Skinny Bitch
by Kim Barnouin, Rory Freedman
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Book Summary Information
Author: Kim Barnouin, Rory FreedmanEdition: Paperback
Audio: English (Unknown); English (Original Language); English (Published)
Published: 2005-12-27
ISBN: 0762435410
Number of pages: 224
Publisher: Running Press
Product features:
- ISBN13: 9780762424931
- Condition: New
- Notes: BRAND NEW FROM PUBLISHER! 100% Satisfaction Guarantee. Tracking provided on most orders. Buy with Confidence! Millions of books sold!
Book Reviews of Skinny Bitch
Book Review: This book disgusts me.
Summary: 1 Stars
I eat fairly well, but I have always had issues motivating myself to exercise, so I thought that maybe this book would give me tips on both counts. Sometimes you do need the 'tough love' to get motivated. However, I don't think that Freedman and Barnouin really know what 'tough love' means. There is no love in the pages of this book. There is no encouragement. There is only two hundred pages of insults and abuse.
Like many other readers, I felt misled by the marketing scheme surrounding Skinny Bitch. It isn't a diet book, it's a vegan manifesto, which Freedman and Barnouin freely admit. And like many other reviewers, I do not take issue with veganism. I do take issue with the manner in which their argument is presented -- with denigration. They claim to care about the treatment of animals, but they have no kindness or compassion for their fellow human beings. They are the worst sort of militant vegans, not trying to appeal to reason or to their readers' better nature, but telling them "here is why meat is disgusting, and if you eat meat, you are disgusting too, you fat f-ing pig." No dietary or lifestyle change is going to take in a healthy manner if it is born of shame and disgust.
Because Freedman and Barnouin are ashamed of their readers and disgusted by themselves. It is hard to believe that they really want their readers to be healthy and love themselves despite a few platitudes strung in at random points with the rest of the book is filled with so much bile. Rather than logically and sympathetically explaining good reasons not to consume animal products, they seek to shock and guilt the reader away from them.
That's not even touching on the hypocrisy presented within its pages. They claim that meat is disgusting because it is rotting in your digestive system. All right. But in what way is that not true of fruits and vegetables? Everything that we eat is dead. An apple just picked off of the bough of a tree is fresher than the beef or chicken you find in a supermarket, but all of it is dead, and all of it is beginning to rot, as evidenced by the forgotten nectarines I found in my fruit drawer today. If Freedman and Barnouin find dead flesh more disgusting than dead plant matter, that is just fine, but it is their opinion, and one that others aren't likely to hold.
Likewise, they go into great detail about the FDA's failure to properly regulate meat, dairy, eggs, and conventionally farmed produce, yet they do little to discuss what the term 'organic' actually means. They point out themselves that the FDA's regulations of organic products and recommend looking for other certifications without explaining what these labels really mean. They mention that pesticides linger in water and soil for decades, but do not analyse what this means for organic crops, or mention that many organic farmers use non-chemical pesticides. I'm not saying that biopesticides are necessarily bad, or these labels necessarily meaningless, but Freedman and Barnouin are unbalanced and do not bother to explain or inform about these issues. They make no mention of the chemicals in the water we drink and the air we breathe and don't seem to understand that, while reducing carcinogens and harmful chemicals can't hurt you, you can't remove these things from your life in the modern Western world as we know it.
Then, after all of their railing against processed wheat, processed sugar, aspartame, over-treated meats and milks and everything else, they go on to advocate eating highly processed soy products, packaged vegan cookies, ad nauseum. They admonish the Atkins Diet for being too severe and then impress an even more severe diet upon their readers.
I think that what bothers me the most is the unhelpful attitude towards the reader which Freedman and Barnouin take. They offer no advice for how to kick bad habits. Even the strictest of diets seem to have a creed of "reward yourself with some apple slices!" or the like. No, for Freedman and Barnouin, knowing your moral righteousness and feeling better is reward enough. Maybe it's been too long since they made the transition from meat eater to vegetarian and then veganism (I assume they took the step in between -- all vegans I've known have) but they don't seem to appreciate the difficulty of giving up something you have been consuming your entire life. I tried veganism, and I'll tell you that it isn't easy. It is difficult. It is difficult to go to parties and see your friends consuming pieces of pizza with cheese on them, real ice cream, BLTs... To not be able to call the Chinese restaurant for take out. To curb that craving to drive to McDonald's and get a cheeseburger, even though you don't even like them that much.
I could almost accept Skinny Bitch if it were helpful even in sense of how to transition to a vegan diet. But it's not. It's not at all. It is worthless in every respect and lacking in warmth, compassion, and anything but bitterness and self-hatred. It is written by the worst type of vegan -- the vegan who puts the feelings of animals above those of human beings. As I said, I was a vegan for a year and a vegetarian for five years before I transitioned to buying from local farmers whose practises I can see myself. I care about the well-being of animals, but I can't see what worth there is in abusing the human beings around you -- not teaching them, but berating them. When a vegan (or any other militant, really) behaves this way, the impression is not one of caring but of moralising self-superiority.
I am sorry that this is so long, but this is a pet peeve of mine. You could say it really grinds my gears.
Summary of Skinny Bitch
Not your typical boring diet book, this is a tart-tongued, no-holds-barred wakeup call to all women who want to be thin. With such blunt advice as, "Soda is liquid Satan" and "You are a total moron if you think the Atkins Diet will make you thin," it's a rallying cry for all savvy women to start eating healthy and looking radiant. Unlike standard diet books, it actually makes the reader laugh out loud with its truthful, smart-mouthed revelations. Behind all the attitude, however, there's solid guidance. Skinny Bitch espouses a healthful lifestyle that promotes whole grains, fruits, and vegetables, and encourages women to get excited about feeling "clean and pure and energized."
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