The Good Body

by V (formerly Eve Ensler)

Botox, bulimia, breast Eve Ensler, author of the international sensation The Vagina Monologues , is back, this time to rock our view of what it means to have a “good body.” “In the 1950s,” Eve writes, girls were “pretty, perky. They had a blond Clairol wave in their hair. They wore girdles and waist-pinchers. . . . In recent years good girls join the army. They climb the corporate ladder. They go to the gym. . . . They wear painful pointy shoes. They don’t eat too much. They . . . don’t eat at all. They stay perfect. They stay thin. I could never be good.”

The Good Body starts with Eve’s tortured relationship with her own “post-forties” stomach and her skirmishes with everything from Ab Rollers to fad diets and fascistic trainers in an attempt get the “flabby badness” out. As Eve hungrily seeks self-acceptance, she is joined by the voices of women from L.A. to Kabul, whose obsessions are also laid A young Latina candidly critiques her humiliating “spread,” a stubborn layer of fat that she calls “a second pair of thighs.” The wife of a plastic surgeon recounts being systematically reconstructed–inch by inch–by her “perfectionist” husband. An aging magazine executive, still haunted by her mother’s long-ago criticism, describes her desperate pursuit of youth as she relentlessly does sit-ups.

Along the way, Eve also introduces us to women who have found a hard-won peace with their an African mother who celebrates each individual body as signs of nature’s diversity; an Indian woman who transcends “treadmill mania” and delights in her plump cheeks and curves; and a veiled Afghani woman who is willing to risk imprisonment for a taste of ice cream. These are just a few of the inspiring stories woven through Eve’s global journey from obsession to enlightenment. Ultimately, these monologues become a personal wake-up call from Eve to love the “good bodies” we inhabit.

Genres: Nonfiction, Feminism, Plays, Womens, Drama, Gender Studies, Essays

112 pages, Paperback

First published January 1, 2004

About the author

V is an internationally bestselling author and an award-winning playwright whose works include The Vagina Monologues, The Good Body, Insecure at Last, and I Am an Emotional Creature, since adapted for the stage as Emotional Creature. She is the founder of V-Day, the global movement to end violence against women and girls, which has raised more than $90 million for local groups and activists, and inspired the global action One Billion Rising. V lives in Paris and New York City.

Reviews

[Alice · Rating 4 out of 5]

Not as good as the Vagina Monologues, but still very powerful and funny and wonderful in its own way. My favorite moment of this book was reading it in an airport... My copy had a different cover from the one pictured here. The cover art is a naked female torso with scoops of ice cream instead of breasts. I thought it was a fantastic image that managed to convey the commodification of female bodies, the link between female sexuality and self-denial, the strange way female sexuality and food have become "forbidden" for women in popular culture, etc.

Well, two white middle aged men were sitting across from me at the gate, waiting for the same flight I was, and eying my book with great discomfort. Unveiled discomfort. Until I finally made and held eye contact with them and they were forced to say something. "Uh... what is THAT?"

They had never heard of Eve Ensler. Or the Vagina Monologues. (And seemed shocked... SHOCKED... that a stranger and a girl would say "vagina" right out loud in an airport! This is not late-night cable, young lady!) So I explained it was a play, a feminist play. And as soon as I said "feminist" their facial expressions seemed to both instantaneously switch off, like a light. "Oh." And back to the sports section. Clearly nothing of concern to THEM.

[Joanna · Rating 1 out of 5]

I did not care for this book at all. I wonder if I saw it presented on stage, if that would change my opinion, but I disliked it so much that I'd be unlikely to give any money or time to be exposed to it again.

First of all, there is really nothing new in terms of the style or presentation of material. Ensler is using the same structure as The Vagina Monologues, the only difference is that this work focuses on her stomach and she herself gets a lot of stage time.

Although there were a few thought provoking moments - her assertion that all women throughout the world, regardless of their race or class, when asked one thing that could be changed that would really improve their lives, most answered in a way that related to changing some part of their physical bodies.

First of all, there is no citation for that. Who did this study? And how?

Also, the liposuction description was revolting. But it was so revolting that I imagine it will stick with me for sometime.

The piece about the Cosmo editor who works so hard to reshape herself, and ends by saying that her husband thinks she is beautiful, but he doesn't count, "Because he loves me." That was a really interesting section, but more in terms of the way that we discount the opinions of important people in our lives, as opposed to anything really revealing about body image.

I think the part of this book that disturbed me the most was how much Eve Ensler focused on her own stomach issues. If you want to navel gaze, fine. But don't try to make it something that it's not. Don't try to make it a play about the body image issues of women all over the world.

The global focus was also somewhat offensive. When Eve Ensler refuses to eat bread that is being offered to her in Africa, I wanted to smack her. Maybe that is the point. But still. Never did she seem to acknowledge the complete privilege of her position and the luxury it is to be able to refuse food at all.

When she is taken out for ice cream, which is forbidden by the Taliban, her host is risking her life so that Eve freaking Ensler can feel like eating ice cream is okay in this moment due to it being an act of political rebellion. Give me a break!

Also, the extent to which Ensler selects stories where women of all ages blame their mothers for their body image issues is pretty shocking.

Urgh. It also seems like this play is not even the story of how a woman learned to love her body. Or how a woman overcame her struggle with body image. This really seems to be a play about how Eve Ensler travels all over disliking her stomach. I have no opinion about her particular stomach, but I now have no stomach for Eve Ensler.

[Becky · Rating 1 out of 5]

Oof. So I picked this up after finishing Sitting Pretty: The View from My Ordinary Resilient Disabled Body, as I was in a mood for more body-related stigma-busting.

Reader, this was not it.

Not it at all.

EVERYTHING about it grated on my nerves from the moment I started. Compared to Sitting Pretty - which contained a LOT of commentary about bodies and how they are different and how they can still be beautiful and resilient and strong despite not being perfect - it just didn't work for me. AT ALL. The audio is just over an hour long, but I started watching the timer to see how much was left about 2 minutes in, stopped listening, then argued to myself that I can freaking finish a ONE HOUR AUDIOBOOK, surely... right?? But turns out, no. I couldn't. I didn't want to. I made it 20% and ditched it.

Probably an unfair comparison in context, but The Good Body just felt angry and entitled, and less about loving and accepting one's own body than attacking its imperfections and demanding that we - women? society? - share in her frustrations and irritations with the way that expectations of perfection are foisted on us by the patriarchy.

And you know, in a different mood, that might have been just what I wanted, (though maybe not in audio format, actually) and maybe I chose my timing poorly, coming right off of a very honest and vulnerable and understanding- and thoughtfulness-oriented book, to one so angry slam-poet ragey, but such is life. Sometimes we choose the right book for the right moment, and sometimes we very much don't. O_O

[Mara Shaw · Rating 1 out of 5]

Relentless, vehement body loathing with a desperate attempt at a hopeful (saccharine) ending of:
"We live in a good body.
We live in a good body.
Good body.
Good body.
Good body."

Ms. Ensler is obviously trying to convince herself, but I'm certain she does not believe it. She's left with hatred of her body, and, sadly, the reader is left with the stories of extreme self-hatred that constitute the book.

Instead of feeling glorious that my body functions and is my "tree" (one of her few attempts to be uplifting), I will recall Helen Gurley Brown's self-revulsion despite her amazing success and 200 daily situps. I will remember vagina tightening, hatred of all "skinny bitches", celebration of getting parasites to get thin, extreme workouts, unhealthy rejection of food (including bread -- gasp!). And anger, anger, anger. Hate, hate, hate.

Ensler offers a few stories of women who are happy in their bodies, but these pale compared to the violent reds and oranges of the stories that scream off the pages of woman after woman who rejects her own body.

The Vagina Monologues were a masterpiece. This is not only a self-indulgent hate-fest, I think it offers so many examples of women hating themselves that it suggests that this is the western norm. To actually like a body with its curves or sags, is to not be striving sufficiently.

I renounce the implication that my body, usually 15 pounds overweight, indicates that I am lazy, ugly, and to be socially rejected. Because I know I, and many other women, am vital, energetic, capable, successful and forgiven for carrying a few extra pounds that would be unacceptable in Ensler's wacky, sad, and hate-filled world. Nameste.

[Fadillah · Rating 4 out of 5]

Our body is the carrier of the stories of the world of the earth of the mother.
Our body is the mother.
Our body came from Mother.
Our body is our home.
We are crying here.
We are found.
We are women.
We are too much.
We are empty.
We are full.
We live in a good body.
We live in the good body.
Good body
Good body
- The Good Body by Eve Ensler
.
.
When i was 2 years old, I was so thin that my mom fed me ‘Appeton’ twice a day. When i was 12 years old, I grew taller than many boys in my class that they became insecure so they called me names. When i was 22 years old, my former classmates hinted that i have a body of a mother that just had given a birth (implying that i have big body that it made me so unattractive). Now that i am 32, i simply don’t give a fuck anymore. I am fat , ugly and super loud but at least i am secure enough to accept me as it is. That being said, the good body came to me on the right time. Reading about women twice my age, taking charge , being unapologetic about their body issue is empowering and i aspire to be this level of unbothered. In all honesty, Eve Ensler did give us diverse insights of what ‘Good Body’ meant to us - how we perceived our body, how we came to reconcile that while it may not fulfilling the global beauty standard, it is us that need to embrace it wholeheartedly. Indeed, it is disheartening reading some stories despite her mother has gone for a decade, yet she was still being haunted by her mother torment about her body. It is also saddening that we women went too far to modify our body simply because to satisfy our partner. There are few quotes that i love in this book that i would like to share.
1. I think for many of us well, for most of us well, maybe for all of us there is one particular part of our body where the badness manifests itself, our thighs, our butt, our breasts, our hair, our nose, our little toe. You know what I'm talking about? It doesn't matter where I've been in the world, whether it's Tehran where women are smashing and remodeling their noses to looks less Iranian, or in Beijing where they are breaking their legs and adding bone to be taller, or in Dallas where they are surgically whittling their feet in order to fit into Manolo Blahniks or Jimmy Choos. Everywhere, the women I meet generally hate one particular part of their bodies. They spend most of their lives fixing it, shrinking it.
2. We have poison in our foreheads, in our chins, like the head of a snake. One more false, humiliating move, you could activate the global posse. Here are things that could do it: People who ask for my honest opinion and then call me a bitch when I give it. People who call it consensual. People who tell me to lighten up when I'm already fucking funny. It's real. It's botulinum. It's in our bodies. A single gram could kill millions. My face could take out most of Manhattan. It gives new meaning to the notion of homeland security. Doesn't it? Who am I? I am the Hillary Clinton who told Bill to fuck himself. I'm the Princess Di who married that Muslim. I am the Margaret Thatcher who wears sexy bras. I am the Madeleine Albright who's proud to be Jew.
3. I am fat, i like food. The way it tastes. The way it goes down. I eat for happiness. I love buffets. We eat at home. Oh, we eat. (Beat) I never missed my mom so much. I don't look fat when I'm with my mom. My family, we are big people, I do not know why they're trying to get me to act small. They're worried. All this talk from the government about blowing up from obesity. I think this government should be worried about blowing up from all these bombs. I'm starving. Give me my momma's home cooking and her fluffy duck ass, and Supersize it. Fat girls are good people. Aren't we, Eve? We deserve to be skinny bitches.
Overall, a great book to understand what body image meant to a women like us. The commodification of it and how the objectification ruined women and womanhood. I wish it was much longer so i could give this 5 stars.

[Kaijsa · Rating 1 out of 5]

This is a mess. Maybe it's because I don't like the format, or that I think a 90 page book made up mostly of unexplicated quotes is a lazy way to make money, or that I think the whole premise is strangely misogynistic, but I hated the book. There is really no discussion of reasons why women might hate their bodies beyond being damaged by their parents or personally buying into media images of what's beautiful. So who makes the media? What drives our standards of beauty? Is it possible that the evil parents--mostly mothers--to blame for these women's pain are victims of social forces bigger than themselves? The lack of analysis by the author, who is more interested in talking about her own body image problems, made me dismiss this whole mess.

[Ana · Rating 3 out of 5]

original read: 2008

I still remembered some parts of this. It was good.

[Paya · Rating 3 out of 5]

Waham się między 2,5 a 3... poziom samonienawiści w tej książce jest dołujący. I takie są nie tylko wypowiedzi Ensler na temat własnego ciała, ale też to, co inne kobiety mają do powiedzenia na temat swoich ciał. Wszystkie pozytywne wypowiedzi kobiet, które traktują swoje ciało z szacunkiem, albo przynajmniej je akceptują, były natychmiast podminowywane przez brak samoakceptacji autorki. Trochę szkoda, wiele sobie trzeba w tej książce dopowiedzieć, wiele jest tu toksyczności, która pozostaje bez komentarza.

[Gen L · Rating 2 out of 5]

I am deeply concerned about Eve and her relationship to food and her body. I was expecting to find something relatable here, but instead I find myself horrified by how disturbed her body image is and hoping she was either exaggerating for the art of it or getting some proper help.

[barunka · Rating 4 out of 5]

moc super!! bylo to hrozne chaoticke. eve - spisovatelka - skakala od jednomu k druhemu a stejne bylo jasne, co nam vlastne chtela pomoci rozhovorů sdelit. was a bit triggering in some parts tho..
nejvic se mi libilo, kdyz mluvila o sve predesle knize/divadelni hre: monology vaginy. popisovala, jak se v predeslem dile snazila jit proti stereotypum, proti tomu jak jsou vaginy "nevhodna temata". a tak. a zminila vetu ( presne nevim, knizka byla pujcena a uz je zpatky doma ) : monology vaginy pro me byly jednodussi na napsani. sla jsem proti nekomu s ucelem se hadat. jenze ve vhodnem tele jsem svym pachatelem i obeti ja sama.
~ tim je mysleny, ze tema vaginy a celkove intimni partie a veci s nimi spojene je povazovane za nevhodne kvuli nekomu. tohle vytvorili lide a ona sla proti tomu. jenze ve vhodnem tele, kde mluvi o sebenenavisti nad svym telem sla sama proti sobe. to ona sve telo nenavidi, ne ostatni.
i kdyz, jak nad tim ted premyslim, tak je to takove meh. i o telech jsou stereotypy a vse. a je jich hodme. ale myslenka se mi libila.

[H (trying to keep up with GR friends) Balikov · Rating 3 out of 5]

Ensler is a clever writer and this book is no exception. I might have given it at least one more star if I wasn't a bit puzzled:
It was certainly written to be performed; would it have been better if I had seen it as a performance?
The point of the book can be made in less than a paragraph. Was it too long with the only variation being the part of the body in focus? Or, too short and should she have made a better effort to include more of those who represented other cultures?
Was her effort directed to getting herself to change her obsessive focus on her midriff and, if she couldn't, does she believe others can?
It is a quick and enjoyable read, so I end up recommending it.

[Che · Rating 2 out of 5]

I'd give it 2.5 stars really. Great concept, but the execution fell flat and then rolled on the ground and whined like a 2 year old. I expected more. I wish I got it.

[Lisa · Rating 4 out of 5]

She’s so vulnerable and open I just wish it was longer.

[Eva Antsov · Rating 3 out of 5]

"See on sinu kõht. See peabki nähtav olema. See ongi mõeldud välja paistma.
Vaata seda puud, Eve. Kas näed seda puud?
Ja nüüd vaata seda puud. (Osutab teise puu peale.) Kas sulle meeldib see puu? Kas sa vihkad seda puud sellepärast, et ta ei näe välja samasugune nagu teine puu?
Kas sa tahad öelda, et see puu ei ole ilus sellepärast, et ta näeb teistsugune välja kui teine puu? Me kõik oleme puud. Sina oled puu. Mina olen puu. "

[Isla Rose Kershaw · Rating 4 out of 5]

Amazing book, funny but deep at times.
Definitely eye opening but I've put a 4 star because I'm quite an emotionally mature reader and have already got the same views and perspective that this book presents and encourages. But it is very good and I totally agree with everything in this book!
Would recommend to adult women ALL ages for the relatabillity and emotionally mature teenage readers (specifically female) for the perspective of women's views on their own bodies all around the world.

[Oriana Havlicek · Rating 5 out of 5]

A read I didn’t know I needed when I first read it. I had read some other reviews and I wasn’t sure if I would be receptive since it had such a strong following with Vagina Monologues. Though I connected with the stories as I am too struggling with my own body and its appearance. The stories felt like group therapy with positive affirmations.

I plan on rereading this again and sharing with those who might be feeling the same way about themselves.

[Lani · Rating 2 out of 5]

I'm having a tough time reviewing this one. Written by the woman who wrote the Vagina Monologues, I expected something similarly revelatory and moving. So I think this suffers from high expectations. It's also hard to knock a woman for wallowing in self-hatred, but I suppose you expect more from the woman who has college campuses everywhere chanting CUNT and loving their vaginas.

I just felt that The Good Body was self-indulgent rather than moving. It was almost the inverse of Vagina Monologues - it's all about Eve Ensler's obsession with her belly and women all over the world telling her it's okay. And the only advice she rejects is the one I related most to - a lesbian piercer explaining why a piercing empowers. Admittedly, I'm a little sensitive about the portrayal of body mods in media, but her anecdote had a strikingly different tone when compared to her other 'body mentors'.

Fortunately the book is short, because by the end I was tired of Ensler talking to exotic wise women all telling her to love her body and move on. That's not to say that these women weren't saying admirable things about body acceptance, but the stories are dragged down by Ensler's insecurity. Even her lover gets in on it and becomes frustrated with her obsession.

I don't like that I finished the book wanting to tell Ensler to shut up about her belly already. Obviously women all struggle with body image, aging, and self-acceptance in one way or another. But this book wasn't about all women, it was about Eve Ensler and she got in the way of her own point. It felt self-indulgent because she wouldn't let it go and share the strength being offered by these other women. Frustrating.

[Lisa · Rating 2 out of 5]

Most women have something they hate about their bodies. For Eve Ensler it's her stomach, but for me it's less one part and more a laundry list of complaints: the hair on my head (too fine), the hair on my body (too thick), my cheeks (too hamster-licious), my eyes (too wonky), my teeth (too mangled), my stomach (too wobbly), my thighs (too thick), my legs (too short) and my feet (too wide). I've spent a fortune over the years buying products to firm, tone, support, remove and disguise the many areas of my shame, all trying to replicate the photoshopped and virtually unattainable look that is now the western female body ideal. The Good Body intends to free us from this endless, demoralising war against our own flesh - sadly such a skinny book was never going to undo 35 years of conditioning, although it did provide some food for thought.

It's a sad thing to contemplate how few women are accepting of their bodies and I appreciate Ensler shining a little light on the subject, although I also felt that light was mostly directed at herself even when giving other women a voice - whether it be the model married to her surgeon (who desperately needs for me to rip him a new asshole), the teenager at fat camp or the ladies in Afghanistan risking their lives for a taste of ice-cream, everything was viewed through whether Eve's stomach was flat enough. But this is coming from a woman who spent the first paragraph of this review rambling on about herself, so can probably be taken with a pinch of salt.

**Also posted at Randomly Reading and Ranting**

[Kristen Mohr · Rating 1 out of 5]

I loved the Vagina Monologues and was looking forward to reading something else by the same author. Unfortunately, where that was empowering, this just felt vitriolic and full of self-hate. This book is called The Good Body, but almost all of it was stories of women who wanted it to go away. I have a pretty healthy body image and this just made me feel yelled at. Plus, I did this as an audio book to get closer to the stage play experience and sometimes when Ensler is telling the stories of women in other countries, the accents she puts on feel more racist than anything else. Look, I credit The Vagina Monologues with bringing me out of my shell and making me proud to be female, but this just made me sad. I wanted to gather the angry storytellers up in my arms and tell them everything was going to be okay.

[Vanessa · Rating 4 out of 5]

Eve Ensler changed my relationship to my body when I saw her perform the Vagina Monologues. I had no idea what to expect (I was a teenager!)She spoke about experiences I was new to and those I had yet to experience. As a nutritionist I've discovered that body image bind us, regardless of body type, age or gender. In this book Eve once again takes women's stories and shares them to provoke and empower. There are the universal tales- how fashion mags make us feel about our ordinary selves, the extreme- multiple plastic surgeries to feel desirable and subculture-piercing and domination.

[Elena · Rating 4 out of 5]

This short little play was interesting to read and touched on so many parts of female identity that remain, sadly, relevant. I loved the exploration of body and felt a calm upon completing the script.

[Crystal M · Rating 3 out of 5]

The main issue was how the tone or emotion throughout the vignettes was largely the same. Women hating their bodies, internalizing patriarchy, etc. like, there’s no redemption here. It feels so bleak.

[Elizabeth A · Rating 5 out of 5]

This is really wonderful. If you get the chance get the audio version and listen to Eve perform the piece - so very powerful. It made me laugh and cry and think. Loved it.

[kim · Rating 2 out of 5]

like the Vagina Monologues but focused on body fat and body image. the audio version has some really annoying fake accents going on

[Abby]

Ok just read this for a second time (first read in 2015) and it definitely doesn’t hold up. I did find it powerful at one stage of my life, but now seems fairly problematic?

[Janet · Rating 3 out of 5]

Short and funny and poignant at the end.

[Carolyn Kost · Rating 3 out of 5]

Eve Ensler, renowned author of The Vagina Monologues*, has a distinctive way of writing in vignettes, anecdotes, and brief but revelatory conversations. This one reveals the diversity of women's relationships with their bodies and their efforts to comport with some standard of beauty they have in their minds or please a [usually male] partner. In some of the pieces, Ensler implies that women in other countries don't have the same negative baggage toward their bodies that American women do; in others, she reverses that and shows us that they, too, seek to modify some part of themselves, like noses in Iran. We feel the affirmation of women; males be damned! And then we read about the painful vaginal rejuvenation surgery of a woman in L.A. whose husband suddenly takes an interest in her sexually. I could have done without reading that. It's like whiplash, but the purpose is served; the point taken. There is nothing straightforward about women and men and sex and beauty.

Some women will find this book affirming. I found this book hard to relate to and frankly off-putting. In part perhaps it's because am one of those "skinny bitches" she refers to so often. Women of all ethnicities feel no compunction about telling me they hate skinny women like me. That's not very nice. Why is that OK for them to say? I don't hate my body and wasn't taught to be ashamed of my body. It's unfortunate that so many women are.

*The Vagina Monologues has raised tens of millions of dollars for various charities. It was an early (2015) victim of cancel culture because its mention of vagina excludes the vagina-lacking gender dysphoric males who want to masquerade as females.

[Chels Patterson · Rating 2 out of 5]

The Good Body by Eve Ensler

Is performative.

I did not love or hate this book, I just found it nothing. It’s another example (for me) of a generational divide between feminism and what previous generations of women internalized.

The idea of Barbie was outdated to that of what my and younger generations see her as. More so after the movie. Not to mention the whole no bread starvation coffee fuel diets. It’s very 2002, when this was first performed. Not the crunch style of health and fitness of today. Or the body positivity movement for 2020s

The book is really a play, in which there are multiple people speaking or being remembered by Ensler. And the stories become a compost for a person, and are meant to be the woman’s relationship with her own body.

True to Ensler’s roots, the creator of the Vagina Monologues, she spent a good section talking about vaginas and reconstruction. Which the whole thing was disgustingly cringe worthy. Thinking tightening one’s vagina for a small dick 20 year older man would eventually lead to her own pleasure at sex.

It’s problematic for me to juxtapose a flabby stomach with sexual assault, or war. Or worse, feel free of your body shame because you ate ice cream in an illegal secret ice cream parlour in Talbian controlled afghanistan.

Rather than being some feminist piece or insight, it just feels like bandaid epiphanies from someone who deeply does not like themselves. I wouldn’t be surprised if in a few years time she wrote another book/play claiming to have finally like something of herself and now she’s free

This book is for no one, maybe if you saw it as a play.

[stregachilegge · Rating 5 out of 5]

"Penso che tu conosca un solo paese - un piccolo paese - il tuo corpo, popolato da una sola persone. Passi tutto il tuo tempo a pensare al tuo corpo e a cercare di rimetterlo a nuovo. Stai perdendo di vista il resto del mondo."

Ho trovato in un negozio di libri usati questa perla; non ho nemmeno letto la trama, Eve Ensler è una garanzia e difatti non ha deluso le mie aspettative.

Simile ai Monologhi, è strutturato a capitoletti in cui donne diverse parlano del filo conduttore - in questo libro il corpo - raccontandosi. Un'opera teatrale, essenziale e cruda come solo Eve sa costruire; attraverso le storie ci insegna l'assurdità dei complessi che tutte noi donne abbiamo avuto/abbiamo.

Il naso. Il seno. La pancia. Il grasso. Il magro.
Troppo. Troppo poco.
Mai abbastanza.

Non si tratta di un saggio sulla bellezza: su quanto questo pensiero ci tolga energie, sul costrutto sociale ecc.. L'autrice ci fa sentire la disperazione e il controllo che tentiamo di fare sul nostro corpo selvaggio e sbagliato.

L'autrice non dà voce solo a diverse donne, ma ci porta in Paesi completamente diversi: da una supermodella occidentale ad una donna nascosta dal burqa in Afghanistan.
Ci insegna ad unirci poiché ogni cultura ha un'arma affilata puntata alla gola delle donne. In questo libro però non si parla di diritti, forse sarebbe più semplice in quel caso: troviamo un'ingiustizia esterna e il nemico si trova davanti ai nostri occhi, fuori da noi.
Ma che succede se il nemico è il nostro sguardo?Quando l'aguzzino permea la mente ed entra a fare parte di noi risultiamo sia vittime che carnefici, il lavoro è doppio: contro la società e noi stesse.

[Kim · Rating 4 out of 5]

I really liked it. The part about the tree rly made me think about how I view my body. It reminded me of thesis, like in the way it’s formatted. I disagree with a lot of the reviews saying that it’s concerningly angry and unproductive; i feel like V’s continued hatred of her body is real. One doesn’t just magically feel better after getting different perspectives/affirmations.
Also, of course not everyone hates their body, nor should they obviously, but society’s dominant narrative makes it so it’s a default for women to hate their bodies. Some negative reviews criticized the play’s theme that it’s the “standard” for women to hate their bodies but like…it is. So many industries depend on women hating themselves and our society constantly makes up new things for us to be insecure about. This doesn’t mean that it’s okay, it just means that it’s the standard. We as women are supposed to hate ourselves so others can profit off our insecurities.
I am interested to hear more about the critique that V fails to fully admit her privilege when hearing all these perspectives. Because yes, that part was lowk giving yt woman feminism, idk…
I originally gave this 4 stars just bc it had such an impact on me personally and it made me think about my perception of my body in relation to society at large, but I think I’ll lower it a little bit bc of that last part abt yt feminism and privilege.
Soo ig it gets a 3.7.
3.5 if I’m only allowed to give .5’s.