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

By: Aubrey Gordon

Narrated by: Samara Naeymi

From the creator of Your Fat Friend and co-host of the Maintenance Phase podcast, an explosive indictment of the systemic and cultural bias facing plus-size people.

Anti-fatness is everywhere. In What We Don’t Talk About When We Talk About Fat, Aubrey Gordon unearths the cultural attitudes and social systems that have led to people being denied basic needs because they are fat and calls for social justice movements to be inclusive of plus-sized people’s experiences. Unlike the recent wave of memoirs and quasi self-help books that encourage readers to love and accept themselves, Gordon pushes the discussion further towards authentic fat activism, which includes ending legal weight discrimination, giving equal access to health care for large people, increased access to public spaces, and ending anti-fat violence. As she argues, “I did not come to body positivity for self-esteem. I came to it for social justice.”

By sharing her experiences as well as those of others—from smaller fat to very fat people—she concludes that to be fat in our society is to be seen as an undeniable failure, unlovable, unforgivable, and morally condemnable. Fatness is an open invitation for others to express disgust, fear, and insidious concern. To be fat is to be denied humanity and empathy. Studies show that fat survivors of sexual assault are less likely to be believed and less likely than their thin counterparts to report various crimes; 27% of very fat women and 13% of very fat men attempt suicide; over 50% of doctors describe their fat patients as “awkward, unattractive, ugly and noncompliant”; and in 48 states, it’s legal—even routine—to deny employment because of an applicant’s size.

Advancing fat justice and changing prejudicial structures and attitudes will require work from all people. What We Don’t Talk About When We Talk About Fat is a crucial tool to create a tectonic shift in the way we see, talk about, and treat our bodies, fat and thin alike.

excellent policy recommendations at the end!

I really enjoyed this audio book and the historical analysis of anti-fat bias and the vision and policy recommendations at the end. you can tell Aubrey Gordon has a background in political organizing. I also really enjoy her podcast Maintenance Phase with Michael Hobbs.

I didn't notice Aubrey Gordon wasn't Narrating

I love the information, but I am all caught up on Maintenance Phase and was looking for more from a familiar voice I know and love. You can hear Aubrey's words, but having someone else reading it was hard to get past.

The Last Prejudice Exposed

I was impressed with research and soul of her expression. She has a lifetime of experience and shares them to our benefit.

Required reading.

This book shines a light on the racist and misogynistic origins of many ideas that are pervasive in western culture around the thin idéal and its conflation with health. This work is so, so important, and very interesting. I’ll reread it, because it’s so much to take in.

The narrator has a warm, personal voice that strikes the right chord with in first-person narrative interspersed with research, many references, examples in media. Excellent performance.

Put this book on your list, friends. You will become more empathetic, more knowledgeable, and you will better understand why body neutrality is an important notion to familiarize yourself with.

❤️✨

Mind exploding.

As a healthcare worker, as a woman, as a HUMAN BEING living in the world today that has been twisted and narrowed and restricted to exclude and harm so many bodies; I implore you to read this book. It said so beautifully what needs to be said about the perception and treatment of fat people and the history of hate that created it all. I loved this book.