, because this book was explicitly written with the intention of people reading it as separate entries, it didnt bother me that much. just something to note! aubrey did a fantastic job, as per usual, and even as someone who is fairly well versed in body liberation i still learned a ton that i was not previously aware of.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Body shaming and Fatphobia

Moderate: Bullying, Eating disorder, Medical content, and Medical trauma

Minor: Child abuse, Chronic illness, Death, Misogyny, Racism, Rape, Sexism, Sexual assault, Sexual content, Sexual violence, Terminal illness, Violence, Sexual harassment, Colonisation, and Classism

zosiablue's review against another edition

challenging informative sad medium-paced

4.0

Aubrey Gordon is SO GOOD and this should be required reading for anyone looking for data and arguments to use against anti-fatness. 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Body shaming, Eating disorder, and Fatphobia

Moderate: Ableism, Misogyny, Sexism, and Medical content

abitbetterbooks's review against another edition

challenging informative reflective fast-paced

4.75

Amazing. My first Aubrey Gordon book but I will definitely be reading her other work! I loved listening to the audiobook since it was narrated by Gordon herself and it added that extra personal element which I really enjoyed. 

This book does a great job of moving through issues in a really thorough manner. My only issue with the book was that because each myth/chapter was self contained or could be read in isolation / out of order, there were some elements that were repeated that felt unnecessary when listening through the whole thing in chronological order. But even still, that did serve to continue driving some key points home. As someone who considers herself fairly well versed in fat liberation & fat studies, diet culture & eating disorders, I still found myself learning new things! In particular I found that Gordon has a way of perfectly wording things and distilling big themes and issues down to key elements that would be really helpful to have in ones arsenal to confront anti-fatness wherever you may Glen counter it! 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Body shaming and Fatphobia

Moderate: Ableism

Minor: Eating disorder, Homophobia, Racism, Sexism, Transphobia, Medical content, Acephobia/Arophobia, Colonisation, and Classism