Also, WTF is wrong with people? From comments she receives to strangers pulling food from her grocery cart, why do humans believe it's appropriate to comment on other bodies. (Also me looking through magazines: hmmm look at those abs - I get it, our culture is sick with objectification of bodies, all bodies). I've been able to quiet the external voice but my internal voice is still a struggle. Because I've internalized all the same things Roxane talks about regarding body image. I know that society values thin people more than fat. I know that being fat leads to shame and judgment - it's part of why three times a week, I force myself outside to run. See how this memoir about her body turned into an internal debate about my own? She's so honest about herself it asks the reader to be honest too. That her size is tied up in her trauma is heartbreaking (because of the trauma) and must have come as a deep revelation to her family who only learned about it after the publication of Bad Feminist (you can read my review of that book here). I can't imagine carrying around that kind of hurt silently.
4.5/5 Stars.
I read Bad Feminist last year and really liked Roxane's voice in that piece as well. I was happy to connect with her again on a work that feels important because it shouldn't be "groundbreaking" or "brave." It makes me think of all the times you read in a magazine about someone "showing off their beach body" when it's really just a celebrity who is going to a beach in the only body they have. That's not showing off, it's just living. So let's agree to stop clicking on those types of headlines.
We get one body for our whole lives. And it is OUR body. FU to anyone who wants to violate it, comment on it, or co-opt it for a clickable headline (including People Mag
No comments:
Post a Comment