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A review by youngthespian42
The Body Is Not an Apology: The Power of Radical Self-Love by Sonya Renee Taylor
2.0
This book just didn’t hit for me the way I wanted to. The opening had some great framing and did challenge my perception of my body and bodies in general. “You don’t have less value if you’re not healthy” and “different bodies have different achievable levels of health” are really good messages.
When the text moved out of self love and empowerment to oppression and “body terrorism” the book really lost me. I believe in systematic racism and want a world outside of this. Encapsulating history of racial repression, treatment of LGBT+, and the disability community as “body terrorism” felt a little reaching if not offensive. I believe everyone should have the freedom to present and identify how they want but equating chairs not designed for different bodies to Asian Immigration Quotas is pretty out of context. Reminded me of the Right treating mask mandates like it was Nazi Germany.
After the ideology dump the actual “practice” section are pretty bare bones basic tips you will find in most self help books. My work in therapy has done a lot more than this book had offer. I wanted to approach “fat liberation” with an open mind instead of just reacting to social media, but having read this: it ain’t it for me.
When the text moved out of self love and empowerment to oppression and “body terrorism” the book really lost me. I believe in systematic racism and want a world outside of this. Encapsulating history of racial repression, treatment of LGBT+, and the disability community as “body terrorism” felt a little reaching if not offensive. I believe everyone should have the freedom to present and identify how they want but equating chairs not designed for different bodies to Asian Immigration Quotas is pretty out of context. Reminded me of the Right treating mask mandates like it was Nazi Germany.
After the ideology dump the actual “practice” section are pretty bare bones basic tips you will find in most self help books. My work in therapy has done a lot more than this book had offer. I wanted to approach “fat liberation” with an open mind instead of just reacting to social media, but having read this: it ain’t it for me.