Book 2 Post 2

For my second book of the summer semester, I had the privilege of reading "What We Don't Talk About When We Talk About Fat," by Aubrey Gordon. As I mentioned in my first Book 2 Post, my reasoning for choosing this book is that my mother is a psychologist who specializes in treating people with eating disorders. So, going into this book I have already been exposed by my mother to the adverse effects of extreme fat-shaming and what it can do to people physically and mentally. Therefore, books like these are very valuable for not just overweight people, but for everyone. Gordon's book specifically accomplishes a lot of important goals. It educates the readers from a medical standpoint about being overweight and breaks common myths about why overweight people are not lazy and cannot always just work out and simply lose weight. Next, Gordon gives some personal anecdotes of stories that give insight into some of the harassment she and others receive daily simply for being "fat." Lastly, Gordon explains that being overweight is not just about being made fun of, but it is a social justice issue where biases against overweight people are having consequences in this society where reform must be made. There are a couple stories from the book that I feel are worth sharing in this journal post.

One of the major myths about overweight people is that they could easily lose weight if they worked out. Over the years I have heard comments from my peers such as, "If they don't want to be made fun of why don't they just stop being lazy and get on the treadmill like the rest of us." There are shows on television such as "The Biggest Loser" which are propaganda and preach that losing weight is a mindset and if you truly work hard you will lose weight. However, this book discusses a study done on the contestants of the Biggest Loser. This study concluded that a majority of contestants after going on the show lost their skinny figure and regained most of the weight that they had lost. Was this because they got lazy after the show and stopped working out? Absolutely not, many of them continued a regiment of working out every day. What happens is when people undergo extreme weight loss, it takes much more work to lose the same amount of calories as someone who was always skinny. This means that it becomes inevitable that the originally overweight person will not be able to keep their figure because nobody can do extreme dieting and workouts for hours each day while trying to balance work, family, etc. Therefore, it is time as a society that we get rid of this stereotype and realize that we cannot judge people for their appearance. Yes, it is great and healthy to work out, but there comes to a point where we need to love ourselves and just be comfortable and accepting of who we are.

Something that is unique from about this book is the extent of what I heard about fat-shaming from the school and the media is that it is bad to bully people and we need to be nice to each other. However, this book highlights that it is not just about bullying, but the discrimination against overweight people has deeper consequences. Gordon discusses another book titled, "Tipping the Scales of Justice: Fight Weight-Baed Discrimination, " By Sondra Solovay. Solovay talks about the biases and harassment overweight people experience by medical professionals. According to Solovay, there is a story of a fat woman who was raped and wanted to get a pregnancy test. The doctor told this poor woman that she could not get a test because the doctor did not believe her and said that nobody would want to get her pregnant. The lady ended up being pregnant. This is an extremely depressing story to hear and I hope this reaches everyone in the entire world. This is very telling that the biases against people who are overweight are being held by people of power and that we need to reform the system to make sure overweight people are getting the same treatment as all people.

This book was an excellent read and I learned so much from it. I am glad I got to share my thoughts with the class!