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Reviews tagging 'Body shaming'
Fearing the Black Body: The Racial Origins of Fat Phobia by Sabrina Strings
26 reviews
snipinfool's review against another edition
dark
informative
sad
slow-paced
4.0
This book explored how fat phobia was rooted in racism. Sabrina Strings guided the reader throughout history with examples in art and medicine to show how larger bodies, initially seen as a positive attribute, slowly became a negative aspect that was often tied to race. The concept of race was a social construct that came about slowly after the late 1500's. Used to categorize people according to common characteristics, white Europeans used it to create a hierarchy of races in which they placed themselves at the top. Body size was one way whites would use to distance themselves from the non-white races. People who were thin or slim were seen as intelligent, motivated, hard working, and having other positive attributes. People who were fat were negatively thought to be lazy, slovenly, and less intelligent. Women were most often targeted for size and weight. White women in Europe and in America often tried to be as thin as possible to distance themselves from those they saw as undesirable. The medical community did not enter into the discussion of weight and body size until the early 1900's when discussion began around obesity.
This was an interesting read. The writing was very academic, and I often read it in short bursts to reflect on what I read. It frequently made me angry and frustrated. Those who were seen as the "experts" always chose someone who looked them in color and size as being the best. They were able to create a following, and their thoughts became accepted as the truth when there were no facts to back up their beliefs. It was all opinion. Doctors and the medical community entered the discussion long after people had decided that fat people, especially those who were non-white, were unacceptable. Ms. Strings did a good job of covering an extensive timeline to show how body size in relation to race and gender changed over time. We forget that what is accepted as true are not always tested findings. I am glad my daughter asked me to buddy read this with her.
This was an interesting read. The writing was very academic, and I often read it in short bursts to reflect on what I read. It frequently made me angry and frustrated. Those who were seen as the "experts" always chose someone who looked them in color and size as being the best. They were able to create a following, and their thoughts became accepted as the truth when there were no facts to back up their beliefs. It was all opinion. Doctors and the medical community entered the discussion long after people had decided that fat people, especially those who were non-white, were unacceptable. Ms. Strings did a good job of covering an extensive timeline to show how body size in relation to race and gender changed over time. We forget that what is accepted as true are not always tested findings. I am glad my daughter asked me to buddy read this with her.
Content Warnings
Graphic: Body shaming, Fatphobia, and Racism
Moderate: Misogyny, Eating disorder, and Slavery
Minor: Ableism and Sexism
brigottabooty's review against another edition
challenging
informative
reflective
slow-paced
4.0
Content Warnings
Graphic: Eating disorder and Body shaming
taratearex's review against another edition
informative
reflective
medium-paced
5.0
This was excellent and infuriating. This is a concise history of fat phobia, laying out very clearly how it originated from racism. It also lays out how connected to religion it is, as well as just how manufactured by white women and white men it is and continues to be. It's infuriating to see how little has changed and how we continue to repeat history over and over.
This book is dense and does read somewhat like a history textbook, but it is also clear and concise and lays out the facts so well in only about 200 pages. Because it is more a presentation of the facts, there isn't much analysis so I would recommend reading this in addition to other books on anti-fat bias and racism for more of the analysis part, such as What We Don't Talk About When We Talk About Fat Aubrey Gordon and Belly of the Beast: The Politics of Anti-Fatness as Anti-Blackness Da’Shaun Harrison. But this was an excellent book on the history of how we got to where we are now and well worth the read.
I listened to the audiobook in tandem with my physical copy so that I could highlight, this was also helpful as there are a lot of names and dates which I have a harder time with if it's just audiobook.
This book is dense and does read somewhat like a history textbook, but it is also clear and concise and lays out the facts so well in only about 200 pages. Because it is more a presentation of the facts, there isn't much analysis so I would recommend reading this in addition to other books on anti-fat bias and racism for more of the analysis part, such as What We Don't Talk About When We Talk About Fat Aubrey Gordon and Belly of the Beast: The Politics of Anti-Fatness as Anti-Blackness Da’Shaun Harrison. But this was an excellent book on the history of how we got to where we are now and well worth the read.
I listened to the audiobook in tandem with my physical copy so that I could highlight, this was also helpful as there are a lot of names and dates which I have a harder time with if it's just audiobook.
Content Warnings
Graphic: Fatphobia, Racism, and Body shaming
Moderate: Slavery, Sexism, Ableism, and Misogyny
kpeps's review against another edition
informative
reflective
medium-paced
5.0
This book was a great intersectional analysis on the role racism and white supremacy played in creating and emphasizing the fat-phobia is modern society. There is so much information in this text that you can’t help but learn something every chapter, yet it’s colloquial enough to understand and entertain.
Content Warnings
Graphic: Medical content, Religious bigotry, Body shaming, and Fatphobia
Moderate: Racism, Infertility, Classism, Fatphobia, Sexism, and Slavery
Minor: Eating disorder and Pandemic/Epidemic
katharina90's review against another edition
informative
reflective
medium-paced
3.0
A history of fatphobia that above all else highlights the patriarchal origins of fatphobia and how it was always white men (from artists to doctors) who determined what a "good" body, and especially a good female body, ought to look like. Over the course of several centuries this entailed various forms of body shaming, incl. skinny shaming.
The author does connect some dots between fatphobia and racism, classism and other forms of oppression but the vast majority of the text centers around white men's attempts to control white women's bodies. I wish there was a much heavier emphasis on the intersectional analysis.
While some of the language feels outdated overall, there's also a lot of fatphobic language throughout this book with no acknowledgement or explanation, so I can't tell if these terms are used intentionally (and if so, why?) or if the author's own fatphobia might be showing.
The author does connect some dots between fatphobia and racism, classism and other forms of oppression but the vast majority of the text centers around white men's attempts to control white women's bodies. I wish there was a much heavier emphasis on the intersectional analysis.
While some of the language feels outdated overall, there's also a lot of fatphobic language throughout this book with no acknowledgement or explanation, so I can't tell if these terms are used intentionally (and if so, why?) or if the author's own fatphobia might be showing.
Content Warnings
Graphic: Fatphobia and Body shaming
Moderate: Classism, Racism, Slavery, Colonisation, and Eating disorder
meganmalonefranklin's review against another edition
challenging
informative
5.0
Content Warnings
Graphic: Religious bigotry, Slavery, Infertility, Bullying, Colonisation, Classism, Eating disorder, Fatphobia, Body shaming, Alcoholism, Antisemitism, Racism, Alcohol, Racial slurs, and Misogyny
mandkips's review against another edition
challenging
informative
reflective
slow-paced
4.0
Content Warnings
Graphic: Racism, Body shaming, and Fatphobia
Moderate: Misogyny and Eating disorder
Minor: Sexism and Ableism
kathrynhoss's review against another edition
challenging
informative
slow-paced
5.0
A must-read to understand anti-fat bias in the Western world and how it relates back to white supremacy.
As we have seen, the current anti-fat bias in the United States, and in much of the West, was not born in the medical field. Racial scientific literature since at least the 18th century has claimed that fatness was savage and Black... because women are typically reduced to their bodies, fat stigma has commonly targeted racial ethnic Other women. Protestant moralism and the distain of indulgence contributed to the cacophony of pro-thin, anti-fat bias. The medical field has been the most recent institution to enter the fray.
Content Warnings
Graphic: Fatphobia, Body shaming, Xenophobia, and Racism
puttingwingsonwords's review against another edition
challenging
informative
medium-paced
5.0
I had seen Fearing the Black Body recommended in pretty much every antifatness related book list, so when I saw it was available on my audiobook app, I immediately added it to my shelf. Anyone who wants to dive a little deeper than the basics and learn about the history of antifatness and its roots in racism and eugenics should read this book.
It’s not long and while the language is academic, it’s not overly complicated. The audiobook was easy to follow. I haven’t listened to a lot of nonfiction audiobooks yet so I was afraid that my attention would waver, but it was the opposite: I listened for much longer stretches than I usually do because I was so intrigued.
Fearing the Black Body helps put the current discussions around antifatness into a historical context and shows how much we are still influenced by decades or centuries old ideas of eugenicist doctors and ‘race scientists’ who spouted ‘scientific’ ideas with no basis in research or reality.
It’s not long and while the language is academic, it’s not overly complicated. The audiobook was easy to follow. I haven’t listened to a lot of nonfiction audiobooks yet so I was afraid that my attention would waver, but it was the opposite: I listened for much longer stretches than I usually do because I was so intrigued.
Fearing the Black Body helps put the current discussions around antifatness into a historical context and shows how much we are still influenced by decades or centuries old ideas of eugenicist doctors and ‘race scientists’ who spouted ‘scientific’ ideas with no basis in research or reality.
Content Warnings
Graphic: Misogyny, Racism, Antisemitism, Fatphobia, Ableism, Body shaming, and Colonisation
Moderate: Genocide, Racial slurs, and Religious bigotry
minty_3's review against another edition
challenging
emotional
informative
reflective
slow-paced
4.0
Content Warnings
Graphic: Body shaming, Misogyny, Fatphobia, Racism, Racial slurs, and Sexism
Moderate: Classism