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A review by lolocole
Butts: A Backstory by Heather Radke
challenging
emotional
informative
reflective
medium-paced
5.0
I loved this book! The cheeky (lol) cover drew my eye, of course, but I was so charmed by the physicality of the tone, the narrative structure, and the grounded history of the butt. From etymology to eugenics, anatomy lessons and a brief history of hip-hop, following figures like Sarah Baartman, Kate Moss, and Kim Kardashian, charting the rise of aerobics and the politics of twerk... this book is so, so compelling. I loved how present Radke was in the narrative. She was not only presenting her findings but commenting on the process of discovery and the implications of this work for her own body and the bodies of people around her. It felt like a project grounded in the practice of relationally and prompted revolution.
As always, a plethora of quotes still ringing in my brain:
"One scientist I met with told me that even the thinnest women have a higher percentage of fat on their bodies than any other creature on Earth, with two exceptions: seagoing mammals, and bears just before they go into hibernation... It somehow felt powerful- we have the kind of fat that keeps enormous seagoing creatures warm in Arctic waters, the kind that could get you through winter in a cave in the woods. it also felt delightfully outside of my control" (33).
"... by arguing that peahens or humans are drawn to the physical attributes of potential mates for entirely biological reasons- health or strength or reproductive fitness- we erase the rich variety of ways that humans might be beautiful to one another and shut down the questions that we can ask about beauty" (44).
"Previously, during the Renaissance, underwear had been designed to provocatively intimate what was underneath, but during the Victorian era, the cage and corset themselves became the objects of desire, an exoskeleton built to supplant the body underneath. But if all that clothing takes the place of the woman, if her undergarments create a new layer of skin, then she is always simultaneously naked and clothed. Her body is both on top of and underneath the cages and cotton, and her body is on display. Or, at least, someone's body is on display" (89).
"The butt, and the body, was a site of joy and disruption rather than a place of prescription" (136).
"A fit body became a visual symbol of a hearty work ethic and the ability to control the self, crucial attributes in a country that had a renewed commitment to the idea that the individual controls their own destiny" (150).
"The fantasy of aerobics, and of exercise more generally, is often a fantasy of transformation and self-improvement: I will work out to become the bet version of myself, to be both the body that is controlled and the body that is doing the controlling. It is a fantasy of both hyper-responsibility and hypnotic passivity, and each side of the binary is played out in the videos themselves" (160).
"'You don't have any obligation to do exercise if you're fat or a higher-weight person. You don't have to exercise at all. But you absolutely have a right to exercise'" (165).
"A butt of steel is not a human butt; it's a butt that is manufactured, a butt that is uniform. It is a butt honed and perfected. But as we've seen again and again, bodies cannot be made uniform. Flesh always resists" (169).
"I wanted [my butt] to mean nothing, to be invisible to the people around me. I wanted to be able to walk up to a podium to give a talk and not think about what people were looking at as I approached the mic. But my body was always there, saying something, meaning something, whether I liked it or not" (246).
As always, a plethora of quotes still ringing in my brain:
"One scientist I met with told me that even the thinnest women have a higher percentage of fat on their bodies than any other creature on Earth, with two exceptions: seagoing mammals, and bears just before they go into hibernation... It somehow felt powerful- we have the kind of fat that keeps enormous seagoing creatures warm in Arctic waters, the kind that could get you through winter in a cave in the woods. it also felt delightfully outside of my control" (33).
"... by arguing that peahens or humans are drawn to the physical attributes of potential mates for entirely biological reasons- health or strength or reproductive fitness- we erase the rich variety of ways that humans might be beautiful to one another and shut down the questions that we can ask about beauty" (44).
"Previously, during the Renaissance, underwear had been designed to provocatively intimate what was underneath, but during the Victorian era, the cage and corset themselves became the objects of desire, an exoskeleton built to supplant the body underneath. But if all that clothing takes the place of the woman, if her undergarments create a new layer of skin, then she is always simultaneously naked and clothed. Her body is both on top of and underneath the cages and cotton, and her body is on display. Or, at least, someone's body is on display" (89).
"The butt, and the body, was a site of joy and disruption rather than a place of prescription" (136).
"A fit body became a visual symbol of a hearty work ethic and the ability to control the self, crucial attributes in a country that had a renewed commitment to the idea that the individual controls their own destiny" (150).
"The fantasy of aerobics, and of exercise more generally, is often a fantasy of transformation and self-improvement: I will work out to become the bet version of myself, to be both the body that is controlled and the body that is doing the controlling. It is a fantasy of both hyper-responsibility and hypnotic passivity, and each side of the binary is played out in the videos themselves" (160).
"'You don't have any obligation to do exercise if you're fat or a higher-weight person. You don't have to exercise at all. But you absolutely have a right to exercise'" (165).
"A butt of steel is not a human butt; it's a butt that is manufactured, a butt that is uniform. It is a butt honed and perfected. But as we've seen again and again, bodies cannot be made uniform. Flesh always resists" (169).
"I wanted [my butt] to mean nothing, to be invisible to the people around me. I wanted to be able to walk up to a podium to give a talk and not think about what people were looking at as I approached the mic. But my body was always there, saying something, meaning something, whether I liked it or not" (246).