The notion of 'body positivity' is widely promoted in the modern West as a feminist ideal empowering women to reject the unhealthy pressures of the thin body-beauty standard. But is it really as empowering as it sounds?
In
The Fatter Sex
, former ballerina Sacha Jones brings a fresh perspective to this contentious issue by highlighting the extra weight and body confidence challenges that modern women and girls face as the sex programmed to store more fat but expected to be more lean. Drawing on her own long battle with eating disorders, weight obsession and denial, as well as the hard lessons she learned trying to raise her daughter to have a healthy and happy relationship with food and fat, Sacha exposes the deceptively and increasingly complex challenges faced by members of the fatter sex as a result of these conflicting pressures.
Through a range of celebrity case studies, she reveals the extent of the modern female 'body battle' and the limits of both 'diet culture' and 'body positivity' activism to effectively fight it. Her eight-course 'feisty feast' of a battle plan is outlined as an alternative approach, with the ultimate aim of empowering women of all sizes (and skins), not least the mothers and daughters, to recognise and find strength in their common cause.