Do you know this skinny bitch?

[ha]

Rory Freedman interview. 'Skinny Bitch' is the best selling vegan book of all time. Get a copy and leave it lying around home, office, work etc.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ji3EvrWfG9g

[LMM]

I bloody hate that book. It does vegans no favours at all.

Hate the title, with the assumption that skinnyness is the thing to aspire to. It's marketed as a weight loss system and very young women, some of them already too thin, who want to be skinny are its main target.

Hate the bitch talk. And I don't mean the swearing/cursing. I'm as foul mouthed as the next person and don't care if other people are. I mean the sort of sexist language my generation of feminists fought to stop men using against women

Hate its tone - I spent the whole time thinking 'Who the fuck do you think you're talking to?' - the book is written as if addressed to idiots who might just learn something if they read on and try to keep up.

Very concerned about the food/menus it advises, with the huge amount of processed food and mock meats it advises - if you follow the menu plan you'll be eating it at every meal on some days. Frankly, a well-balsanced diet containing sme meat would be healthier than what this book proposes

Dubious about some of its sources ; and about some of the unsubstantiated health claims they make - such as that a vegan diet will prevent cancer.

[ha]

I think you need to read the book again. They say 'be a skinny bitch but not a scrawny bitch..'

You missed the scientific references they made. www.pcrm.org has plenty about how a wholefoods vegan diet can prevent/reverse many health conditions including cancer. So does Dr McDougalls site. www.drmcdougall.com

Skinny Bitch aims at the vanity market and its a best selling book that shows you can look good, be fit and healthy and save the animals and the planet.

[JuicyJ]

Rory lives in LA and is at all vegan events.

I believe "skinny bitch " was a marketing ploy to get people to GO VEGAN!!!
The book has tons of information about the evils of factory farms, slaughterhouses etc.

Ya ,it is a 101 and basic for the enlightened, but some people have no idea where to begin and need the push .
It provides a lot of info that they frankly don't know where to get , or how to access.
I know several people who went vegan after reading that book so YES ..it is great!

She spoke at World Fest last year and does tons of other work both big and small.
She is a big animal activist which is always a plus in my book .

[vegimator]

Reminds me of that new book "Meat's for Pussies" which is basically the male equivalent (though I think most of the sexism is in the title of that one). It's similar to PETA's advertising tactics. Simply because you're working toward bolstering the rights of one group doesn't mean you have to undermine the rights of another.

[ha]

Robert Cheeke's book 'vegan body building and fitness' is another good read.

[Gelert]

Reminds me of that new book "Meat's for Pussies" which is basically the male equivalent (though I think most of the sexism is in the title of that one). It's similar to PETA's advertising tactics. Simply because you're working toward bolstering the rights of one group doesn't mean you have to undermine the rights of another.

+1000.

It's just not the way forward.

[JP]

hard to know what "the way" is though.

This is quite expected since veganism is breaking through from the very small margin, people start doing things with it that the "original activist core" would have never done.

[LMM]

I think you need to read the book again. They say 'be a skinny bitch but not a scrawny bitch..'

You missed the scientific references they made. http://www.pcrm.org has plenty about how a wholefoods vegan diet can prevent/reverse many health conditions including cancer. So does Dr McDougalls site. http://www.drmcdougall.com

Skinny Bitch aims at the vanity market and its a best selling book that shows you can look good, be fit and healthy and save the animals and the planet.

No, I don't; as it is I'll never get back the couple of hours I spent reading it the once.

No, I didn't miss the scientific references - I just don't hold the PCRM or McDougall in very high esteem. In fact I should probably have added 'Hate thir sources' to my list.

Of course veganism doesn't prevent or reverse cancer. If it did vegans wouldn't get cancer.

My concern is for young, sometimes already too thin, women whose quest to be ever thinner led them to this book and to a belief (temporaily held as they will have found out it ain't necessarily so) that a vegan diet, however unhealthy (and that recommended by the book is far from healthy), is a weight loss programme.

In the weeks after the book’s release Victoria Beckham was to be seen ostentatiously carrying a copy.

[KaliBaby]

In the weeks after the book’s release Victoria Beckham was to be seen ostentatiously carrying a copy.

robots need to read sometimes too

[chloe]

ive never read it,but i think as with some of the less 'kosher' vehicles for 'advertising' veganism to a wider audience- like the big discussion we all had about the 'sexiest vegan' competition,-it fullfills a deffinate role in reaching a different social group that might otherwise never in a million years pick up (and keep reading) a book with this sort of imformation.
I dont know to what extent it loses its positive message because of other less positive messages it inadvertantly conveys along the way.Its not something i would ever read myself, but ive deffinately heard its being read by quite a main stream audience.Interesting to know what people here think about it!

[CoeyCoey]

I bloody hate that book. It does vegans no favours at all.

Hate the title, with the assumption that skinnyness is the thing to aspire to. It's marketed as a weight loss system and very young women, some of them already too thin, who want to be skinny are its main target.

Hate the bitch talk. And I don't mean the swearing/cursing. I'm as foul mouthed as the next person and don't care if other people are. I mean the sort of sexist language my generation of feminists fought to stop men using against women

Hate its tone - I spent the whole time thinking 'Who the fuck do you think you're talking to?' - the book is written as if addressed to idiots who might just learn something if they read on and try to keep up.

Very concerned about the food/menus it advises, with the huge amount of processed food and mock meats it advises - if you follow the menu plan you'll be eating it at every meal on some days. Frankly, a well-balsanced diet containing sme meat would be healthier than what this book proposes

Dubious about some of its sources ; and about some of the unsubstantiated health claims they make - such as that a vegan diet will prevent cancer.

I agree with everyone of your points, but that is precisely why I like the book. I didn't like the book from a readers perspective, but rather because it is "addressed to idiots who might just learn something if they read on and try to keep up" which is most of the population. It is written to the sheep who need something to follow. Most "vegan" books are written to vegans or people nearly there already.

I think the book does a great deal for veganism. I know a lot of people who have read the book and have made changes. I always view this as an opportunity to nudge them in the right direction.

[mabli]

Ive not read the book but given that 25% of UK are classed as obese, and the implications that has on resources and individual’s health I cant see a problem in promoting a healthy vegan diet as a way of maintaining a decent weight. If the hook to purchase the book is to become “skinny” and then readers are told they can aspire to a healthy lifestyle and decent weight through veganism then surely that’s good.

Folk talk about vulnerable young girls being extremely thin but that’s one in a 1,000 as opposed to 1 in 4 for obesity, obesity is a major killer.

There seem to be anecdotal evidence that some folk diagnosed with anorexia discover veganism, and find better mental and physical health in the process. Society needs to deal with people’s obsession with over or under eating and imo the vegan diet offers an ethical way of achieving this.

Fat is not a feminist issue, its a health and moral issue, folk need to maintain healthy weights for the sake of their health, the planet’s health and their nations health. Just because thinness has become aspirational as more folk become overweight doesn’t mean we should shun sustainable ideas that promote long term healthy weight.

[BlueRose]

In all honesty, that book was why I transitioned from dietary to lifestyle vegan. The description of what really goes into milk and cheese cured me forever from my cheese cravings, and I never bought anything with animal products in it from there on end.

I don't think it encourages anorexia. I will say that I frequently write blog posts like this however: http://teaaddictedgeek.tumblr.com/post/ ... s-work-for

[luckyshot]

I've read it and I own a copy, and although I didn't attempt a vegan diet until a few years after reading it, I have to admit it got the wheels turning, especially with the emphasis it puts on the horrors of the meat/dairy industry. This was the first I'd ever read about anything like that, and it was shocking. I agree with the point that the menu pretty much sucks. In fact, i didn't attempt a vegan diet at that time because of the menu.

I recently read Alicia Silverstone's The Kind Diet and shockingly, I loved it! Extremely informative and the recipes she shares as well as the balanced diet she advocates are, in my opinion, incredible! For anyone who hated the in-your-face, "mean girl" tone of Skinny Bitch, I think you will really like The Kind Diet, as it seems to be written from a place of love and compassion that really shines through.