Main content

What we don't talk about when we talk about fat

Available Formats:

  • Running Time: 07:27 hrs
    Narrator: Samara Naeymi
    Publisher:
    Beacon Press, 2020
    Note: This book was purchased with support from the Government of Canada's Social Development Partnerships Program - Disability Component.
  • Accessibility:
    • Heading navigation
    Certified Accessible By: National Network for Equitable Library Service
    Running Time: 07:27 hrs
    Narrator: Samara Naeymi
    Publisher:
    BC Libraries Cooperative, 2024
    Note: This book was produced with support from the Government of Canada's Social Development Partnerships Program - Disability Component.

Details:

  • Author: Gordon, Aubrey
    Contributor: Naeymi, Samara
    Date:
    Created
    2020
    Summary:

    From the creator of Your Fat Friend, an explosive indictment of the systemic and cultural bias facing plus-size people that will move us toward creating an agenda for fat justice. Anti-fatness is everywhere. In What We Don't Talk About When We Talk About Fat, Aubrey Gordon unearths the cultural attitudes and social systems that have led to people being denied basic needs because they are fat and calls for social justice movements to be inclusive of plus-sized people's experiences. Unlike the recent wave of memoirs and quasi self-help books that encourage readers to love and accept themselves, Gordon pushes the discussion further towards authentic fat activism, which includes ending legal weight discrimination, giving equal access to health care for large people, increased access to public spaces, and ending anti-fat violence. As she argues, "I did not come to body positivity for self-esteem. I came to it for social justice."By sharing her experiences as well as those of others--from smaller fat to very fat people--she concludes that to be fat in our society is to be seen as an undeniable failure, unlovable, unforgivable, and morally condemnable. Fatness is an open invitation for others to express disgust, fear, and insidious concern. To be fat is to be denied humanity and empathy. Studies show that fat survivors of sexual assault are less likely to be believed and less likely than their thin counterparts to report various crimes; 27% of very fat women and 13% of very fat men attempt suicide; over 50% of doctors describe their fat patients as "awkward, unattractive, ugly and noncompliant"; and in 48 states, it's legal--even routine--to deny employment because of an applicant's size. Advancing fat justice and changing prejudicial structures and attitudes will require work from all people. What We Don't Talk About When We Talk About Fat is a crucial tool to create a tectonic shift in the way we see, talk about, and treat our bodies, fat and thin alike.

    Original Publisher: [New York], Beacon Press
    Language(s): English
    ISBN: 9780807098325, 0807098329, 9780807098332, 0807098337