Hello All–I haven’t posted in a while. I’ve been reading a lot and writing a lot of ”shitty first drafts.” I am hoping to get back to the grind though because I am working on a memoir/non-fiction examination of eating disorders and body anxiety. In my period of “ramping up” to all the writing, I just finished a book called Bodies: Big Ideas/Small Books by Susie Orbach.
Orbach is the author of the widely-read book Fat is a Feminist Issue. I have never read Fat, but it should be coming in a day or two from Amazon.com.
This newer book, Bodies, focuses on the various ways “bodies” are “culturally made” as well as how Western culture with its attention to consumer empowerment encourages us to “aspire” to better bodies. (Orbach does a much better job of breaking this all down.) I’ve posted a lot here about how scary I find the cosmetic surgery industry to be, and Orbach’s book further delves into the almost pathological ways the diet, food, cosmetic surgery, beauty, and fashion industries attack both women and men’s very shaky sense of body security. I found it fascinating. I hope you all will take a read and let me know what you think!
peace,Bridgett
