Book title: What We Don’t Talk About When We Talk About Fat
ISBN: 9780807041307
Author: Aubrey Gordon
Publisher: Beacon Press
Publication Year: 2020
By Abidgail Merta Ganggang
We need a world that insists upon safety and dignity for all of us — not because we are beautiful, healthy, blameless, exceptional, or beyond reproach, but because we are human beings.
– Aubrey Gordon
This book is a compelling blend of memoir and social critique that demands the inclusion of plus-sized people’s experiences in civil rights movements and identity politics.
Gordon delivers a powerful exposé on the systemic and cultural challenges that plus-sized people face.
This book discusses how fat bodies are more than deserving of proper, unbiased medical treatment, and that fat bodies deserve to go grocery shopping without the interference of “concern trolls”.
Through personal stories and those of other fat individuals, this book sheds light on our society’s degrading perception of fatness. Being fat is synonymous with failure, being deemed unlovable, unforgivable, and morally reprehensible.
Fat-shaming occurs to people like us, making us more visible and invisible at the same time. To be fat is to be denied one’s humanity.
In her vision of a more just society, Gordon works to eradicate weight discrimination, improve medical experiences for fat people, stop the bullying of fat children, and ensure that everyone has access to public spaces regardless of size.
I had never heard of the author before reading this, but I could have used a book like this sooner.
It was realistic, unapologetic, and showed me a whole division of our society through the eyes of someone who belongs to that group.
I found myself assessing my relationship with my own body and reflecting on the privilege I am provided every day that I am not aware of.
Sure, it can be uncomfortable at times, but I used it to push myself to broaden my awareness.
Covering everything from fat harassment and discrimination to systemic bias, I found it to be a good combination of statistics, research, and an honest portrayal of lived experience and personalised anecdotes.
This book has the power to change your perspective on your body and its place in the world. It goes beyond the general “body positivity” perspective on loving bodies of all sizes and specifically names the movement: fat justice and fat liberation as social justice activism that seeks to change society’s attitudes towards fat bodies.
This book is for straight-sized people like me who are unaware of the pervasiveness of fatphobia in our culture, as well as fat people who have felt victimised, abused, mocked, condescended to, harassed, and shamed on a daily basis.
This was a difficult book for me to read. There were numerous instances when I felt seen and my thoughts and feelings were validated in ways I had never experienced before.
There were also moments in which my own unconscious fatphobia was brought to light, which I had to learn and work through.
This is a book that everyone should read … all genders, all body types, and all people. This book is for you if you’ve ever felt self-conscious about your body.
In this book, Gordon shares many personal experiences. Many of them are upsetting to read about, especially those I have personally experienced.
Read those passages again and again. Sit with those feelings. She discussed in the book how anti-fat bias is one of the terrible biases that we as a society have yet to really tackle.
“Its rallying cry, love your body, presumes that our greatest challenges are internal, a poisoned kind of thought about our own bodies,” Gordon expressed.
The main struggle people have with their bodies is an internal one — a negative perception or dissatisfaction with their own bodies.
Even if someone genuinely loves their body, they may face discrimination and prejudice.
If you want to make your feminism and allyship more intersectional, I recommend you to read this book and start unlearning your own subconscious anti-fat biases. We’ve all got them.
I believe that readers of this book will gain a profound understanding that fat activism is about more than just personal discovery or feeling comfortable in one’s own skin.
It is a fight for the recognition and preservation of civil rights, which should not be denied to anyone, regardless of size.
