What We Don't Talk About When We Talk About Fat

This is such a good overview of all the ways being fat in the world can be harmful. Gordon talks about how the world isn't equipped for fat people, how they're characterized on tv, how relationships work (or don't), how even doctors don't take it seriously. (I should be saying we, not they, as I am a small fat - I can find clothes in nearly any store, but I am fat.)

Anti-fat biases hurt us all and working for true body liberation will benefit us all. (Much like how feminism benefits men too.) The last chapter talks about all the ways we can all work towards ending anti-fat bias.

Also, go listen to the podcast Maintenance Phase, hosted by Aubrey Gordon and Michael Hobbes. It's a must listen if you care about true health and wellness, not how they've been co-opted and marketed and skewed. As of this writing the most recent episode is on fat camps (also discussed in the book!) and is heartbreaking in how these literal children are treated.

A lot of this are things I have already heard from listening to Gordon's podcast. However, I enjoyed hearing it again. There is good research and data, not to mention her personal experience, that help to clarify that fat bias is a thing and is not a good thing. Her work has helped me to be more comfortable in my own skin as well as to think differently about ‘what everyone knows' about health and eating.

Everyone needs to read this book. I learned quite a lot of new information and terms that will be very helpful. I could relate A LOT to Aubrey and what she has gone through as a fat person. I knew very little about the history of BMI and how doctors use it today and let me just say fuck BMI! Going to the doctor has always been a fear of mine even as a young kid. I remember being A CHILD and the doctor telling me I should keep a notebook and write down all the foods I ate in a day, thankfully I never listened to her because I thought that was way too much work to do. Hearing Aubrey and other fat people's stories about going to the doctors and telling them that something is wrong and being told that the problem is your weight HIT ME HARD! I still have a lot of work to do mentally but this book was a great start.

The way society treats fat people is one of the most outwardly accepted bigotries of present day. This book has some autobiographical pieces with Aubrey Gordon talking about her experience living in the world as a fat woman, but also many hard-hitting pieces of research that expose the medical industry and our own internal biases alike.

Some key takeaways:
- Anti-fat bias goes up during medical school, creating medical providers who perpetuate health risks by overlooking unrelated symptoms
- The most cited studies on health risks of “obesity” are blatantly biased to remove health problems associated with thin people and skew the truth dramatically
- Many health risks associated with being fat are likely health risks of experiencing discrimination
- Diets don't work 95% of the time and weight cycling causes health issues on its own
- Health aside, everyone should just treat people kindly and think about what small ways we're perpetuating anti-fat bias in the things we say and the way we treat others!