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Self-Improvement. Nonfiction. HTML:New York Times bestseller! "To build a world that works for everyone, we must first make the radical decision to love every facet of ourselves. . . . 'The body is not an apology' is the mantra we should all embrace." �??Kimberlé Crenshaw, legal scholar and founder and Executive Director, African American Policy ForumHumans are a varied and divergent bunch with all manner of beliefs, morals, and bodies. Systems of oppression thrive off our inability to make peace with difference and injure the relationship we have with our own bodies. The Body Is Not an Apology offers radical self-love as the balm to heal the wounds inflicted by these violent systems. World-renowned activist and poet Sonya Renee Taylor invites us to reconnect with the radical origins of our minds and bodies and celebrate our collective, enduring strength. As we awaken to our own indoctrinated body shame, we feel inspired to awaken others and to interrupt the systems that perpetuate body shame and oppression against all bodies. When we act from this truth on a global scale, we usher in the transformative opportunity of radical self-love, which is the opportunity for a more just, equitable, and compassionate world�??for us all. This second edition includes stories from Taylor's travels around the world combating body terrorism and shines a light on the path toward liberation guided by love. In a brand new final chapter, she offers specific tools, actions, and resources for confronting racism, sexism, ableism, homophobia, and transphobia. And she provides a case study showing how radical self-love not only dismantles shame and self-loathing in us but has the power to dismantle entire systems of injustice. Together with the accompanying workbook, Your Body Is Not an Apology, Taylor brings the practice of radical self-love… (more)
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User reviews
Those open to reconsidering the ways they view themselves and others.
In a nutshell:
Author Sonya Renee Taylor offers up the idea that society’s ills are based on hatred of bodies that deviate from ‘the norm,’ and that by moving beyond self-acceptance to self-love, we will be able to
Worth quoting:
“Our societies have defined what is considered a ‘normal’ body and have assigned greater value, resources, and opportunities to the bodies most closely aligned with those ideas of ‘normal.’”
Why I chose it:
A friend directed by to Ms Taylor’s Instagram account, where she often posts videos. I saw she had a book and wanted to check it out.
Review:
Ms Taylor’s premise is that we need to stop judging bodies, not simply as a way to accept and love ourselves, but to literally change the world. Throughout this relatively short book stuffed full of history, sociology, philosophy, and concrete action, Ms Taylor supports her idea that the setting of a default ‘normal’ body and the resulting judgment of bodies that deviate from that norm is what causes harm. She provides opportunities for reflection on how the reader has developed their relationship with their own body, as well as how that in turn influences how they interact with others in the world.
She starts by laying out the concept of radical self-love, then moves onto the history of body shame that propels so many of us to apologize for our bodies - size, gender, ability, neurodiversity, race, etc. - followed by ways to build radical self-love when the world around us pushes just the opposite. Ms Taylor then takes us through the idea of implicit bias and need to remain aware of the ways we continue to judge ourselves and other bodies, and finishes it up with a very practical toolkit.
I love this book. Ms Taylor’s way of writing is accessible and fun. I want all of us to read it and to really think about what it would mean if we were to implement the concepts within it.
Keep it / Pass to a Friend / Donate it / Toss it:
Keep it
I ended up loving it (of course!) Especially the challenge