In this absurd, self-deluded book virtually immobile bodies are deemed as healthy as slim ones and obesity is no more linked with type 2 diabetes than, apparently, using mouthwash ... This book is a super-processed sausage of identity politics and fat activism.
Unshrinking is a project of deconstruction, archaeology, and care ... It is in her analysis of disgust that Manne’s own training as a philosopher comes to the fore ... Manne’s paradigm is radical in its reorientation of bodily purpose but surprising in its individualist bent. Early on, she promises "a political and structural, as opposed to a psychological and individualistic, intervention" into the discourse around fatphobia. And she delivers, illustrating fatphobia’s tentacled reach and horrifying fallout. Yet her solution is highly individualistic.
Impassioned but somewhat overextended ... Manne’s debunking of what she considers the myth of the obesity crisis is a thought-provoking exercise, it can feel as if to make her point she understates the structural social injustices, such as poverty and discrimination, that can lead to food inequality, food insecurity, and unequal access to healthcare. Ultimately, this fails to convince.