Granted, we do write about these two topics a lot. It requires a far higher level of empathy, understanding and nuance than most issues about which we write. But that’s why I recommend “Hunger” to health journalists: Gay offers insight into experiencing two of the most incredibly challenging, complex and pressing issues of our time. Such intense honesty is rare even in memoirs, and it was hard not to wince during various passages. I’ve used the words “raw” and “intimate” already to describe this book, but I cannot use them enough. I listened to it in the privacy of my car.)
(I suggest being in a location and/or among people who can help you deal with unexpected emotional fallout. This section (and some others) may be too triggering for some people, so as I warned earlier, readers or listeners should exercise self-care when reading or listening to this book. She graphically recounts the details of this sexual assault, which she considers the stimulus for the excess eating that led to her weight gain. The other major issue Gay confronts in the book is a gang rape that took place when she was 12 years old. I would go so far as to say that what she shares is essential for journalists who interview patients with obesity to hear and consider. Her intimate narrative provides insights into the patient perspective that journalists may rarely get even when interviewing patients. Health reporters who cover obesity issues should be aware of this bias. She describes a bias against people with obesity by health care providers (and its implications for obtaining adequate health care) that are well documented in the research literature.
I recently gained a lot more empathy for large people when I joined the club (part of my motivation for reading the book). Gay describes some experiences that I have had myself. For Gay, both issues are intimately and inextricably connected as she relates a raw, difficult tale that offers insight and an opportunity for empathy development beneficial for any reporter writing about these issues.īy medical definition, Gay would be considered “super morbidly obese,” but she prefers to call herself “fat.” She is highly critical of both the medical community’s treatment of extremely large people and what she perceives as a public health “hysteria” over the “obesity epidemic.” While I did not agree with everything she writes on this topic, I found myself nodding along more often than shaking my head. Gay describes her book as a “memoir of her body.” It’s a body that has wrangled for decades with two issues frequently in the headlines and covered by medical journalists: obesity and sexual assault. (My reason for saying “if they are able” will become apparent shortly.) I think it’s a book every health journalist ought to consider reading if they are able. It was not an easy book to listen to, but I’m so glad that I did - both personally and for my work as a journalist. I recently made an exception on a friend’s recommendation and listened to the audiobook of Roxane Gay’s “ Hunger,” as read by the author (which was important and relevant given its content).
I read (and write) nonfiction all day long, so most of my me-time pleasure reading is limited to fiction. Content note: This blog post mentions sexual assault.