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Reviews tagging 'Gun violence'
Belly of the Beast: The Politics of Anti-Fatness as Anti-Blackness by Da’Shaun Harrison
4 reviews
carbs666's review
challenging
emotional
informative
reflective
medium-paced
5.0
Such a thought provoking and deeply researched book, using a combination of primary and secondary sources (including interviews with fat Black trans people). There was lots in here I connected with as a fat trans person and so much I learned as a white person. Strongly recommend to anyone who js ready to level up their fat liberation reading.
Content Warnings
Moderate: Police brutality, Death, Racism, and Gun violence
kaynova's review against another edition
informative
reflective
fast-paced
5.0
Chapter 3 and Chapter 6 ruined me, in the best ways possible. This book has challenged my own beliefs, or at least what EYE thought was my beliefs, into what needs to be done to reform and reshape a system that was never with me in mind and how to navigate these spaces without conforming to those values. I was actually working out when I was reading Chapter 3 and it made me sit down and rethink what is the purpose of exercise when I have always been sought out as black queer fat person who needs tp "lose weight" or "reframe your shape to be more curvy". This book pushes the envelope on current mindsets and narratives that make us believe one thing because it's more acceptable, not remembering or knowing that it is harmful and extremely anti-black and anti-fatness. Fatphobia does align with anti-blackness and transphobia, especially for black fat trans bodies and Da'Shaun L. Harrison does a phenomenal job of informing the readers of this while piecing other great works and articles to back their claims and findings. Because of the multiple name drops they put in the book, my TBR has grown to learn more about black bodies, especially black fat bodies when I, myself, have these same identities yet never accessed these works. I can't wait to learn more.
Content Warnings
Graphic: Racism, Fatphobia, Transphobia, Police brutality, Medical trauma, Gun violence, and Dysphoria
eliya's review against another edition
emotional
informative
reflective
fast-paced
5.0
fantastic read. informative and not too dense to where it is difficult to process the information. i learned so much. de’schaun harrison writes in a way that is conversational yet obviously so informative. it felt like i was listening to one of my really smart friends talk.
Content Warnings
Graphic: Police brutality, Pedophilia, Gun violence, Genocide, Pandemic/Epidemic, Murder, Medical trauma, Racism, Misogyny, Death, Violence, Slavery, Racial slurs, Adult/minor relationship, Medical content, Fatphobia, Sexism, Physical abuse, Transphobia, Homophobia, and Hate crime
wetdirtreads's review
challenging
emotional
informative
reflective
fast-paced
5.0
Belly of the Beast is an incredibly concise, yet deeply thorough and nuanced exploration of how anti-fatness as anti-Blackness is constructed & violently enforced. Harrison focuses on how desirability politics, healthism, hyper-sexualisation & in/visibility are deployed under white supremacy (& specifically anti-Blackness) to produce & impose anti-fatness as anti-Blackness.
Immaculately woven through this investigation is an analysis of how anti-fatness as anti-Blackness manifests across diverse experiences of gender, transness, and disability. The result is a refreshing, much-needed & well overdue fill for so many gaps in existing fat literature.
I really can't overstate how impressive it is for a 109-page book to cover so much ground without sacrificing any complexity or integrity. I’ll admit, when I first started the book, I felt a bit unsure about the in-depth explanation of sociological concepts & key terms. I wondered whether it was useful, or just academic waffle. I quickly found, though, that it was not only useful, but imperative to the book’s accessibility, nuance, & simultaneous huge scope & brevity.
There is no one I wouldn’t recommend this book to. However, I think it’s a particularly important read for white fat folks whose fat activism lacks a racially aware & critical lens. And I don’t just mean awareness of how fatphobia impacts Black folks differently. I mean how fatphobia is a direct product of anti-Blackness that largely impacts people based on their perceived proximity to Blackness, and thus, perceived distance from humanness.
I am so grateful for this book. It is a generous offering that provides an opportunity for fat studies and fat literature to steer in a crucial direction. Belly of the Beast, along with other critical fat Black texts, also provides fertile ground for other localised contexts and experiences to be thoroughly and appropriately engaged. I would love to see the wisdom of this book applied to other Black contexts beyond Turtle Island (or the so-called united states/north america).
(Review initially posted on Instagram)
Immaculately woven through this investigation is an analysis of how anti-fatness as anti-Blackness manifests across diverse experiences of gender, transness, and disability. The result is a refreshing, much-needed & well overdue fill for so many gaps in existing fat literature.
I really can't overstate how impressive it is for a 109-page book to cover so much ground without sacrificing any complexity or integrity. I’ll admit, when I first started the book, I felt a bit unsure about the in-depth explanation of sociological concepts & key terms. I wondered whether it was useful, or just academic waffle. I quickly found, though, that it was not only useful, but imperative to the book’s accessibility, nuance, & simultaneous huge scope & brevity.
There is no one I wouldn’t recommend this book to. However, I think it’s a particularly important read for white fat folks whose fat activism lacks a racially aware & critical lens. And I don’t just mean awareness of how fatphobia impacts Black folks differently. I mean how fatphobia is a direct product of anti-Blackness that largely impacts people based on their perceived proximity to Blackness, and thus, perceived distance from humanness.
I am so grateful for this book. It is a generous offering that provides an opportunity for fat studies and fat literature to steer in a crucial direction. Belly of the Beast, along with other critical fat Black texts, also provides fertile ground for other localised contexts and experiences to be thoroughly and appropriately engaged. I would love to see the wisdom of this book applied to other Black contexts beyond Turtle Island (or the so-called united states/north america).
(Review initially posted on Instagram)
Content Warnings
Graphic: Police brutality, Racism, Death, Fatphobia, and Gun violence
Moderate: Genocide, Medical trauma, Child abuse, Hate crime, Sexual assault, Ableism, Murder, Slavery, and Transphobia
Minor: Colonisation, Dysphoria, and Religious bigotry
More...