The Power of Radical Self-Love

I recently finished reading The Body is Not An Apology by Sonya Renee Taylor. *POSSIBLE SPOILER ALERT*

Rating: 4.25/5 stars

"In a revolutionary departure from the capitalist-driven self-help and body-positivity movement, poet, author, and humanitarian Sonya Renee Taylor forges an inextricable bond between radical self-love and social justice. The first step is recognizing that we have all been indoctrinated into a system of body shame that profits off our self-hatred. This second edition includes stories from Taylor's travels around the world combating body terrorism and shines a light on the path toward liberation guided by love. In a brand new chapter, Taylor confronts each of the "isms" and phobias, especially racism, sexism, ableism, homophobia, and transphobia, showing how radical self-love manifests in each space. Radical self-love not only dismantles shame and self-loathing in us but has the power to dismantle global systems of injustice--because when we make peace with our bodies, only then do we have the capacity to truly make peace with the bodies of others. Readers can also engage more deeply using the accompanying workbook, which builds on the ten tools and radical reflection and unapologetic inquiry exercises woven throughout the book."

A solid introductory text about body positivity and its relations to social justice, oppression, and radical self-love. I appreciated Sonya Renee Taylor highlighting the role of capitalism, racism, and transphobia in promoting body shame. So many books and research articles about body image focus on cisgender, heterosexual white women’s experiences and often neglect the role of systems of oppression in making people dislike their bodies. Taylor draws several arguments about how various social inequities and injustices lead us to disdain nonnormative (e.g., nonwhite, nonthin or nonmuscular, etc.) bodies, as well as how we can cultivate radical self-love to view and treat our bodies better. She makes astute points about how professionalism promotes white supremacist and oppressive norms, how children’s bodies are not public property, and how color blindness blocks us from seeing each other and ourselves as who we truly are.

I refer to The Body Is Not an Apology because I feel like there’s so much room for more writing about each of the topics Taylor presents in this book. While I loved pretty much all the ideas she raised, I wanted more depth about each of them, more intellectual richness, and nuanced emotional exploration. For example, in one section she writes about how children’s bodies should not be treated as public property and then transitions right into the perils of color blindness, and I felt confused about how that transition happened, even though I appreciated both topics.

Recommended to those who are interested in body image and want a quick foray into how social justice concepts and topics relate to body image. I so stand with Taylor’s message that we do not need to apologize for our bodies, no matter what they look like.

Check out The Body is Not An Apology, and take on the power of radical self-love. Happy Reading :)