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Title details for What We Don't Talk About When We Talk About Fat by Aubrey Gordon - Available

What We Don't Talk About When We Talk About Fat

by Aubrey Gordon
ebook
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From the creator of Your Fat Friend and co-host of the Maintenance Phase podcast, an explosive indictment of the systemic and cultural bias facing plus-size people.
Anti-fatness is everywhere. In What We Don’t Talk About When We Talk About Fat, Aubrey Gordon unearths the cultural attitudes and social systems that have led to people being denied basic needs because they are fat and calls for social justice movements to be inclusive of plus-sized people’s experiences. Unlike the recent wave of memoirs and quasi self-help books that encourage readers to love and accept themselves, Gordon pushes the discussion further towards authentic fat activism, which includes ending legal weight discrimination, giving equal access to health care for large people, increased access to public spaces, and ending anti-fat violence. As she argues, “I did not come to body positivity for self-esteem. I came to it for social justice.”
By sharing her experiences as well as those of others—from smaller fat to very fat people—she concludes that to be fat in our society is to be seen as an undeniable failure, unlovable, unforgivable, and morally condemnable. Fatness is an open invitation for others to express disgust, fear, and insidious concern. To be fat is to be denied humanity and empathy. Studies show that fat survivors of sexual assault are less likely to be believed and less likely than their thin counterparts to report various crimes; 27% of very fat women and 13% of very fat men attempt suicide; over 50% of doctors describe their fat patients as “awkward, unattractive, ugly and noncompliant”; and in 48 states, it’s legal—even routine—to deny employment because of an applicant’s size.
Advancing fat justice and changing prejudicial structures and attitudes will require work from all people. What We Don’t Talk About When We Talk About Fat is a crucial tool to create a tectonic shift in the way we see, talk about, and treat our bodies, fat and thin alike.

  • Creators

  • Publisher

  • Release date

    November 17, 2020

  • Formats

    • Kindle Book

    • OverDrive Read

      • ISBN: 9780807041321

    • EPUB ebook

      • ISBN: 9780807041321
      • File size: 4901 KB

  • Languages

    • English

  • Reviews

    • Library Journal

      Starred review from October 1, 2020

      Gordon (creator, Your Fat Friend) addresses what may be the last socially acceptable form of bias: fat discrimination. She describes in painful detail the issues that fat people face daily: "well-meaning" women removing items from grocery carts, passing drivers shouting insults, the idea that the obese should be grateful for unwanted sexual attention, barriers to employment and healthcare, and more. As Gordon explains, nearly all of us are conditioned to see fat people as burdens, and it takes effort to unlearn this bias that is buried deeply in American culture. The author shows how obesity is seen as a personal and moral failing rather than a complex state that is strongly influenced by genetics. Fat people are more likely to be women, and women of color, and fat bias may allow gender and racial discrimination to hide in a "safe" form. Moving from memoir to medical history, the book also covers the dangers of BMI, Weight Watchers, and TV shows like The Biggest Loser. Gordon closes with a plea for a body justice movement--beyond "body positivity"--and offers several recommendations for achieving it. VERDICT Everyone who has a fat family member, friend, acquaintance, or coworker should read this insightful book.--Rachel Owens, Daytona State Coll. Lib., FL

      Copyright 2020 Library Journal, LLC Used with permission.

Formats

  • Kindle Book
  • OverDrive Read
  • EPUB ebook

subjects

Languages

  • English

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