My Belly

Exploring Why It's So Hard for Women to Love Their Bodies

Hilde stby, Lucy Moffatt

$24.99

Paperback

Not in-store but you can order this
How long will it take?

Availability Information

We source books from suppliers in Australia and overseas. For books we don't currently have in stock, the time it takes to get them from our suppliers can vary widely - from a few days to a few months - so we check each book with each supplier to determine the expected time it will take to be supplied to us.

We then advise you accordingly. If the time taken to get any book is too long for you, you can let us know and we will cancel or adjust your order, and refund as required.

To find out the anticipated arrival time for specific items prior to ordering, please contact us by phone or email:

Phone +61 2 9264 3111, or 1800 4 BOOKS (1800 4 26657) if outside Sydney:
option 1 Abbey's Bookshop (Crime, History, Science, Kids & more) • info@abbeys.com.au
option 2 Language Book Centre (ESL & Foreign Languages) • language@abbeys.com.au
option 3 Galaxy Bookshop (Sci-fi, Fantasy, Romance, Graphic Novels) • sf@galaxybooks.com.au

QTY:

English

Greystone Books,Canada
01 September 2024

Autobiography: general; Gender studies: women; Coping with personal problems

If my hatred of my belly was a person, she would be old enough to have completed a lengthy education and given me grandchildren.

An unflinching and feminist portrait of one woman's obsession with her belly and the cultural and social norms that feed that obsession

for readers of Nora Ephron's classic memoir I Feel Bad About My Neck.

Hilde stby is an acclaimed cultural critic and successful writer living in Norway. At the start of My Belly, she is on tour in London, promoting her latest book about the culture and science of memory. As she poses for a photograph for the London Times, she silently worries about how her belly will look on the front page of the Arts section. Later, she realises how ridiculous this is: she's being celebrated for an intellectual achievement, and yet all she can focus on is her belly.

How did a girl from an academic home, where intellect came before looks, find herself in this position? As Hilde approaches her 45th birthday, she calculates that she's spent 30 years obsessing over her belly. If she had spent that time writing books instead, she would have written the equivalent of Knaussgard's My Struggle. All six volumes.

How can we stop obsessing over our bodies and claim back our time? We can start by understanding who and what led us to this place. In My Belly, Hilde explores the original reason she began hating her body: at fifteen, she was sexually abused. She also examines patriarchal attitudes towards women's bodies, and delves into diets, revealing that by the time most women reach her age, they have tried 61 diets.

Drawing on philosophy, neurology, sociology, literature, and popular culture, as well as her own dark truths, Hilde offers an honest look at an obsession that seems to have plagued women for centuries. Readers will come away with laughter, anger, tears, and a new perspective on their own unique struggles.

'Hilde stby says she's never entered a room without thinking about her belly. She can't stand it...

So [she] decided to really examine why she spent most of her adult life hating how she looked.'

NPR Weekend Edition

By: Hilde stby
Translated by: Lucy Moffatt
Imprint: Greystone Books,Canada
Country of Publication: Canada
Dimensions: Height: 203mm, Width: 127mm,
ISBN: 9781778400001
ISBN 10: 1778400000
Pages: 160
Publication Date: 01 September 2024
Audience: General/trade , ELT Advanced
Format: Paperback
Publisher's Status: Active

Hilde stby is the author of the international nonfiction bestseller, Adventures in Memory, with her sister Ylva, and, most recently, The Key to Creativity. Her books have been translated into twenty different languages. She lives in Oslo, Norway.