Reviews with content warning for Rape - Body Work

Reviews tagging 'Rape'

Body Work by Melissa Febos

5 reviews

beanith's review against another edition

challenging emotional informative reflective sad

3.75

This book contains four essays so I'll be rating and sharing thoughts on each.

"1/ In Praise of Navel-Gazing" 3.75/5

Febos believes that "navel-gazing" has a feminine (and therefore negative and lesser) connotation in peoples minds and operates mostly from that point of view in this essay. Her response is that this is a tactic of the patriarchy to shame women (and nb or other queer folk) into silence. While her broader feminist points are not new to me, I have never once considered "navel-gazing" to be feminine. On writing, though, Febos says what so many other authors (and visual artists) say: your story has value because it's your story. She also advises to stop avoiding yourself.

"2/ Mind Fuck: Writing Better Sex" 2.5/5

Every time I've mentally revisited this essay I've rated it lower and lower. I think if there had been an additional essay that focused on the body in other acts (eating, moving, hurting, etc) I might not have been as sensitive to the content here. But the "body" in Body Work is mostly subject to trauma or sex. The most interesting points in this essay for me were ones pertaining to some of the failures of fourth-wave feminism (to be clear, that's my interpretation, Febos never comes out and says that). (Sex-work is not always the #GirlBoss move fourth-wave feminism and social media paint it to be!)

"3/ A Big Shitty Party: Six Parables of Writing About Other People" 4/5

I think this essay is the one I have the least to say about in response. I'm most moved by the part titled "4. Letting the Writer Win" and how Febos shows her growth from an immature artist (who will make the art at any cost) to a person who has been humbled by how her work may effect others. She's still devoted to the craft but she has also softened.

"4/ The Return: The Art of Confession" 5/5

Confessional writing has always appealed to me and most musings on the subject are bound speak to me. I feel like my inner workings and interests were reflected here but also that I learned the most from this essay than any of the others. My favorite piece of wisdom written here, "You make the past known in order to know yourself as changed."

I sense Melissa Febos is brilliant and I imagine she's a great professor or workshop leader. If she writes another craft book I hope there is more joy than there is pain.

Content Warnings