"You Just Need to Lose Weight"
And 19 Other Myths About Fat People
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4.4 • 25 Ratings
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- $12.99
Publisher Description
A NEW YORK TIMES BESTSELLER
AN INDIE BESTSELLER
“One of the great thinkers of our generation . . . I feel fresher and smarter and happier for sitting down with her.”—Jameela Jamil, iWeigh Podcast
The co-host of the Maintenance Phase podcast and creator of Your Fat Friend equips you with the facts to debunk common anti-fat myths and with tools to take action for fat justice
The pushback that shows up in conversations about fat justice takes exceedingly predicable form. Losing weight is easy—calories in, calories out. Fat people are unhealthy. We’re in the midst of an obesity epidemic. Fat acceptance “glorifies obesity.” The BMI is an objective measure of size and health. Yet, these myths are as readily debunked as they are pervasive.
In “You Just Need to Lose Weight,” Aubrey Gordon equips readers with the facts and figures to reframe myths about fatness in order to dismantle the anti-fat bias ingrained in how we think about and treat fat people. Bringing her dozen years of community organizing and training to bear, Gordon shares the rhetorical approaches she and other organizers employ to not only counter these pernicious myths, but to dismantle the anti-fat bias that so often underpin them.
As conversations about fat acceptance and fat justice continue to grow, “You Just Need to Lose Weight” will be essential to ensure that those conversations are informed, effective, and grounded in both research and history.
PUBLISHERS WEEKLY
Podcaster Gordon (What We Don't Talk About When We Talk About Fat) interrogates misperceptions about fatness in this helpful handbook for those "struggling to interrupt moments of anti-fatness in their daily lives." Among other myths, Gordon debunks the notions that fatness is a choice, that obesity is the leading cause of death in the U.S., that fat acceptance "glorifies obesity," that weight loss "is the result of healthy choices and should be celebrated," and that "fat bodies are not to be seen, discussed, observed, or embraced." Many sections conclude with a short list of questions for reflection, designed to help people of diverse body types recognize and combat anti-fat bias—for example, by not offering unsolicited weight-loss compliments. Gordon also highlights the links between anti-Blackness and anti-fatness and exposes the biases implicit in "body positivity" advertising campaigns by Dove and other corporations. Throughout, Gordon interweaves personal reflections on her own experiences as a self-described "fat lady" with sharp cultural and scientific analysis to make a persuasive case that "our bodies are neither reflections of our character nor comeuppance for bad actions." The result is a lucid and impassioned guide to combatting negative stereotypes about body size.
Customer Reviews
An Excellent Read and Well-Researched
This book expertly weaves the author’s own experiences with anti-fat bias, while back it up with so much research. The format of the book provides ample opportunities for the reader to participate in personal reflection (via questions posed at the end of each chapter), as well as ways to actively push against anti-fat bias in our day to day lives.
Gordon’s approach to writing is unapologetic, but it also is clear that this book is not the end-all-be-all of educating ourselves. I will be referencing and referring this book to those in my personal and professional lives, I’m sure for years to come.
Disappointing
Book emphasizes why everyone else is wrong while we aren’t responsible for our actions/inactions - and it goes downhill from there