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bookph1le's review against another edition
5.0
"When I look in the mirror, I don't see a body slimmed through strict dieting and weight loss. I see a body that's weary, that's battered, that has been through absolute hell. I see a body that's resilient and has gone through the wringer to keep me alive. None of what I've endured matters in this unwinnable scheme: I am thinner, and therefore everything I've experienced to get here is secondary."
I really appreciated this book, and how it examined the complexities of intersecting forms of marginalization. One of the most striking essays for me was one in which Dionne dissects her own internalized anti-fatness, and the terrible effects it had on her relationship with a man who seemed perfect for her, yet whose fatness presented her with almost insurmountable challenges. I do want to say, though, that I disapproved of his attitudes about condoms, and in a general PSA want to say to anyone who wants to have sex with a man who refuses to wear a condom: don't. His reason for not wanting to wear one doesn't matter; he should wear it because you asked it of him. I know Dionne was using this as a reason not to engage in sex with this particular man (which he didn't know), and it disturbed me that he gave her a hard time about her request.
That aside, this book really gets into the weeds of how diet culture and illness and healthcare are intertwined, addressing how truly messed up it is for people to congratulate you on weight loss that happened as a result of illness, not an intentional attempt to shrink yourself. It's also odious that doctors are so enmeshed in anti-fatness and diet culture that they reflexively prescribe weight loss rather than providing adequate care to their patients. Honestly, it's appalling to me that doctors prescribe weight loss at all without at least first asking their patients about their eating habits and history. How do they know they aren't suggesting weight loss to a patient who has struggled with or is currently struggling with an eating disorder? And hopefully it goes without saying that it's abhorrent that doctors attribute every problem fat people have to their fatness rather than treating them the way they would treat a thin patient with the same health complaints. In no world should it ever be possible for a patient to die because of medical neglect, as has happened with patients whose doctors didn't order the diagnostic tests that may have saved their lives, instead insisting those patients first lose weight. Does it not occur to them that maybe some people have poor health outcomes not because they're fat, but because they're denied preventive care and care for acute conditions because of their fatness?
Really, this conflation of health with weight just needs to disappear forever. There is no known illness that affects only fat people and never thin people. Pathologizing fatness is justifying institutional discrimination, period. It's especially galling to me that even pediatricians are engaging in this, given the horrific guidelines from the American Academy of Pediatrics. Somehow we're meant to believe that it's "good" for a child's health to have a surgery that will forever alter their bodies and throw them into a permanently diseased state?
Dionne's consideration of how fatness is portrayed in pop culture was also revealing, and sad. I would also love to see shows and movies about fat people living their lives, finding success and fulfillment, without reducing them to objects of ridicule and/or serving them a happy ending only when they lose weight. Honestly, if all of the people involved in making movies and TV shows can't envision one in which a fat character can lead the same kind of life as and have the same kinds of adventures as thin characters, it's time to hire new people who can, because the current slate of writers, directors, etc. lacking imagination and bad at their jobs.
I really appreciated this book, and how it examined the complexities of intersecting forms of marginalization. One of the most striking essays for me was one in which Dionne dissects her own internalized anti-fatness, and the terrible effects it had on her relationship with a man who seemed perfect for her, yet whose fatness presented her with almost insurmountable challenges. I do want to say, though, that I disapproved of his attitudes about condoms, and in a general PSA want to say to anyone who wants to have sex with a man who refuses to wear a condom: don't. His reason for not wanting to wear one doesn't matter; he should wear it because you asked it of him. I know Dionne was using this as a reason not to engage in sex with this particular man (which he didn't know), and it disturbed me that he gave her a hard time about her request.
That aside, this book really gets into the weeds of how diet culture and illness and healthcare are intertwined, addressing how truly messed up it is for people to congratulate you on weight loss that happened as a result of illness, not an intentional attempt to shrink yourself. It's also odious that doctors are so enmeshed in anti-fatness and diet culture that they reflexively prescribe weight loss rather than providing adequate care to their patients. Honestly, it's appalling to me that doctors prescribe weight loss at all without at least first asking their patients about their eating habits and history. How do they know they aren't suggesting weight loss to a patient who has struggled with or is currently struggling with an eating disorder? And hopefully it goes without saying that it's abhorrent that doctors attribute every problem fat people have to their fatness rather than treating them the way they would treat a thin patient with the same health complaints. In no world should it ever be possible for a patient to die because of medical neglect, as has happened with patients whose doctors didn't order the diagnostic tests that may have saved their lives, instead insisting those patients first lose weight. Does it not occur to them that maybe some people have poor health outcomes not because they're fat, but because they're denied preventive care and care for acute conditions because of their fatness?
Really, this conflation of health with weight just needs to disappear forever. There is no known illness that affects only fat people and never thin people. Pathologizing fatness is justifying institutional discrimination, period. It's especially galling to me that even pediatricians are engaging in this, given the horrific guidelines from the American Academy of Pediatrics. Somehow we're meant to believe that it's "good" for a child's health to have a surgery that will forever alter their bodies and throw them into a permanently diseased state?
Dionne's consideration of how fatness is portrayed in pop culture was also revealing, and sad. I would also love to see shows and movies about fat people living their lives, finding success and fulfillment, without reducing them to objects of ridicule and/or serving them a happy ending only when they lose weight. Honestly, if all of the people involved in making movies and TV shows can't envision one in which a fat character can lead the same kind of life as and have the same kinds of adventures as thin characters, it's time to hire new people who can, because the current slate of writers, directors, etc. lacking imagination and bad at their jobs.
rebeccad22's review against another edition
challenging
emotional
informative
inspiring
reflective
medium-paced
5.0
gigireadswithkiki's review against another edition
challenging
informative
reflective
fast-paced
5.0
An incredibly powerful and all-encompassing analysis on the ways in which fatphobia seeps into every avenue of society, Weightless is in a class of its own in the field of memoirs! Evette Dionne is supremely thorough in diving into fatphobia that has affected her personal life, reflecting candidly about her internalized fatphobia, and then drawing out into the bigger picture of how fatphobia is a societal failing. She takes the time to critically analyze the ways fatphobia intersects with other marginalized identities, magnifying specifically on her experience as a fat Black queer woman.
Her writing was wildly enthralling and concise; each chapter reflected on a different aspect of fatphobia but it never felt repetitive or dry or boring.
I loved this book, I definitely need to get my hands on a copy soon!
Her writing was wildly enthralling and concise; each chapter reflected on a different aspect of fatphobia but it never felt repetitive or dry or boring.
I loved this book, I definitely need to get my hands on a copy soon!
deevee_sunflower's review against another edition
challenging
emotional
funny
hopeful
informative
inspiring
reflective
medium-paced
5.0
maggie_green's review against another edition
informative
reflective
medium-paced
3.75
I really appreciated a lot of the content of this book, but it toed a weird line of memoir and informative non-fiction in a way that didn't really mesh for me. The strongest parts, to me, were the memoir, but the informative non-fiction was really great, too. The problem came in the transitional part between those two things. I felt like the transitions were sometimes a little vague or weak. There were also a couple points that I wish would have leaned more into fat liberation than just a typical body positivity lens.
xeniba's review against another edition
I got the audiobook when I was driving alone a LOT and I pretty much only listen to them when I’m driving. I’m not driving much at all right now and couldn’t get into the book enough to listen to it outside of the car.