Reviews tagging 'Medical content'

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

39 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

hollowhallow13's review against another edition

challenging emotional hopeful informative reflective medium-paced

5.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Eating disorder, Sexual harassment, Medical trauma, Sexism, Child abuse, Fatphobia, Medical content, and Body shaming

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

ellysiap's review

challenging emotional hopeful informative reflective sad fast-paced

5.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Body shaming, Emotional abuse, Bullying, Fatphobia, Medical content, Sexual violence, and Eating disorder

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

zoiejanelle's review

emotional informative reflective fast-paced

4.5

with the context that i am a huge maintenance phase fan, i must rate this 4.5 stars instead of 5 simply because i felt that 80% of the book was a retelling of past maintenance phase episodes. i have learned so much from Aubrey Gordon and i am still so glad to have read this book. i really appreciate the personal anecdotes that served as the through line for the entire book, and i found a handful of chapters to be extremely informative and new. 

good elements: 
the sections on feminist theory, race, and government intervention were the redeeming qualities for me. i felt like i had really clear takeaways from these sections that i could reflect on and use to better myself/work on my internal struggles with anti-fatness and racism. the final chapter was extremely reflective and hopeful, though, despite the insurmountable and overwhelming evidence of anti-fatness in our culture that is explained throughout the book. i felt that this work was an actionable, interesting, affirming, and informative read overall. 

not so good elements: 
i believe she harped on the Body Positivity movement a LITTLE too much, but i understood why the angle was important. i also felt that her perspective skewed very left-leaning, which is not a bad thing in and of itself, but if this book was supposed to be accessible and introductory to all readers, it would definitely lose the more conservative (specifically anti-regulation) crowd simply from implicit bias. i wanted to dive a little deeper into why government intervention and regulation are important considerations and what that looks like EXACTLY, but i realize that those subjects may be better explored in another book. 

i would still recommend this book to anyone just starting out in their fat liberation journey! 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Fatphobia, Bullying, and Body shaming

Moderate: Sexual harassment, Chronic illness, Medical content, Medical trauma, Sexism, Mental illness, Gaslighting, Cancer, Sexual violence, and Toxic friendship

lipstickitotheman's review against another edition

emotional hopeful informative

4.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Ableism, Bullying, Body shaming, Medical content, Medical trauma, Sexual harassment, and Fatphobia

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

genesismt's review

challenging emotional informative

5.0

"We will need to retrain ourselves to understand a new, compassionate set of principles that can guide our actions: ...That fatness is not failure and, subsequently, that thinness is not an accomplishment. The size of our bodies is largely beyond our control, and even in the few occasions when it isn't, thinness cannot be a prerequisite for basic respect, dignity, provision of services, or meeting basic needs like getting a job or finding food."

This was so informative and so important!! I feel like this should be required reading...Gordon is a white person, so it is also crucial to include Black and Latinx fat voices in these conversations, but from her perspective she addresses the ways in which fat bias is deeply entrenched in our society and the consequences of weight discrimination on fat individuals. The fact that medications are not as effective for people who are overweight and obese makes me so mad!! Diets literally fail 98% of the time but it is something that is constantly encouraged for people as well, even children, which is heartbreaking. Gordon also addresses the racist origins of the BMI, the exclusion of fat bodies in the body positivity movement and so much more. As the average person's size continues to increase, it is adamant that we address anti-fat violence, and move a step forward from body neutrality and acceptance. I learned so much and related to some of the points discussed, even though I am not a plus sized person, especially when it comes to conversations coming from places of "concern" for my health. As I try to unlearn my own fat bias and have these conversations with my family, it can be difficult but it is important. Highly recommend!!

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Content Warnings

Moderate: Violence, Bullying, Eating disorder, Fatphobia, Medical content, Sexual violence, Mental illness, Medical trauma, Body shaming, Sexual assault, and Sexual harassment