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Reviews
Body Positive Power: How learning to love yourself will save your life by Megan Jayne Crabbe
alannajane's review
5.0
I listened to the audiobook read by the (British) author, and both the script and narration are fabulous! It’s well written, well researched and full of inspiration. I recommend this amazing book to anyone (especially women, because of the way it is written) who suffer from bad body esteem, constantly compare themselves to that incredibly narrow single standard of beauty that is perpetuated in our modern culture, are still vulnerable to diet culture narratives, are waiting to *that thing* for when they are 10 pounds lighter, and/or believe all the media hype about certain food groups being “bad/evil”.
cari1268's review
4.0
Going into this read, I was curious how I would feel about it. The only things I've heard about the body positivity movement are the more outrageous statements (which I generally don't agree with).
Happily, I liked this book and the body positivity message. It really made me wish that the world was different. It made me want to practice more body positivity in my life and to be a good influence for my daughters.
I found this book very readable. I was never bored and it was a good influence in my life. It made me think about the media and the cultural attitudes I'm exposed to.
That being said, I'm struggling how to rate this read. I had a hard time connecting to a lot of what Crabbe was saying. I'm someone who's had a fairly smooth weight journey. So much of where the author was coming from was out of my range of experience. I couldn't relate and it made many of her statements miss the mark. As in, I've either not thought that way or have not done what the author is assuming women do. That's not to say that I didn't find things I could work on. I just feel like this would be more helpful to someone with a different life experience than me.
The most interesting thing that I got out of this was a curiosity about how bad fat really is. I was fascinated to hear the studies she cited and would be curious to learn more. Although, I still feel skeptical and would be interested in reading both sides to the argument.
Sometimes I felt like the solutions offered were a little too narrow. For example, intuitive eating is a great tool but I don't think it's for everyone. I'm also very curious to see more studies come out about intuitive eating and this idea of a set point.
At times, she was strict on what was not okay to do. i.e. She came down pretty hard on plastic surgery. I kept waiting for her to mention makeup but that apparently is okay? The parts of the book like this (and thankfully there were only a few scattered parts) reminded me of my earlier negative impressions of body positivity. I feel like body positivity has the potential to be the new hammer to beat women down with. I like more of the "You do you boo" mentality.
Overall, I'm glad I read this book as it was a good reminder to love myself and be kind. The world would be a better place if every person subscribed more to the body positivity movement. And please, let's stop photoshopping images!
4 Stars.
Some of my favorite quotes:
"We've been told a lie that being thin is the most important thing we can be, but just think what we'd all be capable of achieving if we stopped believing it."
"When we moralize food, we moralize ourselves every time we eat."
*This book had 1-4 F-bombs every 20 pages or so. I can site this very accurate (haha) statistic because I tried to read about 20 pages a night.*
Happily, I liked this book and the body positivity message. It really made me wish that the world was different. It made me want to practice more body positivity in my life and to be a good influence for my daughters.
I found this book very readable. I was never bored and it was a good influence in my life. It made me think about the media and the cultural attitudes I'm exposed to.
That being said, I'm struggling how to rate this read. I had a hard time connecting to a lot of what Crabbe was saying. I'm someone who's had a fairly smooth weight journey. So much of where the author was coming from was out of my range of experience. I couldn't relate and it made many of her statements miss the mark. As in, I've either not thought that way or have not done what the author is assuming women do. That's not to say that I didn't find things I could work on. I just feel like this would be more helpful to someone with a different life experience than me.
The most interesting thing that I got out of this was a curiosity about how bad fat really is. I was fascinated to hear the studies she cited and would be curious to learn more. Although, I still feel skeptical and would be interested in reading both sides to the argument.
Sometimes I felt like the solutions offered were a little too narrow. For example, intuitive eating is a great tool but I don't think it's for everyone. I'm also very curious to see more studies come out about intuitive eating and this idea of a set point.
At times, she was strict on what was not okay to do. i.e. She came down pretty hard on plastic surgery. I kept waiting for her to mention makeup but that apparently is okay? The parts of the book like this (and thankfully there were only a few scattered parts) reminded me of my earlier negative impressions of body positivity. I feel like body positivity has the potential to be the new hammer to beat women down with. I like more of the "You do you boo" mentality.
Overall, I'm glad I read this book as it was a good reminder to love myself and be kind. The world would be a better place if every person subscribed more to the body positivity movement. And please, let's stop photoshopping images!
4 Stars.
Some of my favorite quotes:
"We've been told a lie that being thin is the most important thing we can be, but just think what we'd all be capable of achieving if we stopped believing it."
"When we moralize food, we moralize ourselves every time we eat."
*This book had 1-4 F-bombs every 20 pages or so. I can site this very accurate (haha) statistic because I tried to read about 20 pages a night.*
mayadaviz's review
4.0
I listened to this on audible!
So nice to not feel alone in attitudes toward femininity and the relationship with my body
So nice to not feel alone in attitudes toward femininity and the relationship with my body
bookishblasian's review
3.0
I can see this book being extremely helpful for some people.. It was pretty helpful for me too but it honestly felt like a repeat of Secrets from the Eating Lab. It was constant rehashing about the diet industry being full of lies, which is knew, but also read in SFTEL. The eating disorder part was kind of hard to read, mostly because I don't truly relate to the anorexia? I did understand it a bit more after reading about it, so that was kind of nice. The most helpful sections of this book were at the beginning, talking about hating your body and dispelling the thought that if we reach our ideal weight that all of our problems disappear and we'll get the life we want. I think this book was a helpful start in my journey for body positivity, but I definitely think it caters to a certain type of reader.
elena_stella_rose's review
5.0
I want everyone to read this book. Accessible, well researched, compassionate, empowering, inclusive.
naomileunis's review against another edition
4.0
4.5*
I think this is a book all teenage girls should read (and every single adult, women or men, that feels insecure about their body because they are not 'thin'). They are the ones that are the easiest victims of the pressure of social media and not yet knowing how to notice the difference between a photoshopped picture and an actual untouched pictured.
The book says that mental health is just as important as physical health and that's true, how on earth can you claim to be healhty when your diet is making you absolutely miserable? When it's making you hate yourself? Pressure to be thin is big in society and while the last years there has been a change, thin is still the norm and like Megan says, that's a minority. You shouldn't want to be thin because that's all you see. The most important thing is that you should want to be happy and if that's with a 'plus'-size? That's your right!
I think this is a book all teenage girls should read (and every single adult, women or men, that feels insecure about their body because they are not 'thin'). They are the ones that are the easiest victims of the pressure of social media and not yet knowing how to notice the difference between a photoshopped picture and an actual untouched pictured.
The book says that mental health is just as important as physical health and that's true, how on earth can you claim to be healhty when your diet is making you absolutely miserable? When it's making you hate yourself? Pressure to be thin is big in society and while the last years there has been a change, thin is still the norm and like Megan says, that's a minority. You shouldn't want to be thin because that's all you see. The most important thing is that you should want to be happy and if that's with a 'plus'-size? That's your right!
kimasuuky's review
1.0
DNF. I get the whole body positivity stuff, its valid and worthwhile blah blah blah. But the fact that it was, in this case, being delivered by a relatively small woman on a very high horse meant I could not connect with the author nor this book.