Reviews tagging 'Body horror'

Hurts So Good: The Science and Culture of Pain on Purpose by Leigh Cowart

8 reviews

emizulu's review

I couldn't get past the author's thesis, in which they incorrectly imply that all bdsm/kink related masochism is sexual, and that we have to go outside of this community for examples of non-sexual masochism. The tone of the writing is that of someone coming from a place of expertise/authority, so unfortunately I found this undercut my ability to trust in them as an author right out of the gate.

Furthermore, I take issue with their claim that the ballet experiences outlined in the book were masochistic instead of abusive. They clearly outline a definition for masochism that mandates consent, but when the author started ballet, they were a child and unable to consent. They were then raised in an abusive ballet culture (as explicitly detailed in-book), which again raises questions as to whether we can unquestioningly accept their adult consent at face value.

This lack of nuance/introspection, coupled with the author's failed attempt to write this book from a place of expertise, made it a real struggle to finish. I gave myself the gift of not having to.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Body horror, Child abuse, Eating disorder, Emotional abuse, and Acephobia/Arophobia

arlangrey17's review against another edition

adventurous challenging dark emotional funny informative lighthearted reflective medium-paced

4.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Body horror, Eating disorder, Mental illness, Self harm, and Vomit

reading_rainbows's review against another edition

This book needs multiple content warnings:  Graphic sexual descriptions in intro and final chapter, eating disorders discussed throughout, body horror especially in chapter 2&3.  There is a content warning before the author specifically discussed their eating disorder, which is way too late. 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Body horror, Eating disorder, Gore, Self harm, Blood, and Injury/Injury detail

lybarron's review against another edition

informative reflective slow-paced

3.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Eating disorder

Moderate: Body horror, Gore, and Blood

yilliun's review

DNF at 25%
I initially really enjoyed her writing, but as it progressed it felt somewhat juvenile to me. It was more technical than I was expecting in medical terms.

I mostly DNF’d this because of the graphic medical content. 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Body horror, Self harm, Sexual content, and Violence

Moderate: Medical content

meghan_is_reading's review

informative reflective medium-paced

*unhappy grumbles*

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Body horror and Blood

Moderate: Eating disorder, Gore, Sexual content, Medical trauma, and Injury/Injury detail

Minor: Self harm and Vomit

keylime3_14's review

informative medium-paced

4.5

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Content Warnings

Moderate: Body horror, Eating disorder, Self harm, Sexual content, and Dysphoria

Minor: Addiction

liormaleficent's review

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Body horror, Emotional abuse, Gore, Physical abuse, Self harm, Sexual assault, Sexual violence, Torture, Medical trauma, and Injury/Injury detail