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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
kathrynreading's review against another edition
4.5
Graphic: Cultural appropriation, Classism, Racism, Fatphobia, Body shaming, and Colonisation
Moderate: Slavery and Sexual harassment
jrae_miller's review against another edition
4.5
Graphic: Cultural appropriation, Sexism, Misogyny, Fatphobia, Racism, and Classism
Moderate: Body shaming, Colonisation, Slavery, and Sexual violence
Minor: Eating disorder and Sexual violence
chloemakesbooks's review against another edition
4.0
Graphic: Slavery, Medical content, and Colonisation
singsandreads's review
5.0
Moderate: Racism, Sexual violence, Colonisation, Classism, and Medical trauma
Minor: Slavery
sophia_'s review
4.25
Moderate: Body shaming, Eating disorder, Colonisation, Cultural appropriation, Racism, Fatphobia, Slavery, Misogyny, Sexism, and Sexual violence
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
onlyonebookshelf's review
4.5
Moderate: Racism, Fatphobia, Slavery, Homophobia, and Colonisation
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
boba_n_books's review
4.5
Radke takes readers through generations of butts and what was found attractive and what wasn’t. As is common, the focus was specifically on women’s butts. They seem to be the cause of attention as soon as girls hit puberty, and Radke adds in a lot of her personal experience as a large-butted woman throughout the dialogue surrounding the history of butts.
I genuinely learned a lot about the butt and how it functions within our society. Especially how butt “trends” are culturally appropriated from the Black community. It was a very eye-opening book to me in that way.
I highly recommend this book to anyone who is curious about butts or just wants to understand why they’re such a big deal.
Graphic: Body shaming, Racism, and Cultural appropriation
Moderate: Fatphobia, Sexism, and Colonisation
Minor: Rape, Sexual assault, and Eating disorder