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My belly : exploring why it's so hard for women to love their bodies

Uniform Title
Mageboka. English
Title
My belly : exploring why it's so hard for women to love their bodies / Hilde Ostby ; translated by Lucy Moffatt.
ISBN
9781778400001
1778400000
97817784
Edition
English edition.
Publication
Vancouver ; Berkeley : Greystone Books, 2024.
Physical Description
151 pages ; 21 cm
Notes
"Originally published in Norwegian by Kagge Forlag as Mageboka: Sju steg mot å like kroppen din ©2021"-- Title page verso.
Text in English, translated from the Norwegian.
Summary
Why are women so ashamed of certain parts of their bodies? And why are our feelings about our midsections so hard to navigate? These are the questions that animate My Belly, an unflinching and funny portrait of one woman's obsession with a seemingly innocent body part. Hilde Øtsby is a critic, a thinker, and an acclaimed author. At the start of My Belly, she is on tour promoting her latest work about the culture and science of memory. As she poses for a photographer from the London Times, she silently worries about how her belly will look on the front page of the Arts section. Later, she realizes how ridiculous this is: she's being celebrated for an intellectual achievement, and yet all she can focus on is her appearance. How did a girl from an academic home, where intellect was always valued more than looks, find herself in this position? As she approaches her 45th birthday, Hilde discovers she's spent 30 years obsessing over her belly. If she had spent all that time writing books, she would have written the equivalent of Knaussgard's My Struggle. All six volumes. How can we stop obsessing over our bodies and claim back our time? We can start by understanding who and what led us to this place. In My Belly, Hilde explores the original reason she began hating her body after being abused as a child. She examines the norms of popular culture and patriarchal attitudes towards her and other women's bodies. She delves into diets revealing that by the time most women reach her age, they have tried 61 diets and explores the prevalence of weight discrimination in our society. Drawing on philosophy, neurology, sociology, literature, and popular culture, as well as her own dark truths, Hilde offers an honest look at an obsession that seems to have plagued women for centuries. Readers will come away with laughter, anger, tears, and a new perspective on their own unique struggles.
Format
Books
Language
English
Added to Catalog
August 09, 2024
Bibliography
Includes bibliographical references (pages 137-151).
Contents
Step One: Identify the problem
Step Two: Know your enemy
Step Three: Stop buying clothes for a future me
Step Four: Stop dieting
Step Five: Give the gorilla a name
Step Six: Stress less
Step Seven: I become free, one breath at a time
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