Reviews tagging 'Mental illness'

"You Just Need to Lose Weight" by Aubrey Gordon

13 reviews

msgslibrary's review against another edition

hopeful informative reflective fast-paced

5.0

An essential entry text for the current state of fat liberation philosophy. 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Body shaming, Bullying, Medical trauma, Pandemic/Epidemic, Hate crime, Emotional abuse, Sexual violence, Police brutality, Fatphobia, Dysphoria, Eating disorder, Sexual harassment, Physical abuse, Sexism, and Sexual assault

Moderate: Mental illness, Ableism, Homophobia, Suicidal thoughts, Grief, Racism, Chronic illness, Colonisation, Forced institutionalization, Classism, Misogyny, Transphobia, Genocide, Xenophobia, Pedophilia, Sexual content, Terminal illness, and Violence

mayaelisheva's review against another edition

challenging emotional informative reflective medium-paced

5.0

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Content Warnings

Moderate: Mental illness, Body shaming, Fatphobia, and Eating disorder

ankerrigan's review against another edition

challenging informative reflective medium-paced

5.0

If you love the Maintenance Phase podcast, you'll love this book, which is basically an extension of the podcast's major themes. The only thing it's missing is Michael Hobbes' witty banter.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Fatphobia and Body shaming

Moderate: Medical trauma, Eating disorder, Medical content, Mental illness, and Misogyny

Minor: Transphobia, Racism, Toxic friendship, Ableism, and Police brutality

maddamreads's review against another edition

challenging informative reflective slow-paced

4.0

A staple book for anyone on their journey in fat-activism and should be required reading for medical professionals, fitness professionals, airline management, and educators. I love Gordon’s personal story telling mixed with statistical research and social examples. It is a long, sometimes clinical, and a lot of information at one time. I found that the audiobook was the way to go to keep my interest. This book would also be good reading as separate chapters (small chunks). Please sit in the discomfort of reflection pertaining to how you treat the fat people in your life.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Body shaming, Fatphobia, Mental illness, Racism, and Toxic friendship

Moderate: Ableism and Sexual assault

Minor: Eating disorder

Explicitly talks about the experiences of fat people and direct and indirect fat-bias/fat-based discrimination. Please sit in the discomfort of reflection. Those with past eating disorders or body dysmorphia may want to proceed with caution-do what is best for you.

toriffic's review against another edition

informative medium-paced

5.0

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Content Warnings

Moderate: Ableism, Fatphobia, Hate crime, and Eating disorder

Minor: Deportation, Dysphoria, Medical trauma, Mental illness, Misogyny, Racism, Emotional abuse, Police brutality, Chronic illness, Medical content, Islamophobia, Lesbophobia, Murder, Cultural appropriation, and Homophobia

bambooboy's review against another edition

challenging emotional informative reflective sad fast-paced

5.0

I don't really have words for how important this book is. 

There are years of works available to us, shouting the dangers of anti-fat bias, the lies we are told; but Aubrey Gordon lays it out, step-by-step, in a way that is accessible and digestible. It solicits empathy in its honesty. Gordon does a great job too of offering other equally important titles of equally important voices on fat people and the history and now of how we treat each other. 

I wish I could shove this into the hands of everyone I meet! I kept reading passages and rereading them and wanting to post them but then realizing I'd be posting the entire chapter because that's how good every single chapter was. 

If you're a fan of Maintenance Phase you'll love this, though be aware that tonally it isn't as silly as her and Michael get together. It's much more serious. And if you're not a fan of Maintenance Phase but like this book, you should check out Gordon's podcast! They dive deep into different health crazes/diet books/health "influencers". They have a great chemistry and it's a good way to both laugh and rage at the machine. 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Medical trauma, Body shaming, Bullying, Cancer, Death, Mental illness, Emotional abuse, Fatphobia, Grief, Misogyny, Racism, Dysphoria, Eating disorder, and Medical content

Moderate: Chronic illness, Colonisation, Gaslighting, Hate crime, and Sexism

Minor: Sexual assault, Violence, Classism, Sexual violence, and Sexual harassment

Deeper discussion of content warnings below cut.

Gordon speaks in general on many topics that could be triggering, such as the medical malpractice many doctors partake in when they refuse to provide adequate healthcare for their fat patients, the general attitude toward fat people existing, etc.
She also gets into some specific stories about people who were disabled or died due to this malpractice. As a fat person Gordon also talks about all the aggressions, micro and macro, that she experiences or has experienced.

Overall the content is heavy, and I definitely suggest taking it slow, especially if you are someone who has had to deal with these traumatic experiences on the daily.

carlaah1984's review against another edition

challenging informative reflective sad medium-paced

4.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Fatphobia and Body shaming

Moderate: Chronic illness, Classism, Medical trauma, Ableism, Mental illness, Bullying, and Eating disorder

redefiningrachel's review against another edition

challenging emotional informative medium-paced

4.5

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Fatphobia, Medical trauma, Racism, and Medical content

Moderate: Homophobia, Gaslighting, Death, Transphobia, Mental illness, Xenophobia, Rape, Sexual assault, Classism, Self harm, Chronic illness, Sexual violence, and Sexual harassment

Minor: Cursing and Addiction

knit_the_resistance's review against another edition

dark informative reflective fast-paced

4.0

If you haven't listened to Maintenance Phase, you probably should. Everyone should listen to/read this book, it's important. 
However.
If I'm not mistaken, the book is a series of blog posts or essays strung together. Or at least that's how they read. Rarely have I listened to a book that needed editing for continuity more. It is so intensely repetitive --even within the same essay, let alone among chapters, that it was hard to maintain attention at times. 
The author relies on the wire deep and deeply. I found myself counting the repetitions. Frustrating, because I like the podcast.
But the podcast feels like haranguing, and the book feels like the podcast. So. I didn't love it, but it's important. 
One minor comment: the last chapter deals with "fat phobia is the last sanctioned form of discrimination" but goes on to discuss the countless other forms of discrimination in American society. It very pointedly does not mention antisemitism, which I found an interesting oversight. 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Addiction, Racism, Bullying, Medical content, Body shaming, Chronic illness, Dysphoria, Eating disorder, Misogyny, Ableism, Fatphobia, Gaslighting, Mental illness, Rape, Sexual harassment, and Transphobia

throwback682's review against another edition

challenging informative reflective

5.0

This book was very informative, with a mixture of peer reviewed research and personal experiences of the author and others. Each myth was discussed in detail and then followed by questions for self reflection and/or concrete suggestions for actions to take in support of fat acceptance. The author does a great job of explaining both the systemic and personal impacts of anti fatness, as well as how it interacts with other systems of oppression such as racism, misogyny, or ableism. As someone who is small fat (US women’s size 18) I feel I learned a lot about how to address fatphobia that is leveled towards me, but also how to be a better ally to those fatter than me. As the author notes, its chapters could easily be read out of order if there are certain myths that appeal (or challenge you) more. This book also contains many suggestions for further reading throughout. 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Body shaming, Chronic illness, Fatphobia, Ableism, Eating disorder, Sexism, Bullying, Medical content, and Medical trauma

Moderate: Racism, Sexual assault, Sexual harassment, Toxic relationship, Transphobia, Cancer, Chronic illness, Mental illness, Death, Deportation, Terminal illness, Classism, Colonisation, Murder, and Acephobia/Arophobia