Book review: 'Mother's, Daughter's and Body Image' by Hillary McBride
This book provides nourishing practices and language for women to examine unhealthy narratives and replace them with healthy ones. McBride has been an excellent teacher for me and I always learn something from her that is both thoughtful and useful. Her book is a gentle guide for women who desire to re-examine the old scripts over their bodies and embrace a new one.
This beautiful offering from Hillary McBride is one I give as a gift often, and highly recommend to women of all ages. McBride has been an excellent teacher for me over the past several years through her writings and interviews. I always learn something from her that is both thoughtful and useful for my life. I find her to be a wonderful guide for women who desire to re-examine the old scripts over their bodies and embrace a new one.
Along with true stories of young women and their mother’s, the author shares her own story of “recovery from an eating disorder, and how her struggles led her to dream of a new vision for womanhood—from one without body shame, negative comparisons, or insecurities, to one of freedom, connection, and acceptance.”
I agree with McBride that, “Sociocultural messages inundate our dialogues about what it means to be a girl or woman.” This book provides nourishing practices and language for women to revisit unhealthy narratives and replace them with healthy ones. It will help to guide you toward the eye-opening realization of just how often we unknowingly participate “in our own objectification to try to ensure our worth.” It will assist you in a gentle way, to give yourself permission to embrace a different way.
In her words, “This all makes me think about what would happen if I was able to love myself, my body, the parts and the whole, in the way that I love other people? What if as women we could dedicate ourselves to practice kindness and care towards ourselves in the way that we are often so good at being kind and caring to those around us?”
I have found much needed freedom through the words in this book. I am now kinder and gentler toward myself. My hope is that you will find that freedom too.
* To hear more from Hillary on this topic, listen to our conversation on the Permission for Pleasure Podcast: Learning to Listen to Your Body.
Note: This blog includes affiliate links from Amazon. As an Amazon Associate, I may earn money from actions readers take on these links, such as a click or purchase. However, this is a book that I recommend fully and have purchased myself.
Book review: The Body Is Not An Apology by Sonya Renee Taylor
“The Body Is Not An Apology” discusses the many ways body shame is absorbed and becomes inherited. It offers both an invitation and a toolkit to dismantle that shame, and replace it with radical self-love.
“Radical self-love is an internal process offering external transformation.”
Activist and poet Sonya Renee Taylor says, “The key to getting out of a maze is remembering the way you got in.” This book addresses the many ways body shame is absorbed and becomes inherited. However, it doesn’t just leave you there. It offers both an invitation and a toolkit to dismantle that shame.
As Taylor says at the start, this book is not about improving your self-esteem or self-confidence. Rather, it guides you through a process of examining the blaring messages of shame you have overtly or covertly ingested and offers “radical self-love as the balm to heal the wounds.”
Throughout the chapters, there are thirty-one “Unapologetic Inquiry” questions to ask yourself. Questions like:
“In what ways have you been asked to apologize for your body?”
“Radical Reflections” are also sprinkled through out the book to consider, for instance: “Self-deprecation is valued as a sign of wit in today’s culture…”
These inquiries and reflections are intended to guide you through the material and the journey within yourself to —
Make peace with your body and the bodies of others.
As a long time nurse and educator, I have found body shame to be one of the most problematic issues for women in their ability to express, experience and enjoy their sexuality. When we hate our bodies and when we feel shame around our bodies, we can be hard pressed to enjoy sex.
The Body is Not an Apology is a powerful resource to get you started on the path to radical self-love.
Note: This blog includes affiliate links from Amazon. As an Amazon Associate, I may earn money from actions readers take on these links, such as a click or purchase. However, this is a book that I recommend fully and have purchased myself.