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Reviews tagging 'Ableism'
Expecting Better: Why the Conventional Pregnancy Wisdom Is Wrong-and What You Really Need to Know by Emily Oster
2 reviews
nikki_haug's review against another edition
3.0
Content Warnings
Graphic: Ableism
Moderate: Fatphobia
laurenfro22's review against another edition
1.0
The fact that I wasted an entire $15 on this irks me to no end. Another reviewer said “Expecting Better? Yeah I fuckin’ was!” Personally I’ve been trying to get my hands on as much information as I can but this book is a cautionary tale about understanding the author before buying the book.
Queer folks looking for family planning information and support - this is probably not the best option.
TL, DR: Read Kali’s “Queer Conception” and Gordon’s “‘You Just Need to Lose Weight’ and 19 Other Myths About Fat People.” I promise everyone will get more for those two books than this.
My thoughts in no particular order:
• Big issue with outdated language. This was published in 2013. The r-slur was removed and replaced with ‘intellectual disability’ in medical settings in 2010. Tell me why the phrase “mental re****ation” made it past editors!?
• Holy cisgender heteronormativity Batman!
• Add a mega dose of fatphobia to that list.
• Some concerning conflation of chromosomal differences (e.g. Down Syndrome) and unhealthy babies? Struck me as weird.
• Why can’t Jesse research things himself if he has questions? Very odd framing, especially since he doesn’t seem to be painted in a particularly supportive light throughout the book (dude, just take care of the litter box - you live with this woman for godssake)
• Really comes from a privileged view (that seems to remain unacknowledged) - particularly struck by describing interactions with doctors. Girl, fat, queer, and non-white folks know all this already.
• Other folks online have much better explanations about the problems with the caffeine and alcohol recommendations that I’m not going to touch here but know that the language around all that made me itchy.
• I knew by like page 3 I was going to be irritated by this book. I was very much correct and will be pulling any of her other books off my TBR list >_<
Queer folks looking for family planning information and support - this is probably not the best option.
TL, DR: Read Kali’s “Queer Conception” and Gordon’s “‘You Just Need to Lose Weight’ and 19 Other Myths About Fat People.” I promise everyone will get more for those two books than this.
My thoughts in no particular order:
• Big issue with outdated language. This was published in 2013. The r-slur was removed and replaced with ‘intellectual disability’ in medical settings in 2010. Tell me why the phrase “mental re****ation” made it past editors!?
• Holy cisgender heteronormativity Batman!
• Add a mega dose of fatphobia to that list.
• Some concerning conflation of chromosomal differences (e.g. Down Syndrome) and unhealthy babies? Struck me as weird.
• Why can’t Jesse research things himself if he has questions? Very odd framing, especially since he doesn’t seem to be painted in a particularly supportive light throughout the book (dude, just take care of the litter box - you live with this woman for godssake)
• Really comes from a privileged view (that seems to remain unacknowledged) - particularly struck by describing interactions with doctors. Girl, fat, queer, and non-white folks know all this already.
• Other folks online have much better explanations about the problems with the caffeine and alcohol recommendations that I’m not going to touch here but know that the language around all that made me itchy.
• I knew by like page 3 I was going to be irritated by this book. I was very much correct and will be pulling any of her other books off my TBR list >_<
Content Warnings
Graphic: Ableism, Alcoholism, Body shaming, Fatphobia, Homophobia, Infertility, and Classism