Body Phobia: The Western Roots of Our Fear of Difference

Americans’ anxiety about their bodies stems from the Protestant theology under which the country was founded, according to this rigorous outing from Anderson (In Transit). They argue that the evangelical idea that earthly life is temporary and bodies are simply vessels drives Americans’ “fear of the reality of the body,” especially those that deviate from prevailing standards of thinness, whiteness, and “abled-ness.” That fear, Anderson contends, determines who gets to be perceived as more than a body—in other words, whose full humanity is respected—and who is “confined to... and forced to reckon with” their physical self and its cultural associations at all times. Tracing the roots of bodily phobias in the U.S., Anderson unravels how a culture rooted in “Christian temperance” frames fat bodies as symbols of “overindulgence,” and how a cisgender culture views trans bodies as flouting the rules that govern “God-given,” gendered bodies. Enriching the account with their personal experiences of seeking medical care as a fat person and a trans person, Anderson makes a persuasive case for how the body functions as a site of fear and fascination. It’s an eye-opener. (Sept.)