Fearing the Black Body: The Racial Origins of Fat Phobia | 
pickI confess, I wasn‘t expecting to like this book. I started listening almost on a whim and was immediately drawn in. It‘s important to note this is written from a historians point of view. Some of the content is truly upsetting but is laid out in a very matter of fact way. It involves a lot of art history, which I found fascinating, and I learned so much. The audio was excellent also. ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️
so-soA historical review of European attitudes towards the human body. It reads like an academic paper. I found the first section on representations of beauty in art to be the most interesting. Later chapters just read like an information dump.
so-soI was surprised this book was so centered on whiteness and white weight issues. Black (or “other racial and ethnic minorities” as she often writes) are peripheral and brought in as counterpoints to whiteness. Needless to say, I was shocked to find out the author is Black. It's not a bad book, but it didn‘t come across as “the racial origins of our fat phobia.” It was more a history of white people‘s weight issues. #audiobook (more details ⬇️⬇️)
@Megabooks One of my friends put this on their Goodreads TBR, & I thought you would be interested. Don‘t know if you‘ve read it.
pickGroundbreaking in its historical analysis of the racist origins of fatphobia, Sabrina Strings‘ Fearing the Black Body tells the story of how much expectations of women‘s bodies over the past two centuries have changed and how those expectations have arisen out of anti-Black racism. This is a university press book and I am looking forward to seeing a less academic treatment at some point, taking this research and applying it to today‘s context.
pickI enjoyed this book - an ambitious undertaking to connect history of “ideal“ women's body types to the introduction of black women through slavery into European society as the turning point of opinion on women's fatness. Provides a critical look at ways that men's contributions through art, society, &medicine continued to use norms as a way to degrade black women and oppress white women, and for white folk to continue to push white supremacy.
The fear of the imagined “fat black woman” was created by racial and religious ideologies that have been used to both degrade black women and discipline white women.
My ARCs calling to me today! Excited for totally different reasons. Which ones call to you? A little more info in the comments :)
5y
