Tuesday, May 22, 2007

We Say It So Often It's a Book Title

Another installment in the littlem series. . .


*does variation on Peanuts happy dance*

Would you believe there is a book called “Honey, Does This Make My Butt Look Big?” by a therapist named Lydia Hanich?

What I love is, as the Editorial Reviews blurb on the book says, that it helps couples to deal with issues such as “appearance, weight, food, exercise, sexuality, and eating disorders.”

That pretty much covers the spectrum, doesn’t it?

Because the thoughts in our own heads aren’t always the only problem. Sometimes our beloved S.O.'s say and do stuff, based on their own conditioning, that can be, absolutely, say it with me – "part of the problem."

What I also love is that it offers not only various scenarios, responses, and WHY they might or might not be the "right" or "wrong" thing to say when asked a question like that.

I think that really works for folks (seems like they’re generally men – it really does feel like we’re speaking two different languages some days, doesn’t it?) who want to assuage the distress that a significant other might be feeling over body image, but can’t answer without feeling – this time paraphrasing the author herself in the blurb on the back of the book -- just like that "animal caught in the headlights." Ha!

What I don’t love quite as much is that, as universal an issue as this seems to be, it took me two years to find this book – because, as you’ve probably figured out by now, I believe there are elements in our society that work directly against our being able to deal with these problems. But that’s a different subject for a different post.

Today is a happy post day. Woo-hoo!!!

I have politely demanded that all my local bookstores order it immediately, but if you just can’t wait, you can order it here from Amazon.

3 comments:

Anonymous said...

OK, I will surely be "odd woman out" here but I am disturbed by this book and its title. It seems to encourage more focus on weight and "how do I look" conversations within relationships. I do not ever ask a man whether something makes me look fat, or old, or whatever. It just comes off as so insecure, and at the same time insincere ("please say no, please say no, or I"ll get upset), and really, do you EVER expect him to say "Yeah, honey, it makes your butt look HUGE"? No. Such conversations are better left out, imho.

Sarah said...

I just read an article, I think in Elle, that was titled "Yes, you do look fat in that." Ugh!

Laur said...

"Ugh!" is right (sarah)