Fearing the Black Body: The Racial Origins of Fat Phobia

Written by Sabrina Strings

Narrated by Allyson Johnson

How the female body has been racialized for over two hundred years



There is an obesity epidemic in this country and poor black women are particularly stigmatized as "diseased" and a burden on the public health care system. This is only the most recent incarnation of the fear of fat black women, which Sabrina Strings shows took root more than two hundred years ago.



Strings weaves together an eye-opening historical narrative ranging from the Renaissance to the current moment, analyzing important works of art, newspaper and magazine articles, and scientific literature and medical journals—where fat bodies were once praised—showing that fat phobia, as it relates to black women, did not originate with medical findings, but with the Enlightenment era belief that fatness was evidence of "savagery" and racial inferiority.



The author argues that the contemporary ideal of slenderness is, at its very core, racialized and racist. Indeed, it was not until the early twentieth century, when racialized attitudes against fatness were already entrenched in the culture, that the medical establishment began its crusade against obesity. An important and original work, Fearing the Black Body argues convincingly that fat phobia isn't about health at all, but rather a means of using the body to validate race, class, and gender prejudice.

• Language: English
• Publisher: Tantor Media, Inc
• Release date: Apr 21, 2020
• ISBN: 9781705219584

Reviews for Fearing the Black Body

[Kia · Rating: 5 out of 5 stars]

I am a healthcare professional who learned a lot from this eye-opening book. Sabrina Strings takes the listener far back in history to show where modern day fatphobia in the US (and Europe) originates, clearly illustrating interplays between fatphobia, racism, and sexism. The audio book narrator's voice was a bit monotone for my liking, yet I thoroughly enjoyed the book regardless! I would highly recommend this book to anyone interested in fat liberation, HAES (Health at Every Size) , and body positivity, but especially to healthcare professionals interested in learning about the relationships between weight, health, sex, and race with a critical eye.

[Michelle Hawkins · Rating: 4 out of 5 stars]

I support the concept so it's hard to admit that this read like a textbook. I've read other books related to this topic that are a bit more straightforward and digestible, but I appreciate that this one provided a thorough history. I also enjoyed the narration.

[Christie Brooks · Rating: 5 out of 5 stars]

A fantastic and well researched book on the origins on fatness as it relatea to weight and race. Displaying that much of this idea was essentially made up to fit racist ideology.

[Daniela Zeballos · Rating: 5 out of 5 stars]

Amazing book with lots of research. I recommend it 100 %. Enjoyable narration and good sound quality.

[Drew Dickinson · Rating: 5 out of 5 stars]

Very enlightening. I would recommend this book to anyone looking to educate themselves on the root cause of fatphobia.

[Lauren Stephens · Rating: 5 out of 5 stars]

If you’re wanting to know more about sexism, fatphobia, and white supremacy and how those topics are linked in Western society, especially the US, then this book is worth the read. There is some truly shocking sexist and racist history in this book.

[Breana Williams · Rating: 1 out of 5 stars]

The voice of the narrator was horrible. I wasn’t able to focus. I would recommend reading it yourself and not listening to the audiobook.

[Kelly Izell · Rating: 2 out of 5 stars]

I was disappointed! I was looking forward to learning more, but it’s hard to remember when I’ve last been so bored listening to a story. I gave up a third of the way in.

[g33kgrrl · Rating: 4 out of 5 stars]

This was an interesting one. Excellently written, very good material, but at the end I felt it was lacking - or that I wanted it to be something other than what it was.

This is not a 101 level book, or probably even 201. The focus is on how beauty and cultural standards and expectations evolved regarding weight, and the information is pulled from primary sources. Primary sources only give us what data is available and what people chose to write and say. They don't provide analysis on what it means that that's what they chose to say or not say. The focus is on white women because that's who was considered worth writing about; we don't have a time machine to go back and yell at the people writing to be more inclusive. So reading what isn't written, reading for exclusion, all of these things become essential.

This is not a popular science or sociology book that will then tell you exactly what that primary source information means and why. The reader is going to have to have the requisite cultural knowledge to understand how systems of oppression work and make those leaps themself. This book is going to be (has already been and will continue to be) cited from here to breakfast by those works of analysis and synthesis. This is not a failing of this book, but it might be a failing of the title.

I found this book incredibly fascinating, very enlightening, wildly infuriating, and mostly useful at filling in the historical record of how female bodies were commodified in Western Europe and then the USA over the centuries. I found the critique of "healthy" bodies being required for the state and how that is an essential part of fascism a good refresher and a good intersection with disability writing and politics.

A very good read. Just know what it is you're reading.

[laphenix · Rating: 3 out of 5 stars]

An interesting read. The final chapter and epilogue were particularly enlightening.

[rivkat_2 · Rating: 3 out of 5 stars]

History of Western ideas about beauty and about race, arguing that their interaction ultimately produced fatphobia, which serves both to “degrade black women and discipline white women.” Slavery produced a need for racial hierarchy, which led white Europeans to link fatness to “greedy” Black people, while religious concepts “suggested that overeating was ungodly.” Only after these developments did fatness become medicalized. This narrative may help to explain why the US was the primary source of fear of fat/valorizing thinness. One interesting bit: Strings argues that fatness was condemned in white men before it was condemned in white women, because men were supposed to be more self-controlled/rational. Also, she argues that racial classification systems often focused intensely on putative differences in women, because concerns about feminine aesthetics were always central to race-making projects.