The Body is Not An Apology: ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️
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Thank u @netgalley and @bkpub for this copy!

This book is a step along this little blip called life. In life we are born with radical self love, but over time, it is dissolved by the acid of media messaging, capitalistic motives, and bigotry. We have learned that ego, self-confidence, and self-esteem will help us float on, but Sonya Renee Taylor instead offers us a more expansive option.
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This book is both fundamental and profound. Sonya covers the basics but then pushes us deeper. I am sharing my thoughts on some concepts rather than a review.
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💎I was compelled by Taylor’s word choice of body love as “unapologetic” - I have been indoctrinated with the word “rebellious” in its place - so I was curious about why she used this word, but she never says it explicitly. When I thought about it, I realized “rebel”is about disobedience while “unapologetic” is about normalization. Taylor’s word choice is precise - it’s about erasing our notion that the default template for a good body is healthy, white, able-bodied, straight. It’s about erasing this template at all.
💎 I was pushed to think beyond “you don’t have to be thin to be healthy” into the terrain of “you don’t have to be healthy to be valued, loved, and secure.” Wow.
💎 I also really loved how Sonya Renee Taylor explores the concept of leaving behind pity for others based on their bodies - we feel pity because we think we are better than someone. When we pity someone, we search for redeeming qualities as if it's a compliment. Sonya pushed me to unpack my judgements when I feel pity, and instead to understand that there is no wrong way to have a body.
💎 Finally, I loved Sonya’s explanation of detriment buying vs. best interest buying. She explains that a lot of our spending is based on feelings of inadequacy. We should buy to move towards our best selves instead of away from our fears.

Sonya Renee Taylor is an advocate for a body-shame free society. She’s not just talking about fat, but also any kind of body-shame or “body terrorism” (as she calls it) that is perpetrated in our world. This is a second edition, but it wasn’t clear to me what has changed since the first. There is also an accompanying workbook, so that might be helpful if you want to do more work around this issue.

Taylor wants us to embrace “radical self-love”, which is no easy task given the body-negative messages most of us have taken in over our lifetimes. She talks about our “origin” stories – the first time we remember feeling ashamed of our own bodies for whatever reason. But then also talks about media messages and governmental sanction of discriminations for various reasons. This isn’t just about fat-shaming, but shaming for all kinds of body-related reasons: disability, race, sexual orientation and so on.

She asks us to make peace with our own bodies and the bodies of others, and gives lots of practical advice about how to practice “shame free inquiry” of ourselves and others. This book challenged a lot of my thinking, and made me go “huh” several times, so in that sense I recommend it to everyone. I do feel like it left me wanting more, though, for reasons I can’t put my finger on. It could be that the workbook would give me the additional reflections that I was kind of longing for.

This book had its good moments (I especially loved the personal stories). I struggle with body self image, so I was eager to read this book. However, I found some parts quite dull and I struggled to keep my interest. This book is quite short (only a little over 100 pages), so that’s good.