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Terry Poulton

No Fat Chicks: How Big Business Profits Making Women Hate Their Bodies-How to Fight Back Hardcover – August 1, 1997

by Terry Poulton (Author)

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A journalist reveals how women are led to desire an impossibly thin body by the greed of the fashion, cosmetic, and diet industries that are only interested in their own bottom line.

Print length

273 pages
Language

English
Publisher

Birch Lane Pr
Publication date

August 1, 1997
Dimensions

6.5 x 1 x 9.5 inches
ISBN-10

1559724234
ISBN-13

978-1559724234
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Editorial Reviews

Amazon.com Review

"Never in the history of the whole hapless world," Terry Poulton writes, "has there been a hoax as lucrative as the billion-dollar brainwash. It is the closest thing to alchemy ever discovered--with a formula that turns fat into gold, and prejudice into profit." A former columnist for the Toronto Star and frequent contributor to high-profile magazines, Poulton has been there. After losing 65 pounds in an arduous 6-month stint, all the while receiving praise and accolades from fans and readers, Terry Poulton rapidly began "reinflating." Of her ordeal Poulton writes, "There's something only Oprah Winfrey and I know from actual experience: hell is having to show up fat when the whole country knows you're supposed to be thin."

No Fat Chicks distinguishes itself from similar exposés by focusing on the huge profits made from wannabe waifs in their avid consumption of weight-loss services. Accented by her astute critique of cultural assumptions (whose ideal is thin, anyway?), Poulton writes with a journalist's investigative prowess, raising the question (inflected with both wit and rage) of why so many women spend their lives chasing the illusion of a "perfect" body, a challenge most of them are biologically predestined to fail. Strengthening her argument are the struggles and fates of people such as Christina Onassis, Jane Fonda, Sally Fields, and Olympic gymnast Christy Henrich, proving that information is indeed power and signaling hope that this scam is perhaps on its way to an end.

Product details

Publisher ‏ : ‎ Birch Lane Pr (August 1, 1997)
Language ‏ : ‎ English
Hardcover ‏ : ‎ 273 pages
ISBN-10 ‏ : ‎ 1559724234
ISBN-13 ‏ : ‎ 978-1559724234
Item Weight ‏ : ‎ 1.25 pounds
Dimensions ‏ : ‎ 6.5 x 1 x 9.5 inches

Best Sellers Rank: #5,993,148 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)
- #13,804 in General Women's Health
- #25,758 in Weight Loss Diets (Books)

Customer Reviews:
5 ratings

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Jennette M. Tittelfitz

It's about the money not the fat.

Reviewed in the United States on October 19, 2021

This book takes aim at the reason the USA vilifies fat women. Because it helps businesses make money. Greed has lead people to believe that fat women are slovenly, lazy, and or selfish. Not because any of those things are true, but because it keeps both heavy and thin people spending their money on things that aren't always achievable.

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Amazon Customer

An important message, but credibility is sometimes stretched

Reviewed in the United States on January 18, 2003

The bottom line of Poulton's "No More Fat Chicks", is that the weight-loss industry is nothing more than a multi-billion dollar attempt to repress, depress and impress women into becoming unrealistic Twiggy clones.
Now, whilst the above might indeed be true, there is one major point that Poulton never seems to fully address - that is, obesity IS a leading cause of heart disease (and therefore death) around the world, and it IS responsible for a myriad of health problems ranging from diabetes to cancer. This should never be forgotten or ignored when discussing obesity.
Also, the author's sources are sometimes taken out of context, and in other examples simply not present at all. As an example, on p.56 she talks about a woman who "was allegedly told by her doctor that her obesity prevented pregnancy". There is actually more truth to this statement than is conceded to by the author (estrogen is stored in fat cells; the more fat cells you have, generally the more estrogen you have in your body, and unopposed estrogen is a leading cause of anovulation), but this is never addressed. Another example is on p.64, when Poulton cites "20 deaths...within the first 6 years...", referring to the introduction to the US of liposuction. What she fails to mention is the context - how many procedures were performed in this period? Is that 20 deaths out of 200 procedures? 2400? 24000? It's inconsistencies such as these which demean the author's credibility somewhat.
Having said that, the book does highlight the very unhealthy obsession with weight-loss that is now pandemic. Interestingly (to me at least), the book was written only a year before the diet drugs Redux and Pondimin were taken off the market, after being found to cause significant heart valve damage (along with PPH) - I would be very interested to see an updated issue of the book, if only to see if this is addressed adequately.
Do try to obtain a copy though - it's informative for the most, and it's an important book.

8 people found this helpful

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Margaret Saunders

Ms. Poulton provides a lot of excellent information

Reviewed in the United States on May 11, 1999

I appreciated the wealth of information contained in this well-researched book. I learned a great deal about the diet industry, and agree with Ms. Poulton that we are tricked into spending our money on something that isn't attainable. However, as one who suffers with super morbid obesity, I have never experienced the kind of discrimination that Ms. Poulton describes. I have certainly experienced discrimination throughout my life, but never the amount in a single day, as described by Ms. Poulton. She came across as angry and at times, vindictive. Those parts of the book turned me off. Otherwise, it was very informative, and enlightening.

3 people found this helpful

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M. Graham

A great place to start

Reviewed in the United States on April 29, 2000

Terry Poulton is nothing if not passionate about what it means to be a "Fat Chick" today. Her writing style is sometimes cumbersome and awkward (she sometimes tells you what she is going to say, says it, then tells you what she said) but her subject matter is so compelling and so well researched you won't mind too much. The book is worthwhile for its bibliography alone, a "further reading" list of excellent books that will keep you happily engaged for a long time!

One person found this helpful

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Yummy_Prosciutto

Misses the point

Reviewed in the United States on October 13, 2012

I am sympathetic to the difficulties of going through life being fat. However these types of conspiracy arguments - "patriarchy is making you chase an impossible dream" - totally miss the point. We are getting fatter and fatter as a society. We were nowhere nearly this fat 100 years ago, and there is hardly any obesity in less developed societies. Do you ever see overweight animals? Only when domesticated. Furthermore, there are myriad health problems that are caused in direct proportion to how fat you are. I state this as a physician whose practice has dealt in large part with obesity related issues.
So if anything, the argument should be: big businesses/civilization have made us all fat. Not being overweight is the state of nature and what we should shoot for. I realize this is difficult to achieve in our stressful, mechanized lives but it should at least remain our goal.

8 people found this helpful

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No Fat Chicks: How Big Business Profits Making Women Hate Their Bodies-How to Fight Back Hardcover – August 1, 1997

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