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Dead Weight: Essays on Hunger and Harm
A personal and cultural look at the dark underbelly of Western beauty standards and the lethal culture of disordered eating they've wreaked
In Dead Weight, Emmeline Clein tells the story of her own disordered eating alongside, and through, other women from history, pop culture and the girls she's known and loved. Tracing the medical and cultural history of anorexia, bulimia, binge eating disorder, and orthorexia, Clein investigates the economic conditions underpinning our eating disorder epidemic, and illuminates the ways racism and today's feminism have been complicit in propping up the thin ideal. While examining Goop, Simone Weil, pro-anorexia blogs, and the flawed logic of our current treatment methods, Clein grapples with the myriad ways disordered eating has affected her own friendships and romantic relationships.
Dead Weight makes the case that we are faced with a culture of suppression and denial that is insidious, pervasive, and dangerous, one that internalizes and promotes the fetish of self-shrinking as a core tenet of the American cult of femininity. This is replicated in our algorithms, our television shows, our novels, and our relationships with one another. Dead Weight is a sharp, perceptive, and revelatory polemic for readers fascinated by the external forces shaping their lives.
In Dead Weight, Emmeline Clein tells the story of her own disordered eating alongside, and through, other women from history, pop culture and the girls she's known and loved. Tracing the medical and cultural history of anorexia, bulimia, binge eating disorder, and orthorexia, Clein investigates the economic conditions underpinning our eating disorder epidemic, and illuminates the ways racism and today's feminism have been complicit in propping up the thin ideal. While examining Goop, Simone Weil, pro-anorexia blogs, and the flawed logic of our current treatment methods, Clein grapples with the myriad ways disordered eating has affected her own friendships and romantic relationships.
Dead Weight makes the case that we are faced with a culture of suppression and denial that is insidious, pervasive, and dangerous, one that internalizes and promotes the fetish of self-shrinking as a core tenet of the American cult of femininity. This is replicated in our algorithms, our television shows, our novels, and our relationships with one another. Dead Weight is a sharp, perceptive, and revelatory polemic for readers fascinated by the external forces shaping their lives.
288 pages, Hardcover
First published February 27, 2024
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February 26, 2024
Clein spent years entrenched in eating disorders, and in Dead Weight she examines some of the personal and societal obsessions that influenced her illness, and that of so many others.
Structured as a series of essays, Dead Weight leans heavily into pop culture, with an occasional academic bent. Clein has clearly read extensively—and consumed large amounts of other media—on the subject, and she quotes heavily. In places this works well, giving a sense of just how pervasive an issue is or in how many works it's reflected. I did end up wishing that fewer of the chapters/essays had taken this rapid-fire structure, with quotation following source following quotations, because it can feel very much like a montage, and I usually prefer to dive deeper into a topic or source (more analysis and fewer examples, I think). The pop culture parts have a very American lens; as someone who is American but is other things as well, I drew some very different conclusions (e.g., from the discussion of Girls vs. Fleabag) than Clein does, but there will be resonance for those whose media consumption is primarily American.
One thing that readers should be mindful of: While Clein makes a concerted effort to avoid potential triggers in the form of numbers and certain details of eating disorders and so on, I'm not sure she ever really manages to write past a level of latent ambivalence about her eating disorder. It's understandable but still a risky place to be writing from, and in places the compulsion to write, or perhaps just to delve into this in a sanctioned way, overrides caution. I don't know how to write about her without making her struggle into a manual or a vision board, writes Clein in a chapter that I can only describe as highly ill advised (and one of the most triggering things I've read in years). But I am going to try to write about her anyway... (loc. 3947*) An interesting read, but one I cannot recommend to anyone with anything other than a very healthy, uncomplicated relationship with their body.
*Quotes are from an ARC and may not be final.
Thanks to the author and publisher for providing a review copy through NetGalley.
Structured as a series of essays, Dead Weight leans heavily into pop culture, with an occasional academic bent. Clein has clearly read extensively—and consumed large amounts of other media—on the subject, and she quotes heavily. In places this works well, giving a sense of just how pervasive an issue is or in how many works it's reflected. I did end up wishing that fewer of the chapters/essays had taken this rapid-fire structure, with quotation following source following quotations, because it can feel very much like a montage, and I usually prefer to dive deeper into a topic or source (more analysis and fewer examples, I think). The pop culture parts have a very American lens; as someone who is American but is other things as well, I drew some very different conclusions (e.g., from the discussion of Girls vs. Fleabag) than Clein does, but there will be resonance for those whose media consumption is primarily American.
One thing that readers should be mindful of: While Clein makes a concerted effort to avoid potential triggers in the form of numbers and certain details of eating disorders and so on, I'm not sure she ever really manages to write past a level of latent ambivalence about her eating disorder. It's understandable but still a risky place to be writing from, and in places the compulsion to write, or perhaps just to delve into this in a sanctioned way, overrides caution. I don't know how to write about her without making her struggle into a manual or a vision board, writes Clein in a chapter that I can only describe as highly ill advised (and one of the most triggering things I've read in years). But I am going to try to write about her anyway... (loc. 3947*) An interesting read, but one I cannot recommend to anyone with anything other than a very healthy, uncomplicated relationship with their body.
*Quotes are from an ARC and may not be final.
Thanks to the author and publisher for providing a review copy through NetGalley.
December 28, 2023
I feel conflicted about what to make of this book. Firstly, I suppose, to clarify, I was reading it, and thinking through it, as an individual with a diagnosis of AN for 10+ years, having spent the majority of my twenties in that cyclical roundabout of inpatient/daycare/outpatient/inpatient/daycare/outpatient ad nauseum. I am also from the UK, where we have the NHS, and our media & cultural landscape, although similar in parts due to the commodified and globalised world that we find ourselves collectively being subjected to in late stage capitalism, is not exactly the same.
Whilst I recognised the immense harm that our misogynistic mass media has on the young, especially women, I do not necessarily see this as the core reason, or indeed any reason, for why an individual goes on to develop an eating disorder. An eating disorder is, first and foremost, a mental health diagnosis, and, whilst labelling can be largely transitory, and in some cases, iatrogenic in nature, it is important, I think, to clarify the difference between body dysmorphia, one being on the receiving end of ableism/ misogynism/ sexism etc, and a mental health condition. There needed to be stronger clarification between disordered eating, and, an eating disorder. Whilst I think both are serious, and require medical intervention, they are not the same severity.
Whilst I understand the contemporaneous nature of the book in question, I think it could have been helpful to contextualise eating disorders in history, especially the emergence or so called, of orthorexia. Whilst it has, undeniably, been fostered & heightened by the “wellness” epidemic, and, in some cases, almost carte Blanche legitimised, individuals with an eating disorder operating on the pretence that they are pursuing “health”, is not new. Indeed, I have read of Victorian reports of patients avoiding meat and dairy due to “un-purity” of the foods in question. The core of how an eating disorder operates is, I think, largely stagnant, but the cultural sphere of which it is operating in changes, meaning that the language adapts, but the idea largely remains intact.
There was also little coverage of the genetic. In some studies, doctors place eating disorders as up to 60% genetic, and 40% environmental. I come from a family of people suffering from addictions, depression, suicide etc, whilst I do not know if this accounts for genetic predispositions to developing an eating disorder, or is the more the case of inter-generational trauma being passed down (the ghosts in the nursery), I think from personal experience that it must play a large role in how predisposed an individual is to developing an eating disorder. There is also interesting research emerging about metabolism and eating disorders which I think was given little attention.
From my own experiences in eating disorder services, I actually think there is far too much emphasis placed on the media and cultural landscape, and not enough placed on the individuals history, and other contributing factors. In my experience of treatment, too much emphasis was spent on corroborating the ideal female narratives that our society imposes on people, namely, I should recover so I could “have children”, “get married”, etc etc, which, whilst they might be “motivating” factors for some, certainly aren’t for me, and made me disdain and look down upon the “idiotic” nurses and doctors who were suggesting such a thing. There is was a sense, in my own eating disorder, that the world around me, and everyone in it,couldn’t see the wood through the trees, and sometimes I wonder if the alienation and loneliness epidemic that our society is currently experiencing, is in some way responsible for individuals turning inwards, creating and living through their own fantasy worlds in their heads, creating rules and order in amongst a world that is either too chaotic for them to handle, or has rules that they can’t abide by, because it makes them too sad.
Overall, I do think that this was an book with interesting parts, and perhaps my aversion to it stems largely from my own experiences, and my disdain for tying my own experience of an eating disorder into a narrative about pernicious cultural stereotypes. A year into my diagnosis I actually deleted all my social media accounts, and got a Nokia brick phone. I turned away from mainstream culture, and yet, my eating disorder still persisted.
Whilst I recognised the immense harm that our misogynistic mass media has on the young, especially women, I do not necessarily see this as the core reason, or indeed any reason, for why an individual goes on to develop an eating disorder. An eating disorder is, first and foremost, a mental health diagnosis, and, whilst labelling can be largely transitory, and in some cases, iatrogenic in nature, it is important, I think, to clarify the difference between body dysmorphia, one being on the receiving end of ableism/ misogynism/ sexism etc, and a mental health condition. There needed to be stronger clarification between disordered eating, and, an eating disorder. Whilst I think both are serious, and require medical intervention, they are not the same severity.
Whilst I understand the contemporaneous nature of the book in question, I think it could have been helpful to contextualise eating disorders in history, especially the emergence or so called, of orthorexia. Whilst it has, undeniably, been fostered & heightened by the “wellness” epidemic, and, in some cases, almost carte Blanche legitimised, individuals with an eating disorder operating on the pretence that they are pursuing “health”, is not new. Indeed, I have read of Victorian reports of patients avoiding meat and dairy due to “un-purity” of the foods in question. The core of how an eating disorder operates is, I think, largely stagnant, but the cultural sphere of which it is operating in changes, meaning that the language adapts, but the idea largely remains intact.
There was also little coverage of the genetic. In some studies, doctors place eating disorders as up to 60% genetic, and 40% environmental. I come from a family of people suffering from addictions, depression, suicide etc, whilst I do not know if this accounts for genetic predispositions to developing an eating disorder, or is the more the case of inter-generational trauma being passed down (the ghosts in the nursery), I think from personal experience that it must play a large role in how predisposed an individual is to developing an eating disorder. There is also interesting research emerging about metabolism and eating disorders which I think was given little attention.
From my own experiences in eating disorder services, I actually think there is far too much emphasis placed on the media and cultural landscape, and not enough placed on the individuals history, and other contributing factors. In my experience of treatment, too much emphasis was spent on corroborating the ideal female narratives that our society imposes on people, namely, I should recover so I could “have children”, “get married”, etc etc, which, whilst they might be “motivating” factors for some, certainly aren’t for me, and made me disdain and look down upon the “idiotic” nurses and doctors who were suggesting such a thing. There is was a sense, in my own eating disorder, that the world around me, and everyone in it,couldn’t see the wood through the trees, and sometimes I wonder if the alienation and loneliness epidemic that our society is currently experiencing, is in some way responsible for individuals turning inwards, creating and living through their own fantasy worlds in their heads, creating rules and order in amongst a world that is either too chaotic for them to handle, or has rules that they can’t abide by, because it makes them too sad.
Overall, I do think that this was an book with interesting parts, and perhaps my aversion to it stems largely from my own experiences, and my disdain for tying my own experience of an eating disorder into a narrative about pernicious cultural stereotypes. A year into my diagnosis I actually deleted all my social media accounts, and got a Nokia brick phone. I turned away from mainstream culture, and yet, my eating disorder still persisted.
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March 31, 2024What to even fucking say. It’s hard to read about something that almost killed you being analysed next to aesthetics and “girlhood” in an essay collection but I can’t say I didn’t enjoy this book. It is well researched and structured but there are a lot of problems. I long for the day when there will be a safer way for us to consume media about eating disorders without it becoming accidentally “glamorised” as is so easy to do now if you aren’t careful. I’ll probably be thinking about this book for a long time - it wasn’t nice for me to read but I’m thankful we have more literature on EDs now that isn’t just horrible 00s era memoirs.
December 31, 2023
Dead Weight is a collection of essays on eating disorders. There are several interesting essays covering topics such as race and sexuality in eating disorder demographics. In the introduction, the author writes that this is a book for those suffering from eating disorders that did not include triggering details. I disagree with this description and found this book to be one of the more triggering books on this topic that I have read. So, while I would recommend this book to an academic studying eating disorders and sociological trends, I would strong advise against those who are in recovery reading this book.
Thank you to NetGalley and Knopf, Pantheon, Vintage, and Anchor for an advanced reader copy of this book in exchange for an honest review.
Thank you to NetGalley and Knopf, Pantheon, Vintage, and Anchor for an advanced reader copy of this book in exchange for an honest review.
April 1, 2024
I listened to this one on audiobook, which potentially may have skewed my experience of it.
Clein's work is a tangled conglomerate of other's contributions in the fields of science, sociology, and history, with the occasional interjection of her own experiences with an ED. The prose lacked substance, and was largely predicated on ideas that were external to Clein's own analysis. She wallowed in metaphor for longer than necessary, often reverting to another elongated quotation to segue into the next topic. As the work proceeded, I found it to be increasingly disjointed in its focus, looking at trends of the "bimbo," the "disassociative cool girl," and so on. These tropes and their related sources had little connection to the core idea of disordered eating.
Moreover, though all significant weights are redacted, Clein does little to dissuade her readers from the very copy-cat inclinations of disordered eating that she warns against. She often paints her past experiences of disordered eating in a romanticized light. Her mentions of anti-capitalist, anti-racist approaches to thin versus fat dichotomies seem perfunctory, as if checking the box that says, I am politically correct. She briefly touches on her judaism, though chucks it to the wayside for the majority of the following essays. I liked the religious interpretations she took on the cult of EDs, though again, didn't think that was anything groundbreaking for the ongoing discourse.
From her analysis of Fleabag, to the HBO show Girls, to Jennifer's Body, none of her takes are novel, or nuanced. I was also uncomfortable with the extent to which Clein defends platforms like ED twitter or tiktok as places for community, and thus necessary for struggling individuals. While she may have benefitted in some way from the representation, I would argue that the negative encouragement found on these sites outweighs any potential upsides. Her "warnings" about wellbutrin actually read like recommendations. She takes a painfully American-centric take on EDs and lacks the writing skills to execute something that reads beyond the cadence of a hasty Substack essay.
Clein's work is a tangled conglomerate of other's contributions in the fields of science, sociology, and history, with the occasional interjection of her own experiences with an ED. The prose lacked substance, and was largely predicated on ideas that were external to Clein's own analysis. She wallowed in metaphor for longer than necessary, often reverting to another elongated quotation to segue into the next topic. As the work proceeded, I found it to be increasingly disjointed in its focus, looking at trends of the "bimbo," the "disassociative cool girl," and so on. These tropes and their related sources had little connection to the core idea of disordered eating.
Moreover, though all significant weights are redacted, Clein does little to dissuade her readers from the very copy-cat inclinations of disordered eating that she warns against. She often paints her past experiences of disordered eating in a romanticized light. Her mentions of anti-capitalist, anti-racist approaches to thin versus fat dichotomies seem perfunctory, as if checking the box that says, I am politically correct. She briefly touches on her judaism, though chucks it to the wayside for the majority of the following essays. I liked the religious interpretations she took on the cult of EDs, though again, didn't think that was anything groundbreaking for the ongoing discourse.
From her analysis of Fleabag, to the HBO show Girls, to Jennifer's Body, none of her takes are novel, or nuanced. I was also uncomfortable with the extent to which Clein defends platforms like ED twitter or tiktok as places for community, and thus necessary for struggling individuals. While she may have benefitted in some way from the representation, I would argue that the negative encouragement found on these sites outweighs any potential upsides. Her "warnings" about wellbutrin actually read like recommendations. She takes a painfully American-centric take on EDs and lacks the writing skills to execute something that reads beyond the cadence of a hasty Substack essay.
February 23, 2024
Emmeline Cline takes the reader to the very heart of eating disorders. This is well researched and the writing on point. Prepare to be informed and maybe a little shocked. Trash eating is a new concept for me and with a social hierarchy of eating disorders, I imagine this is at the bottom. Anorexia taking the #1 spot. The need to be accepted and fit an ultra thin normal that is not realistic and perpetuated by the media is at the center of this issue. Skinny does not equal healthy and dieting causes eating disorders. When that sinks in, it makes a lot of sense. The rollercoaster of restricting food intake to reach a desired weight only to binge and gain it all back. Cline described it best as chaos and control. The most frustrating part was insurance. It certainly feels like insurance companies are focused on the dollar and not the burgeoning epidemic of eating disorders. Like a revolving door, patients are admitted and released, but the problem is not addressed, and the patient is deemed uncurable to be released and fend for themselves which often leads to death.
The essays in this book hit a number of topics pertaining to eating disorders and each one of them are informative. I highly recommend if this topic is of interest, or you know someone or you are dealing with an eating disorder.
Thanks to NetGalley and the publisher for the ARC.
The essays in this book hit a number of topics pertaining to eating disorders and each one of them are informative. I highly recommend if this topic is of interest, or you know someone or you are dealing with an eating disorder.
Thanks to NetGalley and the publisher for the ARC.
March 7, 2024
a thought-provoking look at western beauty standards and eating disorders. full of intriguing analysis of pop culture and media's depictions of disordered eating habits, though i do wish that the sources emmeline clein drew from for this book hadn't almost all been so recent. i also do feel like some of the essays included in this book felt out of place and that this book didn't quite stay as strong with its throughline as i had hoped — all the essays were well-done, but the first half of the book or so was more coherent wrt the themes it explored. overall, though, i found this book a compelling exploration of media and culture's impact on women's self-conceptions.
May 4, 2024
ordered this from the queens lib after my roommate told me clein had her book launch at the r*ver. unfortunately this is a lot of rambling on girlhood and society, which is not my truth… she tries to toe too many lines and ends up repeating the same liberal qualifications and disclaimers.
NOBODY ASKED BUT about the subject matter ill just say what ive been saying for years: eating d*sorders would benefit from anon meetings and 12 step programs and in general should be thought of as addictions. and all addiction should be approached philosophically (not through essays, i fear). peace ☮️ to everyone who feels compelled to tackle this topic 🧘🏻♀️ 🕯️
NOBODY ASKED BUT about the subject matter ill just say what ive been saying for years: eating d*sorders would benefit from anon meetings and 12 step programs and in general should be thought of as addictions. and all addiction should be approached philosophically (not through essays, i fear). peace ☮️ to everyone who feels compelled to tackle this topic 🧘🏻♀️ 🕯️
April 30, 2024
Would be a six star read if i was haley pham. so fucking amazing and insightful and a complete picture of the actual trap it is to be a woman in the modern day and how you're expected to perform as one. my fellow former ed twitter sisters sound off in the comments
March 27, 2024
loved this- felt very specific and true to girls who grew up learning how to be self destructive on tumblr but I think it has a lot of value outside of just seeing my niche internet experiences in a book. it contextualizes eating disorders within their treatment paradigms, fatphobia, diet culture and the pharmaceutical industry in really interesting ways. it feels like this book was written with care, collectivizing everyone who has experienced disordered eating into a sisterhood instead of being a how-to guide to anorexia.
April 2, 2024
Hmmmm... This had a lot of potential, but ultimately I think it's written for an incredibly specific audience that I can't quite identify. I suppose it is for sufferers of ED, but the content would be highly triggering, despite the author's determination to avoid the "memoir as manual" trap.
It contains a sometimes jarring juxtaposition between casual pop culture references (The O.C., Paris Hilton and Nicole Richie, Jennifer's Body, etc) and academic studies and the evolution of the DSM. Ultimately I came away knowing a lot about what's wrong with the treatment of eating disorders in the U.S. but I'm not sure I learned anything about better alternatives and preventative measures.
It contains a sometimes jarring juxtaposition between casual pop culture references (The O.C., Paris Hilton and Nicole Richie, Jennifer's Body, etc) and academic studies and the evolution of the DSM. Ultimately I came away knowing a lot about what's wrong with the treatment of eating disorders in the U.S. but I'm not sure I learned anything about better alternatives and preventative measures.
November 16, 2023
The most interesting part of this entire book on disordered eating is that a lot of the source material is so recent. I feel that a lot of popular books on eating disorders were written so long ago that a lot of them are outdated. In Dead Weight, social media is addressed frequently as it should with how much it can contribute to our reflections on body image.
November 19, 2023
This is a book, that had profound impact on me and the way I view the relationship with my body. I honestly can’t recommend enough for people trying to go on a journey of self discovery or whom or just interested in better understanding the subject matter.
November 10, 2023
As an absolute addict when it comes to pop culture, it's always a treat to find a book that blends my love of the discourse with my favorite movies, shows, and tabloid headlines. This book is a wild ride, taking you on a breathtaking journey of stripping down everything we know to be true, and showing us the sordid core of the culture we have propped up for decades and how it simplifies, undermines, and vilifies women. For lovers of TRICK MIRROR and GIRL INTERRUPTED alike - give yourself the gift of unpacking all that you know with this raw, honest look at girlhood and hunger.
May 6, 2024
4.5 rounded up. This was an imperfect and poignant look at eating disorders outside of the narrow clinical bubble they often exist in. Really appreciated the author’s efforts to avoid demonizing and pathologizing and instead looking at unmet needs and pain that leads young women to seek out community in online spaces. Also fuck myfitnesspal!!!!!
March 10, 2024
Required reading for all humans. This book made me feel physically sick, shaky, and teary. “Have you ever seen a girl and wanted to possess her? Not like a man would, with his property fantasies. Possess her like a girl or a ghost of one: shove your soul in her mouth and inhabit her skin, live her life? Then you've experienced girlhood, or at least one like mine.”
March 26, 2024
major feat in capturing a moment in culture and the nuanced ways we cope with neuroses
the idea in her final essay, coda: against dissociative feminism, is important to consider as i definitely conflate dissociation with high functionality
the idea in her final essay, coda: against dissociative feminism, is important to consider as i definitely conflate dissociation with high functionality
March 18, 2024
One of the most comprehensive explorations of EDs I've read, and speaks so closely to my experience. Thanks to the podcast Binchtopia for the rec!!
April 30, 2024
a few thoughts:
- i would not recommend this book for anyone experiencing disordered eating or easily triggered by romanticizations of descriptions of ED. although clein takes pains to say that that’s not what she’s doing in this book…it’s a tough needle to thread and i don’t think she really does it well. parts of the book more or less feel like a guidebook for people looking for tips to perfect their eating disorders.
- as an aughts-era consumer of thinspo and pro-ana digital content myself, i find her defense of ED twt and tumblr and other digital spaces as places of community to be pretty ill-advised and naive
- casting a lot of blame for the prevalence and glamorization of eating disorders on pop culture and mass media feels so…obvious? and reductive?
- i would not recommend this book for anyone experiencing disordered eating or easily triggered by romanticizations of descriptions of ED. although clein takes pains to say that that’s not what she’s doing in this book…it’s a tough needle to thread and i don’t think she really does it well. parts of the book more or less feel like a guidebook for people looking for tips to perfect their eating disorders.
- as an aughts-era consumer of thinspo and pro-ana digital content myself, i find her defense of ED twt and tumblr and other digital spaces as places of community to be pretty ill-advised and naive
- casting a lot of blame for the prevalence and glamorization of eating disorders on pop culture and mass media feels so…obvious? and reductive?
April 2, 2024
a phenomenal, extensive, necessary meditation on the myriad of ways our culture sows the seeds and fans the fire of eating disorders. another one of those that i really want everyone to read, but i strongly caution anyone who's struggled with their relationship to this realm of things.
it is unfortunate that most of the people who are directly impacted by the topics discussed and structures criticized in this book are also people that are likely to find the material triggering. however, that is not the fault of the author, and i find that she makes every effort to minimize harm (redacting specific numbers, etc) while maintaining a level of honesty and integrity that, as she discusses, is often demonized and forbidden among people actively struggling with or in recovery from EDs.
i can't believe how much new, shocking, eye-opening information i learned from a book that is largely made up of my own lived experiences, stories just like ones my friends and i have, pop culture we've consumed, and diagnoses and prescriptions we've received.
i warmly welcome Clein's push for a more collective, community-based approach to diagnosis and treatment, and to the general way that we (as a society) view EDs and the way that we (women who have struggled with EDs) view each other. without competition or rivalry, without a rubric measuring who is "sick enough", but with compassion and love for ourselves and our sisters, with open hearts and minds to listen to one another, and with the desire to want for better for us.
"Love, Simone Weil wrote, is seeing someone in pain and being able to say to him: 'What are you going through?' and then listening. This is attention, and respect, and seeing someone in pain not just 'as a specimen from the social category labeled "unfortunate," as Simone put it, but as someone you could have been and might become."
P.S. i wish there had been at least a blip about EDs in men, especially in the exploration of orthorexia and the "wellness" industry as it pertains to bodybuilding and that sort of thing. this book never claims to be an exhaustive review of all aspects of disordered eating in western culture, and it is written from a place of personal experience and the specific interactions between EDs and existing as a woman. but like, part 2 let's dive into that
it is unfortunate that most of the people who are directly impacted by the topics discussed and structures criticized in this book are also people that are likely to find the material triggering. however, that is not the fault of the author, and i find that she makes every effort to minimize harm (redacting specific numbers, etc) while maintaining a level of honesty and integrity that, as she discusses, is often demonized and forbidden among people actively struggling with or in recovery from EDs.
i can't believe how much new, shocking, eye-opening information i learned from a book that is largely made up of my own lived experiences, stories just like ones my friends and i have, pop culture we've consumed, and diagnoses and prescriptions we've received.
i warmly welcome Clein's push for a more collective, community-based approach to diagnosis and treatment, and to the general way that we (as a society) view EDs and the way that we (women who have struggled with EDs) view each other. without competition or rivalry, without a rubric measuring who is "sick enough", but with compassion and love for ourselves and our sisters, with open hearts and minds to listen to one another, and with the desire to want for better for us.
"Love, Simone Weil wrote, is seeing someone in pain and being able to say to him: 'What are you going through?' and then listening. This is attention, and respect, and seeing someone in pain not just 'as a specimen from the social category labeled "unfortunate," as Simone put it, but as someone you could have been and might become."
P.S. i wish there had been at least a blip about EDs in men, especially in the exploration of orthorexia and the "wellness" industry as it pertains to bodybuilding and that sort of thing. this book never claims to be an exhaustive review of all aspects of disordered eating in western culture, and it is written from a place of personal experience and the specific interactions between EDs and existing as a woman. but like, part 2 let's dive into that
March 25, 2024
I appreciate that this book of essays is very modern, very into pop culture, and doesn't cover the well-trod ground of other eating disorder books. It's apparent to me that our experience of EDs was very different, mine was steeped in my history of self-harm, in constant self-destruction, rather than weight, body image, and so-called girlhood -- which makes sense considering I'm agender -- so it was like reading an experience that I only had a nodding acquaintance with despite occasional disordered eating 19+ years after my recovery.
I would not recommend this book to anyone who still has an ED/disordered eating or who is on shaky ground re: their body image/weight/relationship with food.
I would not recommend this book to anyone who still has an ED/disordered eating or who is on shaky ground re: their body image/weight/relationship with food.
March 14, 2024
a lot of food for thought har har
i thought this was incredibly well-researched and was well-written. it provided me with multiple new and sufficiently harrowing perspectives on eating disorders - which i’ve thought about almost daily, for now over a decade of my life. however, this is definitely a triggering (for lack of a better word) read
i found the essay about pro-ana spaces online surprising and provocative. it definitely made me rethink my view of their complicity in my experience. despite this, i still find it hard to believe that there’s true sisterhood in sounding the death knell for each other via Tumblr. i also want to note this book is super North America centric with basically no acknowledgment of that fact so if you’re not from there your experiences will differ to those of the author and the subjects of the book.
overall i really loved this and think it’s an excellent read, but for those still in the throes of it all perhaps proceed with caution
i thought this was incredibly well-researched and was well-written. it provided me with multiple new and sufficiently harrowing perspectives on eating disorders - which i’ve thought about almost daily, for now over a decade of my life. however, this is definitely a triggering (for lack of a better word) read
i found the essay about pro-ana spaces online surprising and provocative. it definitely made me rethink my view of their complicity in my experience. despite this, i still find it hard to believe that there’s true sisterhood in sounding the death knell for each other via Tumblr. i also want to note this book is super North America centric with basically no acknowledgment of that fact so if you’re not from there your experiences will differ to those of the author and the subjects of the book.
overall i really loved this and think it’s an excellent read, but for those still in the throes of it all perhaps proceed with caution
May 15, 2024
Trigger warnings abound and as a person who has not suffered from an eating disorder I can’t comment on the accuracy or relatability of the personal history components of this book. But as a cultural critique, this ruled.
March 19, 2024
wow i’m so excited for more internet girls getting their book deals
March 21, 2024
by no means a perfect book, but a solid collection of essays that talks to people with eating disorders rather than at them
April 6, 2024
Wow. WOW! WOW!!! My first 5 star nonfiction of 2024! Not just mandatory reading for anyone who has struggled with disordered eating, but for any woman, period. This is less a book about eating disorders than it is about a pervasive cultural sickness that equates thinness to health and demands we sacrifice ourselves at the altar of beauty to the detriment of everything else in our lives. A profound, sobering look into all of the insidious ways capitalism manipulates our societal obsession with thinness to strip us of our time, money, agency, and health.
And FYI, Ozempic is a scam that increases your risk of thyroid cancer. It’s not a miracle skinny injection. You only lose weight on it because you’re starving yourself. Once you’re off of it you’ll gain all the weight back and be worse for it.
And FYI, Ozempic is a scam that increases your risk of thyroid cancer. It’s not a miracle skinny injection. You only lose weight on it because you’re starving yourself. Once you’re off of it you’ll gain all the weight back and be worse for it.
May 6, 2024
3.5 stars!!! Parts I just loved and parts I disliked. Couldn’t put it down for the first half. A worthwhile read for sure.
May 2, 2024
so far, my must-read of the year. brilliant, poignant, well researched and well told. a reminder that every time i eat a meal it is an act of resistance and an act of self love.
February 21, 2024
Overall, I felt this book was quite good. It’s an unflinching look at the reality of living with an eating disorder and how poorly our culture and medical field does with the treatment thereof. I think it’s a very useful book for someone who cares about a person with an eating disorder or just wishes to understand the lived reality. It also brings in scientific studies, lending gravitas to the work, as does the author’s own eating disorder experience.
I am, however, quite disappointed at the inclusion of the final essay, “Coda.” Not only is it a mess without a clear throughline, but the author uses it to critique approaches to feminism while clearly demonstrating that she does not understand what feminism actually is. It also doesn’t fit in with the rest of the book and nearly torpedoes the worthiness of what she otherwise has to say.
I am, however, quite disappointed at the inclusion of the final essay, “Coda.” Not only is it a mess without a clear throughline, but the author uses it to critique approaches to feminism while clearly demonstrating that she does not understand what feminism actually is. It also doesn’t fit in with the rest of the book and nearly torpedoes the worthiness of what she otherwise has to say.
March 7, 2024
Dead Weight is somehow relatable, deeply researched, engaging, chilling, hilarious, and viscerally moving all at once. Emmeline is a force to be reckoned with. Highly recommend this brilliant book.
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