Reviews tagging 'Sexual assault'

Belly of the Beast: The Politics of Anti-Fatness as Anti-Blackness by Da’Shaun Harrison

12 reviews

monstrouscosmos's review against another edition

challenging informative reflective medium-paced

4.75

definitely a hard listen, but I'm glad to have done it. while there is some historical rooting I appreciate that it mostly stayed in the realm of contemporary experience (the author's own and those of others). I think it's a necessary read for anyone interested in embodied experiences broadly (but esp along intersections of race, gender, and age). 

I did read the content warnings on Storygraph, but I really would have benefitted from content notes with chapters at the beginning of the book or at the beginning of chapters. I still would have listened, but I'd have been better prepared to do so. 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Sexual harassment, Sexual assault, Fatphobia, Pedophilia, Death, Eating disorder, Ableism, Body shaming, Murder, Racial slurs, Child abuse, Grief, Hate crime, Police brutality, and Racism

Moderate: Transphobia, Colonisation, Classism, and Dysphoria

nahae's review

5.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Fatphobia, Sexual assault, Racism, and Death

bisexualbookshelf's review

4.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Police brutality

Moderate: Sexual violence and Sexual assault

katharina90's review against another edition

informative reflective medium-paced

3.0

Interesting read but the writing often felt dry and dense.

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Content Warnings

Moderate: Transphobia, Fatphobia, Sexual assault, and Police brutality

remimicha's review

fast-paced

5.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Misogyny, Murder, Body shaming, Medical content, Police brutality, Sexism, Genocide, Colonisation, Fatphobia, Racism, Racial slurs, Sexual assault, Transphobia, Medical trauma, Death, and Classism

otherworlds's review

challenging informative reflective

5.0

incredibly informative and important

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Fatphobia, Sexual assault, Police brutality, Racism, and Pedophilia

emmablue's review

challenging informative

4.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Police brutality and Fatphobia

Moderate: Sexual assault and Slavery

arsenic_'s review

informative reflective medium-paced

5.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Racism, Slavery, Police brutality, Sexual assault, Fatphobia, Transphobia, Murder, and Adult/minor relationship

Moderate: Xenophobia, Medical trauma, Racial slurs, and Sexual violence

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)

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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

bonkstrats's review

challenging emotional hopeful informative reflective fast-paced

5.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Police brutality and Murder

Moderate: Sexual assault