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4.25 AVERAGE
4.25 AVERAGE
challenging
emotional
informative
reflective
medium-paced
informative
reflective
medium-paced
[Book Riot Read Harder 2025 Challenge - Prompt 12 - Read a staff pick from an indie bookstore]
I am honestly thrilled to see a book on this subject get enough traction to be nominated for the National Book Award. In my opinion, fatphobia feels like the last socially acceptable tool of discrimination, still popular even among leftist circles. Kate Manne’s well-researched piece looks at is from all angles, including, notably, as a proxy for all other tools of oppression many try not to be publicly accused of, namely racism, classism and ableism. I look at the prevalence of fatphobia as proof as the necessity for intersectionality; it cannot be pull out until we face its roots. I appreciate that Manne’s approach is similar.
I am honestly thrilled to see a book on this subject get enough traction to be nominated for the National Book Award. In my opinion, fatphobia feels like the last socially acceptable tool of discrimination, still popular even among leftist circles. Kate Manne’s well-researched piece looks at is from all angles, including, notably, as a proxy for all other tools of oppression many try not to be publicly accused of, namely racism, classism and ableism. I look at the prevalence of fatphobia as proof as the necessity for intersectionality; it cannot be pull out until we face its roots. I appreciate that Manne’s approach is similar.
This book cites so many trailblazers in the fat liberation space, Aubrey Gordon, Viginia Sole Smith, and Sabrina Strings. I think, particularly the first half of this book brings together so much of their writing with historical research and personal snippets of memoir in a way that is quite effective. I think this is the most accessible text I’ve read about the subject and most nuanced. It’s surprising….actually, not surprising, disheartening, to read reviews that accuse Manne of bias in her selection of evidence, when these studies have been widely discussed and some she presents have been endorsed by the CDC and other health authorities. I think these reactions come from a panic and moralizing of the fat body which people have a hard time releasing. Furthermore, so many of these responses seem to germinate from some level of ableism. Having read so many books on this subject, I would actually go as far to say that Manne shows the most virtues of her opposition. It feels exceedingly balanced to me, as she discusses diminishing returns in Flegal’s study and presents it’s opposition.
The second half of the book felt full of newer conversations to me, mainly because it is a philosophical angle on a topic I care about. Reading anything “philosophical” makes me think that all the thinking I do is by accident. It’s not my field. That said, it is interesting to see all the specific examples of fatphobia in any field. I was also interested in the discussion around whether we owe one another health, I feel I would go even farther than the author that we owe each other very little since our bodies are our own. But, I will say, there is something in some of this argument that felt like it could have been sharper, particularly because I think what she is trying to say is so important, maybe even the crux of the book. That it’s not just “mean” to judge fat people and pressure them into dieting, but that it is unethical because there is really no choice, and even if there was choice, it would be beyond individuals to police. This is something I think about often around weight bias and ableism, we tend to more easily accept what is a societal aberration when it can be cast as without choice…even if we should accept it regardless of this fact. It calls to mind the discourse around gay marriage in the early 2000s and trans folks now. People deserve respect and inclusion regardless of whether they are “born this way” or not. Whether you understand them or disagree with them. People deserve respect because they are humans. And that is what I think is at the center of this book.
Content Warnings
Graphic: Fatphobia
philosophy by anyone other than a straight white man? yes, finally 😭
i didn’t learn as much in the first half as i thought i would (proud student of maintenance phase academy ✌️), though it was sobering to hear such private, painful personal anecdotes. overall kate reinforced and deepened my knowledge on the immense body of research that exists around fatphobia, diet culture, eating disorders, etc.
the latter half challenged and changed how i think about the world, and to some extent, my own body. and i loved the parts with her daughter. powerful.
“The world has to be remade; it has to serve you better.”
i didn’t learn as much in the first half as i thought i would (proud student of maintenance phase academy ✌️), though it was sobering to hear such private, painful personal anecdotes. overall kate reinforced and deepened my knowledge on the immense body of research that exists around fatphobia, diet culture, eating disorders, etc.
the latter half challenged and changed how i think about the world, and to some extent, my own body. and i loved the parts with her daughter. powerful.
“The world has to be remade; it has to serve you better.”
Having been a bigger girl all my life, and to no fault of my mom but really society, diet life has always been my life. Weight watchers in middle school, being called a plump fat strawberry in gym class while wearing a strawberry t-shirt, fat phobia & fat discrimination, have been a constant. Dealing with the medical systems & being told to "just lose weight" will fix everything & not being looked at holistically & as an individual is mind-boggling.
This book was well written with tons of data (love that), but sadly the audiences that should & need to read this book (the haters, medical practioners, anyone who judges someone else) will not. So until then, nothing will change.
This book was well written with tons of data (love that), but sadly the audiences that should & need to read this book (the haters, medical practioners, anyone who judges someone else) will not. So until then, nothing will change.
This is an excellent discussion, both personal and philosophical in nature. It builds on the works of Tressie McMillan Cottom, Roxane Gay, Lindy West, Aubrey Gordan and Da’Shaun L Harrison and pulls together all the intersectional threads associated with fatphobia.
emotional
informative
reflective
fast-paced
challenging
emotional
informative
reflective
fast-paced
It is not a perfect book, but it is certainly informative and validating to hear stories and facts about fatphobia in our society. Like many others who commented, I found the chapter on gaslighting to be way too long. I preferred the first half of the book over the 2nd half.
Nice memoir interwoven with anti-diet facts. You know I’ll always read books like this! Not as memorable as some of the others I’ve read.
informative
reflective
slow-paced