Fearing the Black Body
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Beschreibung
Honorable Mention, 2020 Sociology of Sex and Gender Distinguished Book Award, given by the American Sociological Association
How the female body has been racialized for over two hundred years
There is an obesity epidemic in this country and poor Black women are particularly stigmatized as "diseased" and a burden on the public health care system. This is only the most recent incarnation of the fear of fat Black women, which Sabrina Strings shows took root more than two hundred years ago.
Strings weaves together an eye-opening historical narrative ranging from the Renaissance to the current moment, analyzing important works of art, newspaper and magazine articles, and scientific literature and medical journals-where fat bodies were once praised-showing that fat phobia, as it relates to Black women, did not originate with medical findings, but with the Enlightenment era belief that fatness was evidence of "savagery" and racial inferiority.
The author argues that the contemporary ideal of slenderness is, at its very core, racialized and racist. Indeed, it was not until the early twentieth century, when racialized attitudes against fatness were already entrenched in the culture, that the medical establishment began its crusade against obesity. An important and original work, Fearing the Black Body argues convincingly that fat phobia isn't about health at all, but rather a means of using the body to validate race, class, and gender prejudice.
Buchinformationen
Beiträge
I don't want to rate this since Goodreads only allows you to rate based on if you've liked it and it's kind of a dilemma for me because it is an IMPORTANT book but reading it was just not fun. It's very scientific and I'm glad my college education helped me through it but I would not recommend it to people who just want to start knowing more about racism and fat phobia. (Could be that it also depends on your mother tongue how much you understand.) The aspects stated in this book are not new to many scholars and people who care for social issues in general but Strings did a good job on collecting all of them and making them describable and scientifically proven. Another book to prove that racism really is a system and not an individual problem!
This is a very informative book about the history of black women and how the "ideal body" changed over the decades. At times, a bit dry, that's why I took a while for me to get through. However, it is well-researched and gives you plenty of information in terms of history, stereotypes, and the different "other."
Beschreibung
Honorable Mention, 2020 Sociology of Sex and Gender Distinguished Book Award, given by the American Sociological Association
How the female body has been racialized for over two hundred years
There is an obesity epidemic in this country and poor Black women are particularly stigmatized as "diseased" and a burden on the public health care system. This is only the most recent incarnation of the fear of fat Black women, which Sabrina Strings shows took root more than two hundred years ago.
Strings weaves together an eye-opening historical narrative ranging from the Renaissance to the current moment, analyzing important works of art, newspaper and magazine articles, and scientific literature and medical journals-where fat bodies were once praised-showing that fat phobia, as it relates to Black women, did not originate with medical findings, but with the Enlightenment era belief that fatness was evidence of "savagery" and racial inferiority.
The author argues that the contemporary ideal of slenderness is, at its very core, racialized and racist. Indeed, it was not until the early twentieth century, when racialized attitudes against fatness were already entrenched in the culture, that the medical establishment began its crusade against obesity. An important and original work, Fearing the Black Body argues convincingly that fat phobia isn't about health at all, but rather a means of using the body to validate race, class, and gender prejudice.
Buchinformationen
Beiträge
I don't want to rate this since Goodreads only allows you to rate based on if you've liked it and it's kind of a dilemma for me because it is an IMPORTANT book but reading it was just not fun. It's very scientific and I'm glad my college education helped me through it but I would not recommend it to people who just want to start knowing more about racism and fat phobia. (Could be that it also depends on your mother tongue how much you understand.) The aspects stated in this book are not new to many scholars and people who care for social issues in general but Strings did a good job on collecting all of them and making them describable and scientifically proven. Another book to prove that racism really is a system and not an individual problem!
This is a very informative book about the history of black women and how the "ideal body" changed over the decades. At times, a bit dry, that's why I took a while for me to get through. However, it is well-researched and gives you plenty of information in terms of history, stereotypes, and the different "other."