Reviews tagging 'Body shaming'

Exile and Pride: Disability, Queerness, and Liberation by Eli Clare

4 reviews

precise's review against another edition

challenging dark emotional informative reflective slow-paced

4.25

This book was somewhat memoir, somewhat poetry. Exile in the title refers to class as much as anything else - what I took was, if you're a rural queer person from an un-accepting community, you are exiled both in your rural community of origin and in your urban life, in different ways. I liked the digression about disability and the history of 'freak shows'. I was surprised by how environmentalist it was - he writes in depth about having grown up in a dying logging town - not unpleasant but not what I expected from the title. The edition I read had some footnotes from 2009 - would love a new edition with footnotes from the 2020s as well :) 

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Content Warnings

Minor: Incest, Bullying, Rape, Injury/Injury detail, Body shaming, Child abuse, Chronic illness, Sexual violence, Drug use, and Sexual assault

Content warnings largely relate to the author's personal history - not described in great detail, but sexual abuse from his father as well as bullying from classmates is mentioned a few times. There is also brief mention of logging related injuries in his hometown.

libraryoflanelle's review against another edition

4.0

I read this one exclusively via Audio and would like to re-read it in tandem with the physical book so I can absorb it more fully. I will definitely be writing an updated review when I get my hands on a physical copy.

I really enjoyed hearing Eli reflect on these topics as things were in 1999. Seeing the parallels, the differences and on many occasions the heart-breaking lack of positive change truly added a level of discussion to these topics that I did not anticipate.

I have added content/trigger warnings to my review but I want to point out that Eli does mention CSA he experienced in childhood on multiple occasions, at times in moderate detail.

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Content Warnings

Moderate: Rape, Sexual assault, Child abuse, and Ableism

Minor: Bullying, Body shaming, Racial slurs, Homophobia, Colonisation, Dysphoria, Forced institutionalization, Chronic illness, Lesbophobia, Medical content, and Transphobia

mxbenjaminrose's review against another edition

challenging emotional inspiring reflective medium-paced

5.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Rape, Ableism, and Child abuse

Moderate: Sexual violence, Racism, Sexual assault, Transphobia, Homophobia, Medical trauma, Incest, Classism, Mental illness, Physical abuse, Colonisation, and Forced institutionalization

Minor: Body shaming

achingallover's review against another edition

dark hopeful informative inspiring reflective slow-paced

4.5

really appreciated the foreward and preface and afterword, as well as the additional notes Eli Clare added in 2009, so would recommend the 2015 edition

definitely a book i will reread, and have annotated heavily. really important analysis of intersections, of complicated and layered questions, poking at the uncomfortable bits to discover why 

"at the jagged edge where self-hatred meets pride"
"in the end i mean deeply honest multi issue politics that will make home possible"
"when do we celebrate, when do we howl with rage, when do we witness and mourn?"

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Hate crime, Homophobia, Classism, Pedophilia, Rape, Child abuse, Ableism, Sexual violence, Genocide, Body shaming, Physical abuse, and Forced institutionalization