Reviews tagging 'Sexual assault'

What We Don't Talk About When We Talk About Fat by Aubrey Gordon

42 reviews

maddramaqueen's review against another edition

challenging dark emotional hopeful informative reflective sad medium-paced

4.5

This book rocks.  Literally everyone should at least try to read it.  I recognize that it can be triggering, and it was for me, but especially for straight-size people who have not experienced anti-fat bias on a societal level this is absolutely necessary.  Even as a fat person myself I learned so much about the violence facing those fatter than me that I was entirely unaware of.

If you can't handle the topics covered, I fully understand.  I'm in eating disorder recovery myself and this topic was triggering for me.  But the final chapter is one of the greatest pieces of activist writing I've ever read and I think everyone should read that chapter *at least*.  

Thank you so much for writing this, Aubrey Gordon.  It will be an oft recommended book in my future.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Body shaming, Bullying, Medical trauma, Emotional abuse, Physical abuse, Sexism, Hate crime, Medical content, Misogyny, Self harm, Sexual assault, Sexual violence, Fatphobia, and Sexual harassment

Moderate: Ableism, Chronic illness, Drug use, Death, Child abuse, Dysphoria, Toxic relationship, Gaslighting, Classism, Eating disorder, Domestic abuse, Rape, Mental illness, Misogyny, Racism, Colonisation, Transphobia, Toxic friendship, Drug abuse, Stalking, and Terminal illness

alexlily's review against another edition

emotional informative inspiring medium-paced

5.0

Higher recommend all of Aubrey Gordon's work

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Fatphobia

Moderate: Body shaming, Mental illness, Bullying, Hate crime, Sexual harassment, Ableism, Medical content, Medical trauma, and Sexual assault

matcha_cat's review

challenging informative reflective medium-paced

4.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Medical trauma, Eating disorder, Body shaming, and Fatphobia

Moderate: Stalking, Ableism, and Misogyny

Minor: Death and Sexual assault

mads_jpg's review against another edition

challenging dark informative reflective medium-paced

4.75

I started the audiobook of this and immediately switched to reading a physical copy so I could annotate the hell out of it because it's written so well! 

I went into this book thinking I had a good grip on the general ideas behind body positivity/neutrality and harmful beauty standards but man, the situation is so much worse than I could have ever imagined. Gordon's research combined with her personal experiences are truly eye-opening. I even read the section about planes while on one, and it made me view the situation in an entirely new light. 

Another one to add to the list of "should be mandatory reading for all human beings".

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Body shaming, Classism, Death, Bullying, Medical trauma, Toxic friendship, Ableism, Misogyny, Racism, Sexism, Sexual harassment, Fatphobia, Medical content, and Eating disorder

Moderate: Rape, Sexual assault, Violence, Sexual violence, Terminal illness, Physical abuse, Toxic relationship, and Transphobia

ashylibrarian's review against another edition

challenging emotional informative medium-paced

4.25

Well...this was a book I needed to read. I needed to read this one for me, and I needed to read this one to challenge me. 

For so long, I have fed myself the narrative that my body is bad because it's fat. My body is bad because it doesn't fi society's expectations of "good." I STILL fall for this narrative. 

Aubrey Gordon challenged my beliefs, validated my feelings, and gave me anti-fat biases to challenge in my own life.

I would recommend this a s read for any body. 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Body shaming, Medical trauma, and Fatphobia

Moderate: Sexual harassment, Eating disorder, Medical content, and Sexual assault

vicyoung18's review against another edition

4.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Sexual assault

quasinaut's review against another edition

challenging emotional informative medium-paced

4.25

An important book combining statistics and research with stories from Aubrey Gordon's and other fat folks' actual experiences living in a fatphobic world. At times, it was repetitive - I suspected that some examples or stories were intentionally reused knowing that some people might only encounter one chapter or section. But having read the whole book, I found that there were individual passages that were devastatingly, beautifully written but sometimes the larger structure or flow didn't quite work.

All in all, an eye-opening introduction to systemic fat oppression for anyone who still thinks fat people, not fatphobia, are the problem. 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Fatphobia

Moderate: Body shaming and Medical trauma

Minor: Sexual assault and Eating disorder

dragon_s_hoard's review against another edition

challenging emotional informative reflective sad slow-paced

4.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Rape, Sexual harassment, Racism, Self harm, Mental illness, Physical abuse, Toxic friendship, Sexism, Sexual assault, Body shaming, Child abuse, Fatphobia, Sexual violence, Ableism, Emotional abuse, Medical trauma, Bullying, Eating disorder, Medical content, Misogyny, and Pandemic/Epidemic

Moderate: Chronic illness, Lesbophobia, Dysphoria, Gaslighting, Panic attacks/disorders, Police brutality, Classism, Transphobia, and Biphobia

theblandfalafel's review

challenging emotional informative slow-paced

4.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Sexual assault, Sexual violence, Sexual harassment, and Body shaming

cassie7e's review against another edition

dark emotional informative inspiring reflective sad slow-paced

4.0

A thorough introduction to anti-fat bias and it's effects for those just starting to learn about it, and a great refresher or expansion for those more familiar with the topic. Gordon interweaves anecdotes (see CW below), statistics, and criticisms with a personal and intersectional lens that acknowledges the nuances of experiences and situations. **CW for abuse, discrimination, sexual harrasment, etc.

She ends by envisioning a world that lets bodies be bodies, and all the things we must accept and advocate for for true bodily autonomy of all kinds, for all people. A lot of people complain she doesn't tell us how to get there, or complain she over-recommends banning things. We shouldn't be relying on one person to give us the solutions to overhaul a whole system so I find both complaints irrelevant. The vision is inspiring, not prescriptive.

I especially appreciated the discussion of the body positivity movement's failure of inclusion, and the way thinner people frame it as a matter of insecurity and self perception, whereas fat people's problem isn't internal at all, it's the daily systemic and personal oppression they face in a world made for smaller bodies. This focus on self love serves the individualism encouraged by capitalism to avoid systemic change and accountability, and refuses to require a change in how people treat others, only themselves.

There are a few times when information is repeated, but as most people probably don't sit down and read a nonfiction book in one sitting, it's probably fine. Just caught my ear listening straight through the audiobook.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Fatphobia, Medical trauma, Body shaming, and Bullying

Moderate: Sexual harassment and Eating disorder

Minor: Sexual assault and Sexual violence