The Body Is Not an Apology: The Power of Radical Self-Love

There are a lot of concepts in here I've been working toward disparately, and it hadn't occurred to me how they are all interconnected. I think I knew that on some level, but I didn't know how to articulate it until reading this book. Like her editor and many others (as indicated early on in the book when she said what the book is not), I thought it was another book about fatphobia and reconciling body image (another journey I've been traversing since childhood). It's so much more. Her book is actually a cosmic way of viewing my body, your body, everyone else's body, and how we are all part of enormous quilt of universal love with many patches hurting from all the many -isms in our social, political, and familial psyches. I don't know if I'll ever get to a point where I can love myself wholly (can anyone?), but I can see myself as an integral part of the larger world that actually is important. It's easy to think we are tiny specks of sand on a huge beach (or at least this is a viewpoint common among Asians), but even if that's true, every grain of sand is beautiful and important to the grand, breathtaking scenery. Love it!* I read multiple versions of this book. There are minor differences between them, but chapter five (the last chapter) is significantly different between them. I found value in both versions.

Please don't misunderstand, there is nothing in this book that I disagree with. And for the most part, all the sentiments are well-written, and presented in an engaging way.So. Why the low rating?Personally, I was recommended this book by my Registered Dietician, who I'm working with to continue the process of recovering from an ED in my teenage years. She told me that this is kind of the new "bible" for self-love and self-acceptance and reframing the way that women think about their bodies. So, I went in, hoping that it would at least give me the tools to do <i>some</i> of that.It did not.Instead, what it gave me, was paragraphs of self-gratuitous expose on the author's own journey, and while that's totally fine, it was also interspersed with Wikipedia-esque lists of facts that, while astonishing if true, don't do much to actually educate you on the subjects they try to "hit home" about.There's also a distinct lack of acknowledging possible counter-arguments. And maybe this is just left over from my years of being a literature major, but MOST good essays at least attempt to pre-empt the naysayers and provide more evidence to the contrary. They take care to qualify their claims and the sources they cite, so that diligent readers might take the time to do their own research. This book glosses over the issues with the HAES (Health At Every Size) movement, and provides very little context for the huge amount of discourse that's gone on around it since the movement's inception in the 90's.It also pushes "Intuitive Eating" without addressing the possible issues this approach might have for people who are emotional binge eater/restrictors.And, towards the end of the book, the author seems to make it plenty clear that the ONLY way to engage in TRUE radical self love was to become an active, vocal proponent of the movement itself. So that by the time I got to the end of the book, I felt like what I'd read was a very long-winded propaganda pamphlet, urging you to GO VOTE or UNCLE SAM WANTS YOU to DONATE TO GOVERNMENT BONDS. But instead here, we're being told to go forth in to the world and loudly, vehemently try to educate those who would dare to disagree with the sentiments put forth in this book.Perhaps I shouldn't have gone into reading this with certain expectations, but I found myself feeling strangely "lonely" after finishing this book, wondering to myself, "Am I just going to be stuck hating my body forever if I don't go out and do everything this book says? Is there no personal, internal work that I can do to achieve this 'radical self-love' that the author seems to think is THE answer?"And yes, it sounds ridiculous when you take a step back because healing and recovery is ALWAYS a personal journey. IT ALWAYS has to take place internally. So to insinuate that you have to go do certain things as part of this movement in order to achieve true radical self-love is... questionable, to say the least.Now, I'm not saying that you can't gleam good, powerful, even transformative information from this book -- you absolutely can. It's just that most of the information provided is not new information. It's not even all that differently contextualized. If you grew up in a society, ANY society, that has the internet, you'll have come into contact with most, if not all, of the sentiments in this book. They're just presented in a slightly more slam-poetic way.If that's your tea, then amazing!But if it's not, it's susceptible to coming off as didactic and even downright condescending at times.All in all, even though it wasn't a bad book, per se, I would say it was a bad "match" for me. I found myself more aggravated than enlightened, and it made me question all the progress that I'd already made in my own recovery journey.

The very first two pages absolutely captured my attention. I felt like the author read my soul. I literally called a friend and told her that I am buying her a copy so we can do a book study together. POWERFUL book.

This book was recommended to me by a friend of mine. It had never come up on my radar before, I’d never seen it on my timeline, heard quotes from it, or heard of the author, Sonya Renee Taylor before.I’m so glad I have now. This book is one I will, as my friend did with me, recommend to everyone. It is worth your time, and your work.This isn’t a body positivity book, but it does have aspects of that. This is a present day and historical account of straight up body terrorism and how we are all both steeped in it and accountable for it. Taylor walks us through a journey to self-awareness using the body. We all have one, and it makes the messaging digestible for all.The endgame: radical self-love in the face of white supremacy, capitalism, and our own implicit bias.

This book is beautiful

A must read for every body with a body. Sonya Renee Taylor invites us to not only radically love ourselves in the bodies we’re in but to help make the world a place where every body is given the same opportunity. To quote SRT:“Liberation is the opportunity for every human, no matter their body, to have unobstructed access to their highest self, for every human to live in radical self-love.”

This book is a love letter to our collective humanity while also speaking to our individual hearts. Unpacking racism, oppression, homophobia, xenophobia down to the simple truth that if we had radical self love for our own human bodies and all their glorious physical and emotional differences, we would change the world. Sonya lays out an eloquent, poetic, logical case and I'm here for it. Read this book. It will change your view and show you how giant cultural shifts happen by starting with small steps for yourself..

This is an amazing book if you're looking to break free from the shame and oppressive views our culture has on bodies that don't fit the narrow & ridiculous mold of the 'ideal.'I'm certain it will provide the reader one "a-ha" moment after the next in terms of how diet culture has shaped our thoughts/actions/pursuits. It will empower one to ditch the endless, fruitless (& often all-consuming) aim of changing their body to meet some ridiculous standard and start simply LIVING. It provides a foundation upon which the reader will feel emboldened to be their whole self, unapologetically.It's a must-read for everyone in my opinion.

I truly and thoroughly enjoyed this book. It’s an impressively written manifesto for jettisoning the never ending nonsense we’re fed about not being “good enough”. The author presents an entirely radical and yet practical way to deal with the torrent of bogus imagery and subtle societal hierarchy that keeps people feeling miserable, unlovable, “ugly” and ashamed of their physical self. If that all sounds a bit high falutin’ and theoretical please don’t be put off - the author addresses these big ideas with humour, spirit, compassion and common sense. I’ve just bought three more copies to give to the young women in my life (I’m 51) I wish I’d read this when I was 21!

Not enough good things can be said about this book. I loved it. My body is not an apology.

It started off wonderfully; very engaging and informative about how the western world views body ideals. However the second half of the book takes a nose dive. Very preachy and hard going. The book wasn't so much about body size prejudice but transphobia and racism- nothing wrong with that, but not what I thought the book was about.

This book had so much good stuff in it. The only reason I haven't given it 5 stars is because I found it slightly hard to get through. It's not that the author isn't a good writer but the topics are deep and heavy and sometimes academic. Would still recommend.

Love this would. deffo a good read! Would also recommend listening to her TED talk, very inspiring woman!