Talking Fat: Health vs. Persuasion in the War on Our Bodies

By Lonie McMichael

Health, Mind & Body

Politics & Current Affairs

Self-Help and Personal Development

Language: English Not Rated (NR)

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0 ratings

No. of pages

121

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Overview Ratings & Reviews

Fat is bad, right? For the last decade we have been so inundated with negative messages about fat that it is revolutionary to think otherwise. This rhetoric has increased prejudice and decreased health in the very people targeted for "help" while increasing profits for those perpetuating it. Considering empirical studies and statistics as well as the actual experience of fat people, Dr. McMichael asserts that the "war on obesity" is about many things, but it is not about health. She calls for a change in policy and perspective on fat in American society. "McMichael provides a thorough and compelling expose of the prejudice that underlies obesity rhetoric and a compassionate, tenable solution," says Linda Bacon, Ph.D., author of Health At Every Size: The Surprising Truth About Your Weight. "This book may make you angry, but it will also give you hope."

Praise and Reviews

"McMichael provides a thorough and compelling expose of the
prejudice that underlies obesity rhetoric and a compassionate, tenable solution. This book may make you angry, but it will also give you hope."

Linda Bacon, Ph.D.
author of Health At Every Size: The Surprising Truth About Your Weight

"Prejudice based on weight can act like a Gordian knot: loosen one part of the mess and other strands of belief pull tighter. Lonie McMichael's brilliant analysis cuts through the conundrum. This book's big-picture view of weight-centrism as both a rhetorical success and a real-world failure will be endlessly useful to me as a fat activist and a person who wants to live healthily and happily in my very own body."

Marilyn Wann
author of Fat!So?

"Words are the building blocks of our lives. The war on fat people that has been waged for the past two decades has been a war of words. Dr. McMichael writes eloquently and critically about those fighting words, helping the reader understand what power structures lie behind our most commonly accepted concepts. If we do not understand the how and the why behind speech, we may never know truth. But when we trace the history of discourses, we open up possibilities of making a better place through better conversations. Talking Fat is just that conversation starter."

Pattie Thomas, Ph.D.
author of Taking Up Space

"Dr. McMichael does a wonderful job of explaining the difference between the way fat is talked about and the reality of fat's effect on health. This is a must read for fat folks, health practitioners and anyone concerned with fair and equal treatment for all people."

Golda Poretsky, HHC
author of Stop Dieting Now: 25 Reasons To Stop, 25 Ways To Heal