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  • The Body Is Not an Apology, Second Edition

  • The Power of Radical Self-Love
  • By: Sonya Renee Taylor
  • Narrated by: Sonya Renee Taylor
  • Length: 5 hrs and 11 mins
  • 4.6 out of 5 stars (97 ratings)

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The Body Is Not an Apology, Second Edition

By: Sonya Renee Taylor
Narrated by: Sonya Renee Taylor
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Summary

“To build a world that works for everyone, we must first make the radical decision to love every facet of ourselves.... ‘The body is not an apology’ is the mantra we should all embrace.” (Kimberlé Crenshaw, legal scholar and founder and executive director, African American Policy Forum)

Humans are a varied and divergent bunch with all manner of beliefs, morals, and bodies. Systems of oppression thrive off our inability to make peace with difference and injure the relationship we have with our own bodies.

The Body Is Not an Apology offers radical self-love as the balm to heal the wounds inflicted by these violent systems. World-renowned activist and poet Sonya Renee Taylor invites us to reconnect with the radical origins of our minds and bodies and celebrate our collective, enduring strength. As we awaken to our own indoctrinated body shame, we feel inspired to awaken others and to interrupt the systems that perpetuate body shame and oppression against all bodies. When we act from this truth on a global scale, we usher in the transformative opportunity of radical self-love, which is the opportunity for a more just, equitable, and compassionate world - for us all.

This second edition includes stories from Taylor’s travels around the world combating body terrorism and shines a light on the path toward liberation guided by love. In a brand new final chapter, she offers specific tools, actions, and resources for confronting racism, sexism, ableism, homophobia, and transphobia. And she provides a case study showing how radical self-love not only dismantles shame and self-loathing in us but has the power to dismantle entire systems of injustice. Together with the accompanying workbook, Your Body Is Not an Apology, Taylor brings the practice of radical self-love to life.

©2018, 2021 Sonya Renee Taylor (P)2021 Sonya Renee Taylor
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What listeners say about The Body Is Not an Apology, Second Edition

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Life saving

I dream of a world where everyone will have read this amazing, kind and so human book and embraced radical self love for their own and everyone else’s benefit. A deep revolution is possible and it starts with Sonya Renee Taylor’s words and tools. Thank you!!!!

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fantastic

fantastic fantastic?? fantastic fantastic fantastic did I say fantastic?? idk umm fantastic? yes fantastic. fantastic.

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4 people found this helpful

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powerful

this is required listening for everyone with a body. I loved it absolutely. the message and the book were amazing.

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So very important

This is such a very important book that all need to read, thank you Sonya.

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  • Overall
    5 out of 5 stars

This will hit you down to the core

I heard Sonya on Brené Brown's podcast and downloaded this audio book immediately (after checking to make sure Sonya narrated it, her energy is infectious). I then proceeded to dedicate my whole day to it. That all sounds extreme, but Sonya has that way about her, where you can't stop listening/reading. The title alone was enough to stop me in my tracks, but the power of this book doesn't end there. This isn't just a 'how to love yourself' more book, though that may be a side effect. This is a pulling back of the guises that we've been wearing, as humans living in a capitalist world. Sonya shares how deep that 'apology' can run, how cornered into spaces we are without being aware of it, how much of this is how we feel about others, as well as ourselves. I am so much more clued in to myself now, as if Sonya has shown me the thorn in my side that I couldn't find before. I'm very grateful to have found my way to this book!

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A hug in book form

I love this. Sonya has done an incredible job with both beating you down a little, and building you back up again. I love it, I even ordered a physical copy to highlight and annotate and would really recommend doing the same. The audiobook is really well narrated and helps to digest a tough topic for so many of us. I know I'll keep returning to this again and again, and I expect my physical copy will probably be shared around a fair bit too! :)

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vital reading ...

... for anyone who wants to live in a more inclusive and compassionate world

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Most powerful self love book I've listened to

Really opened my eyes to the wider socioeconomic implications of where body image comes from. I'd never before considered me personally adhering to a beauty standard (or wanting to) is upholding standards that marginalised other races and types of bodies including disabled ones. Really effective and I think a big platform for change for me and the way I think, thank you so much for writing this

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Incredible

Highly recommend

I so wish this type of book had been available 40 years ago

Would have saved me decades of anguish.

Simply brilliant

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upsetting but needs reading

Body shame is very real and is something I believe most people have experienced. From the bouncer who tells you you're not all that to look at as you a trying to help a drunk friend to the people who try to rip your inner soul to shreds because you are 'lovely but...' or 'you have it easy' 'you look so perfect' or 'you're so educated'. Or a workman who thinks it's ok to say hmmm yeah your bodies great, your bums a bit big but thats a good thing and you are flat on top...to which I didn't even bother saying I'm wearing a sports bra because who asked if he likes my 'form' anyway!!

From massaging I have seen so many beautiful people of different shapes and sizes and they are perfect advocates of why body's should be whatever they are meant to be and how that individual wants to enhance (or not).

I'm about if you are healthy in the sense of being able to carry out your day with ease.

I like Deepok Chopra as he says all this without kinda making me feel quite so shitty about the world we live in.

I found myself becoming very down listening to this but I stuck at it as she deserves to be heard. I like that she showed ways to be a decent human being. I found it so sad that we live in a world that needs this spelled out. I did learn from it and was glad to realise alot of it is stuff taught in meditation etc I also learnt why terminology was changed and agree with the reasoning.

I am lucky to have been brought up in an education system from the age of 5 where we were very diverse. Although it was a different issue. It wasn't body shame at that school, it was keep up with the learning speed or you are dumb culture and I was the one shamed by classmates, teachers and others! so I guess I was the one with the disability. I was given great coping mechanisms and it rarely holds me back as I find ways.

I love that the author is about the individual. That matters and I should listen again and has made me speak up more when people slag off other people who are trying their best to look good. who gives them the right to say if they look good or not and why is there not more emphasis on being a decent human being?!

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