The Ministry of Thin: How the Pursuit of Perfection Got Out of Control

By Emma Woolf

Losing weight has become the modern woman’s holy grail… everything will be better when we’re thin.

We’re obsessed with weight, we dislike our bodies, we worry about the food we eat, we feel guilty, we diet… Too many of us are locked into a war with our own bodies which we’ll never win, and which will never make us happy.

'The Ministry of Thin' takes a controversial, unflinching look at how the modern obsession with weight loss, youth, beauty and perfection got out of control. Emma Woolf, author of An Apple a Day, explores how we might all be able to stop hating and start liking our own bodies again. And she dares to ask: if losing weight is the answer, what is the question?

• Language: English
• Publisher: Summersdale Publishers Ltd
• Release date: Jun 4, 2013
• ISBN: 9780857659231

Emma Woolf

Emma Woolf is a popular radio and TV personality, author and journalist whose expertise, honesty and humour have touched readers at every age, weight and stage of their lives. A co-presenter on Channel 4’s Supersize vs Superskinny, Emma has also had a weekly column in The Times and appeared on BBC2’s Newsnight, Radio 4’s Woman’s Hour, Four Thought and as a regular arts critic on Saturday Review. Follow her on Twitter @EJWoolf.

Reviews for The Ministry of Thin

[reinadecopiaypega · Rating: 4 out of 5 stars]

I debated whether to give this book a 3 or 4 star rating and decided to be generous being the Christmas season is with us right now.

This book really is not about being thin, it is a huge litany of every possible thing in society that pertains to women ( whether things being done to women or things women are doing to themselves by choice or by societal pressure ). She discusses weight loss and gain, but goes into pay inequality, make up, cosmetic surgery, mental illness, sex, men's perceptions of woman's body, self loathing, etc.

She is pretty blunt about being thin is not the ideal, despite being an anorexic and still quite slim, though she considers herself recovered, yet mildly bashes the overweight by saying there are no fat skeletons and it is all down to eating less and moving more.

Being an obese woman myself and having the opposite ED that she suffers from, and for nearly 3x the length of time ( this is my 35th year ), reading a book about weight loss and 'moving more ' ( I do walk up to 15 miles at a time, thank you very much ) by someone who has never for a single day in her entire life been overweight, obese or suffered from binge eating disorder,is annoying in the least and offensive to the max.