Reviews with content warning for Dysphoria - “You Just Need to Lose Weight”: And 19 Other Myths About Fat People

I don't really have words for how important this book is.

There are years of works available to us, shouting the dangers of anti-fat bias, the lies we are told; but Aubrey Gordon lays it out, step-by-step, in a way that is accessible and digestible. It solicits empathy in its honesty. Gordon does a great job too of offering other equally important titles of equally important voices on fat people and the history and now of how we treat each other.

I wish I could shove this into the hands of everyone I meet! I kept reading passages and rereading them and wanting to post them but then realizing I'd be posting the entire chapter because that's how good every single chapter was.

If you're a fan of Maintenance Phase you'll love this, though be aware that tonally it isn't as silly as her and Michael get together. It's much more serious. And if you're not a fan of Maintenance Phase but like this book, you should check out Gordon's podcast! They dive deep into different health crazes/diet books/health "influencers". They have a great chemistry and it's a good way to both laugh and rage at the machine.

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knit_the_resistance's review against another edition

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dark informative reflective fast-paced

4.0

If you haven't listened to Maintenance Phase, you probably should. Everyone should listen to/read this book, it's important.
However.
If I'm not mistaken, the book is a series of blog posts or essays strung together. Or at least that's how they read. Rarely have I listened to a book that needed editing for continuity more. It is so intensely repetitive --even within the same essay, let alone among chapters, that it was hard to maintain attention at times.
The author relies on the wire deep and deeply. I found myself counting the repetitions. Frustrating, because I like the podcast.
But the podcast feels like haranguing, and the book feels like the podcast. So. I didn't love it, but it's important.
One minor comment: the last chapter deals with "fat phobia is the last sanctioned form of discrimination" but goes on to discuss the countless other forms of discrimination in American society. It very pointedly does not mention antisemitism, which I found an interesting oversight.

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katekatiekait's review against another edition

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challenging reflective medium-paced

4.0

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maryellen's review against another edition

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challenging dark emotional informative

5.0

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notmeganyoung's review against another edition

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emotional informative reflective sad medium-paced

4.0

A great primer for dismantling anti-fat bias, but not a book for someone already very familiar with fat liberation. If you listen to it from beginning to end it gets repetitive, but I suppose it’s structured that way so that you can read it out of order or just a little bit at a time. I will recommend this book to some friends and family but unfortunately I think this is the kind of book where the people who could *really* benefit from reading it will not be the ones reading it. That’s not to say it wasn’t excellently written or that there’s nothing to gain for you here if you are already a fan of Aubrey Gordon. There is a lot here that she has said before on Maintenance Phase, but there’s also new stuff here. For me though, I was missing her sense of humor and fiery passion which are so evident in her conversations. The reflection questions and opportunities for action at the end of each chapter were great.

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