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Such a Pretty Face: Being Fat in America
A sociologist uses case studies and autobiographical accounts to explore stereotypes about fat people in America and to reveal how individuals cope with the burden of these stereotypes in a fat-obsessed society
252 pages, Hardcover
First published February 1, 1980
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Displaying 1 - 4 of 4 reviews
February 19, 2025
Recommendations on the cover from Margaret Atwood & Gloria Steinem!
Published in 1980, I thought this held up really well-just a shame women are mainly valued for their looks and shamed when they gain a pound.
Published in 1980, I thought this held up really well-just a shame women are mainly valued for their looks and shamed when they gain a pound.
September 29, 2009
Sadly, individuals of the type portrayed in this book as shunned, isolated, ridiculed, and ignored now proudly comprise 75% of all Americans.
This book was written before trans-fat, high fructose corn syrup, the internet, video games, and Direct TV, when most people weren't fat. The fat kids are the saddest. Parents, if your kids are fat, you aren't doing them any favors. A fat nine-year-old is headed for diabetes by sixteen. Quit blaming society and get off your ass.
This book was written before trans-fat, high fructose corn syrup, the internet, video games, and Direct TV, when most people weren't fat. The fat kids are the saddest. Parents, if your kids are fat, you aren't doing them any favors. A fat nine-year-old is headed for diabetes by sixteen. Quit blaming society and get off your ass.
October 25, 2011
Survey of being fat from NAAFA to OA to fat camps and such. Interviews with adult women although at end there is a short essay about men.
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October 14, 2017This book takes a rather unflinching look at the status of weight, focusing primarily on women and the discrimination they face in a looksist society.
Millman researches groups like the National Association to Advance Fat Acceptance (www.naafa.org) and delves into the often destructive nature of fat camps for young people, again primarily girls. She is clearly sympathetic to large women, featuring in the first chapter the account of a 400-pound woman who worked as a secretary at the time the book was published. She writes the book such that the tabloid circus freakish sensationalistic perspective that might have been in existence had someone less talented written this simply doesn’t exist. Instead, you get an unvarnished snapshot of what it’s like to live large in a nation fascinated by starved skeletal celebrities.
The stories she relates are troubling on so many levels. there’s so much self loathing, and many of the women interviewed link weight issues to abusive fathers. The author looks at both heterosexual and LGBTQIA relationships, focusing on women who use weight as a barrier to sex and looking at stereotypes that portray large women has easy or slutty.
Granted, this is a more-than-30-year-old book, so much of the research may be outdated or incomplete. But the stories almost certainly haven’t changed that much over the decades. If anything, it’s entirely possible that the discrimination and stereotypes Millman discusses here have actually worsened if that’s possible. This is a book that will make you think, and you’ll be impressed that such a small book could cover so many issues reasonably well, including the issue of men who admire large women being stigmatized both by society generally and even often by the women whom they apparently admire.
If you approach this with the recognition that the research is conceivably more historical than present-day, you’ll still find something in this book that will be of interest.
Millman researches groups like the National Association to Advance Fat Acceptance (www.naafa.org) and delves into the often destructive nature of fat camps for young people, again primarily girls. She is clearly sympathetic to large women, featuring in the first chapter the account of a 400-pound woman who worked as a secretary at the time the book was published. She writes the book such that the tabloid circus freakish sensationalistic perspective that might have been in existence had someone less talented written this simply doesn’t exist. Instead, you get an unvarnished snapshot of what it’s like to live large in a nation fascinated by starved skeletal celebrities.
The stories she relates are troubling on so many levels. there’s so much self loathing, and many of the women interviewed link weight issues to abusive fathers. The author looks at both heterosexual and LGBTQIA relationships, focusing on women who use weight as a barrier to sex and looking at stereotypes that portray large women has easy or slutty.
Granted, this is a more-than-30-year-old book, so much of the research may be outdated or incomplete. But the stories almost certainly haven’t changed that much over the decades. If anything, it’s entirely possible that the discrimination and stereotypes Millman discusses here have actually worsened if that’s possible. This is a book that will make you think, and you’ll be impressed that such a small book could cover so many issues reasonably well, including the issue of men who admire large women being stigmatized both by society generally and even often by the women whom they apparently admire.
If you approach this with the recognition that the research is conceivably more historical than present-day, you’ll still find something in this book that will be of interest.
Displaying 1 - 4 of 4 reviews