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A review by bookph1le
“You Just Need to Lose Weight”: And 19 Other Myths About Fat People by Aubrey Gordon
4.0
As an unabashed Aubrey Gordon fangirl who listens to Maintenance Phase religiously, has read Aubrey's What We Don't Talk about When We Talk about Fat, and who pre-ordered this book back in October, I cannot wait to read this. It's not overstating things to say that Aubrey Gordon and Michael Hobbes have really reshaped my thinking and transformed my worldview. I wish I could make everyone in America read her books and listen to her podcast.
A lot of this will already be familiar to diehard listeners of Maintenance Phase, as I am. Regardless, it's an excellent primer on some of the biggest myths surrounding anti-fatness and debunks in a thoughtful, research-backed way--and this is one of the things I appreciate most about Aubrey Gordon's work. There are so many misconceptions about fatness that really need to be addressed in order to make the structural inequalities fat people face clear to those for whom they're invisible. I also appreciate that Gordon's work is always intersectional, pointing out the additional challenges that BIPOC, lgbtq+, and disabled people face. This book contains challenging questions that encourage readers to think deeply about their own anti-fat biases, as well as practical suggestions about what people can do to help dismantle systems of oppression. This book isn't always easy to read--getting into the weeds about any form of discrimination never is, but it is enlightening and empowering.
A lot of this will already be familiar to diehard listeners of Maintenance Phase, as I am. Regardless, it's an excellent primer on some of the biggest myths surrounding anti-fatness and debunks in a thoughtful, research-backed way--and this is one of the things I appreciate most about Aubrey Gordon's work. There are so many misconceptions about fatness that really need to be addressed in order to make the structural inequalities fat people face clear to those for whom they're invisible. I also appreciate that Gordon's work is always intersectional, pointing out the additional challenges that BIPOC, lgbtq+, and disabled people face. This book contains challenging questions that encourage readers to think deeply about their own anti-fat biases, as well as practical suggestions about what people can do to help dismantle systems of oppression. This book isn't always easy to read--getting into the weeds about any form of discrimination never is, but it is enlightening and empowering.