Book Review
Title: Body Talk: 37 Voices Explore Our Radical Anatomy
Author: Kelly Jensen
Genre: Essay Collection
Rating: *****
Review: I wanted to be part of the Body Talk blog tour because it delves into the idea of our bodies as something more than a physical thing we inhabit. I was intrigued because it delves not only into the physical but the emotional as well as looking at sexuality and gender identity as a part of our body. It is an essay collection written by 37 different writers on a variety of topics and the first essay; Scoliosis, Spinal Fusion and Stomach Punches is written by Rachael Lippincott. Rachael discusses her journey from being diagnosed with scoliosis to wearing a painful back brace to eventual surgery. After the surgery Rachael’s learn to love her body the way it is, scar and all and realises that either way before or after surgery, she was beautiful the way she was even if she was different and it was a beautiful essay to kick off this collection.
The next essay The Body That Betrayed Me by Eugene Grant details his journey with achondroplasia, a form of dwarfism. Eugene talks about how when he was young, he tried so hard to conform to the image of a “man” despite the limitations his body present to the point where he couldn’t any longer because his body couldn’t keep up with him. After this he had to have spinal surgery which prevented everything he did before, running and boxing, and even things he took for granted like tying his shoes or having a bath. In the wake of the surgery and the new challenges he had to overcome he was able to challenge and questions these bodies image and societal rules placed upon men and women and in doing so he came to love his body. I loved the way the essay is entitled the body that betrayed me but Eugene, himself, says that he betrayed his body which leads nicely into the next essay Do You Know About…? Also written by Eugene. This essay is brief, but it explains how the different between identity first language and person first language can make a huge difference in how you are perceived by others. For example, a deaf person (identity first) or a person with limited hearing (person first). I identified with this greatly as since I was a young teen, I was also seen as the depressed person or suicidal person rather than a person with issues that needed help and it hindered the way I moved in our society and I greatly appreciate people like Eugene, explaining the difference so it can be used to educate others.
The collection also features images and comics in the place of essays, an example of this is The Politics of Hair by Jerlyn M. Thomas which was something that both made me laugh initially and then take a second hard look at the image. The next essay, And It’s Fine by Kati Gardner was beautiful, there is no other word for it. Kati writes a letter from her future self to her past self where she explains that even though she only has one leg, which had to be amputated after a cancer diagnosis, that she is disabled and that is completely fine, and yes she will be overlooked or cast aside because people can’t see beyond what she is lacking but there are people out there that will allow her to move up in the world because of the way she is and that is beautiful. The overall message of this essay was you are yourself and that perfectly fine, no matter what shape or form you may be in.
The next essay, Embrace Your Booty is written by Tyra Banks and Carolyn London, and I can’t relate to loving your booty much because I am lacking that department and that is fine as I make up for it in other areas. However, this essay is split between Tyra fighting back against the press that labelled her fat, not just for herself, but for other women and men that felt ashamed because of their weight, like Carolyn London, and her words: kiss my fat ass, changed the lives of many men and women all over the world including Adele and as a bigger person myself, I say thank you for having the courage to stand up and say that but also for leaving in the tears and vulnerability that we have all felt.
As we move into the second chapter, On the Surface, it looks at the more superficial elements of our bodies and how we change them, teeth, hair, birth mark etc and what that means on a deeper level. The first essay in this part, The Ghost of Christmas Past, or When The Angel Learned to Shave by Eric Smith was great, Eric was cast to play an angel in the original Broadway production of A Christmas Carol and even at age 11, he has a moustache and was self-conscious about it and began shaving. He explains how this small thing created an anxiety in him not just during the play itself but for years after until he learned to love himself as he was, facial hair and all.
Sixty-Four Teeth by Sara Saedi was amazing as she tells her story of being forced to get braces at 13. Her family had escaped from Tehran in the aftermath of the Iranian Revolution when she was a small child and how her parents completely disregarded her opinion, thinking they knew best. However, despite all her moaning when she had the braces removed and saw her perfect smile, she was grateful to her parents, but it was tinted with guilt as her father couldn’t afford to get his own smile fixed. Her father doesn’t get his perfect smile until he is 70 but Sara realises that his smile was perfect before as it was a marker of her happy childhood and she is grateful that her parents would do anything for her. I remember having this exact same fight with my parents, but I won and didn’t get braces. This is a decision I regret because as an adult I can’t afford to have my smile correctly which is something I am self-conscious about even today.
We are also greeted with another image here entitled Flock by Kelly Bastow which depicts naked men and women of all different size, shapes and abilities looking proud and confident in themselves which made me smile.
Not By The Hair On My Chinny Chin Chin by Kelly Jensen was brilliant as like me she struggle with acne, chin hair and much more growing up until she was eventually diagnosed with polycystic ovarian syndrome or PCOS but this didn’t have a radical change on her anxiety and routine of plucking out the chin hairs daily. However, when she told a friend and her friend responded with, she had no idea about the hair or anxiety she began to pluck them less and less and the anxiety she felt over them before lessened with it. Kelly Jensen is definitely someone I’d be interested in talking to in real life as she mentioned she stopped shaving her legs challenge the idea of a woman having to be clean shaven but the chin hair is something I’d like to discuss as I live with it but it doesn’t bother me in the slightest although I do shave it from time to time.
Visible Scar Club by D. M. Moehrle is also something I can personally relate too as I have quite a few visible scars from a darker period of my life. She got her scars after being mauled by a dog as a child and has grown up with people asking what happened to her face or people talking behind her back but as she grew older she realised people didn’t look harder at her than they did anyone else and while yes, she does want to scars gone and doesn’t highlight them in photos she understands that they are a part of her and that isn’t going to change.
We get our first comic called Marked at Birth by Libby Vanderploeg who has a rose coloured birthmark on her chest and how she was asked a lot of questions growing up about it and even her grandmother suggested having it removed but she has come to love the mark on her chest and even sometimes shows it off without explanation, just because she can, because it is a part of her that isn’t going to change.
This leads us into the third chapter, Cosmic Forms, which looks deeper into body positivity and loving yourself the way you are.
Fifty Swimsuits by Julie Murphy was something I can aspire to achieve as she talks about being a bigger woman and being self-conscious about swimwear and going swimming despite loving it and how she overcome that slowly and often taken steps back and being overcome by anxiety and this is something I struggle with although I still haven’t worn a bikini, always a one piece for me covered by shorts and a t-shirt.
My Body, My Feelings by Patricia S. Elzie was literally an essay on how she feels in her body and how the modern body positivity movement isn’t good nor is it bad, it just excludes certain aspects of body positivity that need to be included and I found it very insightful.
Fat Out Loud by Alex Gino was brilliant as it deals with fat shaming and being comfortable in your body no matter the size and how the word fat can be used as something empowering rather than an insult. Thin by Yao Xiao was another comic but this time looking at the body standards in China, which shows that thin women are more attractive but even as a child Yao didn’t conform to this ideal. Due to this she had to learn to accept first the disappointment of not being like other, then indifference before finally coming to love her body and realising that she didn’t have to accept that status quo.
My Body, A Crime by Mars Sebastian was another essay on weight and fat shaming, but it was more than that as Mars also deals with a binge eating disorder. I loved how honest Mars was about her unhealthy relationship with food which I also share as I comfort eat rather than deal with hard emotions and what that meant for her not just growing up but in the present too.
Non-Skinny People Who I Think Are Sexy As Hell by Tyra Banks was is literally a short list of people who Tyra finds attractive even though they don’t conform to the “normal” standard of what “attractive” people should look like and I loved how Tyra’s humour comes through in this.
Loving On Me Is Prayer: Queer Journeys Into Black Girl Self-Love by Junauda Petrus was her journey to love her body as a larger woman of colour and was interesting to read about.
We move into chapter 4 which is going to talk about anything and everything below the belt, opening with Please Laugh: My Cancer Diagnosis by Benjamin Pu. Benjamin has testicular cancer, and despite making a joke about it he has real message for men to get themselves checked as finding it earlier means the survival rate is higher and that it shouldn’t be a taboo subject and I completely agree.
This is followed by a lovely artwork entitled Kindred by Kelly Bastow which was beautiful.
Your Complete Guide to Shane’s Sex Life by Shane Burcaw was funny yet informative as Shane has a form on spinal muscular atrophy or SMA and the most common questions he gets asked all revolve around his sex life or the sex life of someone in the SMA community. In his essay Shane clears up the most common asked questions around his sex life which I found highly informative as speaking from my own personal perspective you tend to desexualise people with disabilities when they are just as sexual as anyone else.
The Blood on Their Hands by Anna-Marie Mclemore was amazing to read as she has a condition which makes her periods extremely painful and she discusses how this affects her life and how she felt she had to hide and how she slowly came to accept help. It was also wonderful to read that her husband is incredibly supportive as he is a trans man and went through similar experiences himself.
Five Things People Want to Know About Their Junk (and are afraid to ask) by I. W. Gregorio was interesting to read as Gregorio is a urologist and answers five of the most common questions people want to know the answers to but are too afraid to ask.
Cry Like a Girl by Kate Hart was another informative chapter as Kate suffers from endometriosis and it is how she deals with this and the downfalls of the healthcare system in dealing with people like her. I also must shout out the FAQ’s in this book which talk about everything from period symptoms to the pink tax and more.
Sisterhood, Blood and Boobs at the London Marathon 2015 by Kiran/Madame Gandhi was inspiring as she ran the London Marathon on her period while free bleeding since it was safer and easier for her to run without using a pad or tampon and in doing she created a dialogue around menstrual health in both the developed world and the developing world.
We move into chapter 5, Thing You Cannot See, which is going to discuss the things about our bodies which can’t be seen.
The first essay in this chapter comes from Amanda Lovelace and it’s entitled When You’re “Broken” Like Me and it was as hauntingly beautiful as her poetry as she discusses being demipansexual and having to find that identity and fight to validate it but suffered major knockbacks especially after getting engaged but fought her way through it to a place where she is happy with herself and she follows this up with Your Asexuality Is Valid Whether or Not You… which uses a small amount of simple statement which ties in perfectly with her previous essay.
Beneath the Surface by Abby Sams was one of the best essays so far. Abby suffers from Ehlers-Danlos syndrome and reflex sympathetic dystrophy meaning she has to use either braces or a wheelchair to move around and suffers from chronic pain but she doesn’t look “ill” leading to a lot of misconceptions about her illness and even people accusing her of faking her illness which was disgusting to read about. However, she calls out the media for extremely hurtful and bad representations, she even specifically references Me Before You which was an awful representation of disability in film. One representation I found to be good, if not great, was Artie from Glee. While the actor himself wasn’t the disabled the way Artie was portrayed was accurate according to friends that are disabled as he has major issues such as access in his school, the school not providing the relevant transport he needs and much more but he is still seen as a capable person because he is.
Trigger Warning by Nat Razi was a really similar to a book I am reading now called Lyme Madness, as it is a mother’s journey to help get a diagnosis and treatment for her son who has Lyme Disease. Nat deals with chronic pain from a car accident that hasn’t been resolved even three years after the accident but she can’t get any help from the medical professionals as the doctors don’t believe her and even when they do, her insurance refuses to cover the cost of the treatments and this is happening more often than we think.
Maybe It’s Maybelline, Or Maybe It’s Really Not Your Business by Roshani Chokshi was her discussing her relationship with makeup and how when she was younger it was a way to hide and change what she didn’t like about herself but it became a way to highlight and enhance the parts she loved about herself.
What’s The Deal With Hormones? by Alicia Lutes was another informative one as it discusses hormones and their relationships with each and with your body. This came about as Alicia was tested for Cushing’s disease is caused by an overproduction of ACTH and cortisol, in the wake of her diagnosis she wanted to learn more about hormones and this essay reads like an interview between her and two doctors specialising in hormones. I like how this essay didn’t just focus on cis people, but she asks questions about whether certain hormones or hormone production in general affects trans and non-binary people differently to cis people which was definitely interesting to read about.
Fart From the Madding Crowd by Kara Thomas follows her journey to be diagnosed with Crohn’s disease, where she talks about getting diagnosed on how living with Crohn’s affect her especially being a parent. Although, I did find the part about her son’s diaper incredibly funny and the message she leaves at the end is completely true, which moves us into chapter 6, Our Whole Selves, which is discussing what it means to be our whole selves on a personal level and to the greater world.
Body Positive by Aly Raisman was an interesting essay as she talks about a photo shoot she did for ESPN’s Body issue which was a naked shoot and how she debated over doing it but she did and afterward the images made her feel proud of her strong, muscular body even if it wasn’t the ideal for everyone.
Ode to a Spit Cup by Alice Wong was another essay looking at disability as Alice has a neuromuscular disability. Due to this, Alice has severe muscle weakness to the point where breathing and swallowing are difficult for her. With she has a BiPAP machine to help her breath, swallowing is something that can be dangerous if she wears her weak muscles out too quickly and to counter this is uses a spit cup so she doesn’t have to swallow often and she reflects on how this small thing is a blessing to her but also makes her confront her own mortality.
The White Rabbit by John McGinty is the first essay from a deaf person we have seen in this collection. John details his life as a deaf person although he could hear when he was younger, he talks about the stress of bouncing between deaf and hearing schools and the challenges these presented but he also discovered a love of acting because he could follow what was happening even without hearing which led to him having a career on the stage and making development in the industry for deaf people and he continues to do so, we are also treated to another delightful image from Kelly Bastow.
Five Ass-ential Tyra Tips for Better Body Image by Tyra Banks is like one of Tyra’s other essay where it just lays out five (really good) tips for moving towards loving yourself as you are, although personally, I couldn’t do the list.
Looking “Straight” by Jourdian Searles, Jourdian has optic nerve atrophy and nystagmus in one eye and is near-sighted in the other, meaning she is half-blind but she has never wanted to be seen that way and she talks about how she navigated through education and eventually found the person she wanted to be.
How Anyone Can Help Trans People In Their Lives, Written From the Perspective of a Trans Man by Gavin Grimm was an essay I was looking forward to as it is the first from a trans person directly, not someone related or dating a trans person. Gavin’s chapter really spoke to me on a personal level and has already provided me with some advice to give to friends and family and some lessons for myself. This is by far the best essay in the book, it is concise, to the point but not depersonalised in any way.
My Back Brace Year: How I Learned to Stand Tall, Even While Hunched by Kate Bigam Kaput, was her story of wearing a back brace as a child and how that impacted her but not in a bad way, in fact, she realises that people don’t make fun of her and despite the brace she is just like anyone else and is treated that way.
Two Tools for Powerful Relaxation by Kelly Jensen was exactly what it said on the tin and I may try these techniques in the future.
My Perreo De Shame Playlist by Lilliam Rivera was one of my favourite essays, while she does wear a back brace that isn’t what the essay is about. It is about how she was always told to cover her body and not be like certain women and she did, developing an unhealthy relationship with herself but was dragged out of that shell as a young adult which made her re-evaluation the way she looked at herself.
Overall, Body Talk was informative, heart-breaking, emotional, and hysterically funny in place. It is something I’d highly recommend everyone picking up for a bit of education, although personally I would have like to have seen more essays from trans and non-binary people and queer people in general as these were on the slim side.
Buy it here:
Paperback/Hardcover: amazon.co.uk amazon.com
Kindle Edition: amazon.co.uk amazon.com
I was sent this copy for review consideration by the publisher.
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