Fat: A Fate Worse Than Death? : Women, Weight, and Appearance (Haworth Innovations in Feminist Studies) [Hardcover]

Ellen Cole (Author), Esther D Rothblum (Author), Ruth R Thone (Author)

Book Description

Publication Date: August 26, 1997 | ISBN-10: 0789001780 | ISBN-13: 978-0789001788 | Edition: 1

Despite the gains of the women’s movement, women are still judged by what they look like--and men, by what they do. Fat--A Fate Worse Than Death? offers hardy resistance to the narrow, random, and irrational appearance standards set for American women through an approach that is personal, eclectic, courageous, and funny. If you are interested in giving up your diet, throwing out your scales, and concentrating on who you are on a deeper level, this book will show you how to accept, appreciate, and even love your body!

Using statistics, research, anecdotes, and personal experiences, Fat--A Fate Worse Than Death? explores how appearance standards have built a prison for women. With the book’s helpful advice, reading suggestions, and list of more than 100 ways to fight looksism, sexism, ageism, and racism, you will learn to express your rights and needs, regardless of your shape or size, and tear down those prison walls. Designed to transcend the boundaries between the personal and the political, Fat--A Fate Worse Than Death? discusses:

• examples of how weight and size constitute the last socially accepted prejudice
• the national “War on Fat”
• counteracting societal influences that support weight preoccupation
• connection between appearance standards for older women and large women
• nurturing your body
• resisting male-defined standards of beauty for women
• the myth of diets and dieting
• how the body resists weight loss
• how women are disempowered by concentration on weight and appearance
• how concentrating on appearance leaves real-life issues unaddressed
• how feeling bad about yourself can turn you into a willing consumer
  
  Feminists, faculty and students of women’s studies programs, aging women, women of radical politics, and other concerned women and men will find that Fat--A Fate Worse Than Death? states explicitly how women are kept powerless by subscribing to cultural and social edicts on physical appearance. Don’t live silently in a society that degrades and discounts women because of their physical stature and don‘t let obsession with thinness keep you passive, docile, and unable to give your energy to things that really need your passion and intelligence. Read this book and learn to not only value yourself for who you are, but also to counteract American culture’s equality-denying prejudices and practices.

Product Details

• Hardcover: 212 pages
• Publisher: Routledge; 1 edition (August 26, 1997)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0789001780
• ISBN-13: 978-0789001788
• Product Dimensions: 8.5 x 6 x 0.8 inches
• Shipping Weight: 15.2 ounces (View shipping rates and policies)
• Average Customer Review: 2.5 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (4 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #3,497,961 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

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Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

12 of 12 people found the following review helpful:

2.0 out of 5 stars Honest, but repetitive and long-winded, June 29, 1999

By A Customer

This review is from: Fat¿A Fate Worse Than Death?: Women, Weight, and Appearance (Haworth Innovations in Feminist Studies) (Paperback)

While I did appreciate the author's honesty and self-explorative approach to this book, I agree with the previous reviewer that this book went on way too long. The author actually presents the same anecdotes in different chapters and struggles with the same questions again and agin throughout the text, with little movement forward. Funny that the last section is entitled "Time to Move On." because she doesn't seem to do that very well. Unlike the previous reviewer, I don't recall anything in the book that indicated that the author's weight is contributing to health problems; in fact, my recollection is that she was able to ameliorate a number of health problems through healthy eating and exercise without any weight loss. My sense was that she was attempting to demonstrate that we talk about weight loss as a health necessity, when it is more often a culturally mandated appearance issue. My favorite line in the whole book was a quote from columnist Ellen Goodman: "Show me a woman who only wants to be thin for her health and I'll show you a man who buys Playboy just to read the interview."

9 of 9 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars Not for people who don't want to listen, February 25, 2000

By 

Brian (Boston, MA) - See all my reviews

This review is from: Fat¿A Fate Worse Than Death?: Women, Weight, and Appearance (Haworth Innovations in Feminist Studies) (Paperback)

I have read a number of books on the subject of fat oppression, and this is easily one of the most valuable experiences. The author intelligently and deliberately lays out the problem of weight-based oppression, and offers a coherent response. If you are resistant to the notion that it can be okay to be fat, you won't like this book. It challenges those prejudices with no apology. The looks-based oppression of women has been given a supposed validity under the guise of health, but Thorne works to show the absurdity of such claims. It is possible to be fat and happy and healthy, but there is much standing in the way. She doesn't pull her punches, and that is bound to put off some resistant minds. So often we see pundants decry to oppression while refusing to challenge the foundation and justification for the bigotry and prejudice. You won't see that here. Admittedly, the book moves at a somewhat uninspired pace and does not make for a good introduction to the problem of fat prejudices. If it is a topic of interest for you, however, I'm sure you will find this to be an interesting read.

8 of 11 people found the following review helpful:

3.0 out of 5 stars Not fabulous & uplifting but worth the effort, March 7, 2000

By 

Alison (Sydney, Australia) - See all my reviews

This review is from: Fat¿A Fate Worse Than Death?: Women, Weight, and Appearance (Haworth Innovations in Feminist Studies) (Paperback)

This was the first book on size issues that I found when I began reading books on the subject. Whilst I have read several other works that seemed more relevant to me as a 25yr old fat woman I am glad I read this. I think it is important to see the issue from its many angles. No point of view is less valid than your own- and this is what is most important when approaching this work. If I was an older woman perhaps this would have been more relevant but as a lipstick loving twenty-something fat chick who has come to terms with my size and what it means in the society that I live in this book was socially interesting but not personally relevant. Another quick observation was that it is very bleak in its outlook. This is not the book if you're looking for something uplifting. If you're looking to have a good selection of size issue books on your shelf than buy this. If you're just looking for one book than try Fat!So? by Marilyn Wann.