Body Talk: 37 Voices Explore Our Radical Anatomy

by Kelly Jensen

Overview

It’s time to bare it all about bodies!
 
We all experience the world in a body, but we don’t usually take the time to explore what it really means to have and live within one. Just as every person has a unique personality, every person has a unique body, and every body tells its own story.
 
In Body Talk, thirty-seven writers, models, actors, musicians, and artists share essays, lists, comics, and illustrations—about everything from size and shape to scoliosis, from eating disorders to cancer, from sexuality and gender identity to the use of makeup as armor. Together, they contribute a broad variety of perspectives on what it’s like to live in their particular, unique bodies—and how their bodies have helped to inform who they are and how they move through the world.
 
Come on in, turn the pages, and join the celebration of our unique, diverse, miraculous, beautiful bodies!

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9781616209674
Publisher:	Workman Publishing Company
Publication date:	08/18/2020
Pages:	256
Sales rank:	658,466
Product dimensions:	7.10(w) x 9.00(h) x 0.70(d)
Age Range:	14 - 18 Years

About the Author

Kelly Jensen is a former librarian and current editor at Book Riot and her own popular book blog, Stacked. She's the editor of two highly-acclaimed YA anthologies, Here We Are: Feminism For The Real World and (Don't) Call Me Crazy: 33 Voices Start The Conversation About Mental Health. Her writing has been featured in Bust Magazine, Fortune, Bustle, and more. When not working with words, she teaches yoga, hangs out with a motley crew of pets, and enjoys all of the black licorice no one else wants. Follow her on Instagram @heykellyjensen and her website kellybjensen.com.

Table of Contents

Introduction x

Chapter 1 Head, Shoulders, Knees, and Toes 2

Scoliosis, Spinal Fusion, and Stomach Punches Rachael Lippincott 4

The Body That Betrayed Me Eugene Grant 14

Do You Know About…? Eugene Grant 22

Body Talk FAQs: What are the best terms to use for disabled people? 23

The Politics of Hair Jerlyn M. Thomas 24

And It's Fine Kati Gardner 25

Body Talk FAQs: What does Accessibility mean? 30

Embrace Your Booty Tyra Banks Carolyn London 31

Chapter 2 On the Surface 38

The Ghosts of Christmas Past, or When the Angel Learned to Shave Eric Smith 40

Sixty-Four Teeth Sara Saedi 46

Flock Kelly Bastow 51

Not by the Hair on My Chinny Chin Chin Kelly Jensen 52

Body Talk FAQs: How and why do tattoos stay on our skin? 59

Visible Scar Club D. M. Moehrle 60

Marked at Birth Libby VanderPloeg 65

Chapter 3 Cosmic Forms 66

Fifty Swimsuits Julie Murphy 68

My Body, My Feelings Patricia S. Elzie 73

Body Talk FAQs: Is it OK to use the word fat? 77

Fat Out Loud Alex Gino 78

Thin Yao Xiao 82

My Body, a Crime Mars Sebastian 85

Body Talk FAQs: What's the difference between body positivity and fat acceptance? 90

Non-Skinny People Who I Think Are Sexy as Hell Tyra Banks 91

Loving On Me Is Prayer: Queer Journeys into Black Girl Self-Love Junauda Petrus-Nasah 92

Chapter 4 Below the Belt 98

Please Laugh: My Cancer Diagnosis Benjamin Pu 100

Kindred Kelly Bastow 103

Your Complete Guide to Shane's Sex Life Shane Burcaw 104

The Blood on Their Hands Anna-Marie McLemore 108

Body Talk FAQs: What are some normal side effects of menstruation? 113

Five Things People Want to Know about Their Junk (and Are Afraid to Ask) I. W. Gregorio 114

Cry Like a Girl Kate Hart 120

Body Talk FAQs: What is a pink tax? 129

Sisterhood, Blood, and Boobs at the London Marathon 2015 Kiran/Madame Gandhi 130

Chapter 5 Things you cannot see 134

When You're "Broken" Like Me amanda lovelace 136

Your Asexuality Is Valid Whether or Not You … Amanda lovelace 142

Beneath the Surface Abby Sams 143

Body Talk FAQs: What is self-care? 148

Trigger Warning Nat Razi 149

Maybe It's Maybelline, or Maybe It's Really Not Your Business Roshani Chokshi 156

Body Talk FAQs: How important is sleep? 162

What's the Deal with Hormones? Alicia Lutes 163

Fart from the Madding Crowd Kara Thomas 170

Chapter 6 Our Whole Selves 176

Body Positive Aly Raisman 178

Ode to a Spit Cup Alice Wong 183

Body Talk FAQs: How do things like straw bans impact disabled people? 187

The White Rabbit John McGinty 188

Roars and Whispers Kelly Bastow 194

Five Ass-ential Tyra Tips for Better Body image Tyra Banks 195

Looking "Straight" Jourdain Searles 197

How Anyone Con Help Trans People in Their Lives, Written from the Perspective of a Trans Man Gavin Grimm 202

My Back-Brace Year: How I Learned to Stand Tall, Even While Hunched Kate Bigam Kaput 207

Two Tools for Powerful Relaxation Kelly Jensen 215

My Perreo de Shame Playlist Lilliam Rivera 217

Further Reading 223

Contributor Bios 227

Editorial Reviews

"Jensen expertly organizes these stories into chapters on a common theme. The experiences are relayed with equal parts honesty and knowledge. A must-have anthology collection on an evergreen topic." — SLJ, starred review

"Together, [the] contributions not only emphasize acceptance and self-love but reclaim identities like 'fat' and 'disabled' and span across gender, gender identity, race, and other intersections. Readers will find many commonalities among all these differences and may begin to embrace those differences in others and, most importantly, in themselves."
— Booklist

"Each author fully and impressively engages with their intersecting identities and the ways in which these intersections affect the way their bodies are treated by society. The anthology is a comprehensive, compulsively readable guide to growing into our bodies in a politically fraught world. A thoughtful, well-rounded anthology featuring diverse voices speaking out on essential topics."
— Kirkus Reviews

From the Publisher

★ 07/01/2020

Gr 7 Up—Jensen has collected personal narratives for a remarkable anthology that tackles various aspects of anatomy. Authors, athletes, celebrities, and other public figures share their experiences of negative self-image and how they came to terms with these feelings. Topics include visible "issues" (being overweight, having noticeable chin hairs, having scoliosis) and invisible ones (dealing with partial blindness, being Deaf, or having Crohn's disease). These individuals are not afraid to share what they have gone through and how they achieved self-acceptance. As with her previous anthologies, Jensen expertly organizes these stories into chapters on a common theme. The experiences are relayed with equal parts honesty and knowledge. Throughout the book, readers can find "Body Talk FAQs" that fit the section in which they are located. The further reading guide contains nonfiction titles and fictional works where characters contend with those topics. Teens may not find a touchstone in every story but are likely to have experienced insecurity about one or more of the subjects. VERDICT A must-have anthology collection on an evergreen topic.—Amanda Borgia, Uniondale P.L., NY

School Library Journal

2020-06-01
Although we often take them for granted, our bodies—no matter what they look like, how we feel about them, or how others feel about them—are inherently political.

This anthology edited by Jensen contains a series of personal essays describing experiences that defined the authors’ relationships with their bodies. Avid young adult readers will recognize popular authors like I.W. Gregorio, who, in her capacity as a urologist, answers frequently asked questions about penises; Anna-Marie McLemore, who writes about struggling to get a diagnosis for their severe dysmenorrhea; Eric Smith, who discusses puberty and facial hair; and Alex Gino and Julie Murphy, who reflect on their evolving relationships with fatness. The book also includes narratives from celebrities like gold-medal–winning gymnast Aly Raisman, model Tyra Banks, musician and free-bleeding marathon runner Kiran/Madame Gandhi, and trans rights activist Gavin Grimm. Each author fully and impressively engages with their intersecting identities and the ways in which these intersections affect the way their bodies are treated by society. Taken together with short FAQ sections that address everything from the difference between body positivity and fat acceptance to respectful terms to use when discussing disability, the anthology is a comprehensive, compulsively readable guide to growing into our bodies in a politically fraught world.

A thoughtful, well-rounded anthology featuring diverse voices speaking out on essential topics. (further reading, contributor bios) (Nonfiction. 14-18)

Kirkus Reviews