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kelly_e's review
3.25
Author: Heather Radke
Genre: Non Fiction
Rating: 3.25
Pub Date: November 29, 2022
T H R E E • W O R D S
Interesting • Thoughtful • Cheeky
📖 S Y N O P S I S
Whether we love them or hate them, think they’re sexy, think they’re strange, consider them too big, too small, or anywhere in between, humans have a complicated relationship with butts. It is a body part unique to humans, critical to our evolution and survival, and yet it has come to signify so much more: sex, desire, comedy, shame. A woman’s butt, in particular, is forever being assessed, criticized, and objectified, from anxious self-examinations trying on jeans in department store dressing rooms to enduring crass remarks while walking down a street or high school hallways. But why?
💭 T H O U G H T S
Butts was never on my TBR until it was selected as one of the featured curated titles for the A-Z challenge in my online book club. Would I have read it otherwise? Probably not. Did it make me pause and offer up moments of reflection? Absolutely.
This cultural history covers a lot of ground - nearly 200 years of cultural, evolutionary, political and anatomical history of the butt, particularly the female butt. I don't think I have ever really took such significant time to reflect on everything the female butt has come to symbolize. I enjoyed getting an in-depth look into how trends have changed over time and the aspects that have helped changed these standards over the eras. There are quite a few pop culture references and talk about the butts that have defined modern generations.
Butts is definitely a unique look into one specific body part, and I would highly recommend the audio, which reads like an in-depth report. I am not sure if I would be able to get through eye-ball reading such a book. It may have been a step outside of something I would normally read, yet it has sparked a different kind of awareness into the sexualization of butts that I think will stick with me.
📚 R E A D • I F • Y O U • L I K E
• cultural history
• investigative reporting
• butts
⚠️ CW: racism, cultural appropriation, body shaming, fatphobia, misogyny, sexism, classism, colonization, slavery, eating disorder, sexual assault, medical content, medical trauma
Graphic: Cultural appropriation, Misogyny, Sexism, Fatphobia, and Body shaming
Moderate: Racism, Slavery, Racial slurs, Classism, and Colonisation
Minor: Eating disorder, Medical content, Sexual assault, and Medical trauma
singsandreads's review
5.0
Moderate: Racism, Sexual violence, Colonisation, Classism, and Medical trauma
Minor: Slavery
zombiezami's review
4.25
Graphic: Sexual harassment, Colonisation, Sexual violence, Sexism, Racism, Kidnapping, Slavery, Fatphobia, Misogyny, Religious bigotry, Body shaming, and Classism
Moderate: Bullying, Cursing, Rape, Medical trauma, Injury/Injury detail, Gaslighting, Genocide, Grief, Infidelity, Pregnancy, Sexual content, Medical content, and Mental illness
Minor: Eating disorder, Homophobia, Biphobia, and Lesbophobia
stevia333k's review
5.0
So this book is a mix of topics kind of, from anatomy, to discussion of exercise tapes, military uniforms, fashion, fame, and of course racism. So the book had both humor & grief.
That being said, since I wasn't part of the diet culture of the fashion/uniform magazines, this book was lovely at filling in info about celebrities such as Kate Moss, J Lo, Beyonce, Paris Hilton, Kim Kardashian. (Again, I was out of the loop on that partly due to youth, partly due to having a different local, etc.)
Graphic: Colonisation, Body shaming, Misogyny, Racism, Sexism, Sexual harassment, Fatphobia, Medical trauma, Ableism, Bullying, Cultural appropriation, Death, Eating disorder, and Slavery
cassie7e's review
5.0
Graphic: Racism and Medical trauma
Moderate: Cultural appropriation
Minor: Sexism, Eating disorder, Colonisation, Slavery, and Sexual harassment
mmccombs's review
3.5
Graphic: Racism, Misogyny, Fatphobia, Cultural appropriation, and Medical trauma