Reviews tagging 'Pregnancy'

Butts: A Backstory by Heather Radke

2 reviews

zombiezami's review

emotional funny informative lighthearted reflective medium-paced

4.25

This was very thoughtfully researched, organized, and written. I learned a lot and enjoyed this so much. My one suggestion that would have taken this from good to great would be if the author had included a chapter on trans women on HRT, and the range of feelings they have about estrogen changing their bodies. It could also cover queer beauty standards and how transphobia impacts body shaming, including butt shaming.

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Content Warnings

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

erebus53's review

challenging emotional informative reflective sad medium-paced

3.0

Any sociopolitical commentary on body image and fashion is likely to be a bit navel-gazey.. and backward looking.. but parts of this are a bit far up its own butt.

The first few chapters of this book, while offering very little to anyone who already knows a bit about evolution, are a solid exploration of the physiology and selection pressures that probably lead to the development of the unique human bottom. I was getting my hopes up when Radke champions the scientific expectation that the conclusions should be based on the data, rather than hunting through information to find proofs for useful ideas you have had; I had hoped that this book was going to say interesting things that I hadn't heard before.

We are introduced to a history lesson of Sarah Baartman, a South African woman who was used as a freakshow act because of her large bum and dark skin. She was called the "Hottentot Venus" and became an iconic stereotype (whose remains were defiled and displayed in museums for years after her death). A lot of the exploration of beauty norms and White centric fashion is unpacked by looking at the Bustle and other clothing items, designed to enlarge the bottom... but I think that Radke is reaching when she tries to equate the use of sexualised bum padding in dresses in "trying to look like a Black woman" or cultural misappropriation. She seems to have hunted for a while to find any record of these ideas being linked, and has found one article in an Irish publication where a journalist cracks a joke about it. If this is cherry-picking your sources, that cherry may in fact be a dried sourcherry.. not really satisfying any proof of your clever idea.

From eugenics to Mylie Cyrus, from Mix-A-Lot to Kate Moss, bespoke fashion to production-line sweatshops, and Late Stage Capitalism, this book tells a story of marketing, status, Colonization, and the control of women's bodies by men, women, and society in general. There are a lot of good points made, and so much {White people doing cringey stuff}, and sick, awful stuff. Apparently this book was banned in some places. I can't see any good reason because it's not what I would call inflammatory, but then, 
I don't tend to buy into a lot of normalised beliefs, and I don't think that people with the most power necessarily get there because they are good.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Body horror, Emotional abuse, Hate crime, Mental illness, Trafficking, Body shaming, Violence, Bullying, Classism, Death, Dysphoria, Eating disorder, Racial slurs, Racism, Rape, Self harm, Sexism, Sexual violence, Slavery, Xenophobia, Colonisation, Cultural appropriation, Gaslighting, Grief, Misogyny, Physical abuse, Pregnancy, Sexual assault, and Sexual harassment