Love’s Executioner

Wow Irving Yalom sure lets his disdain toward fat people fly in this book, huh? One of the therapy narratives toward the middle of the book is about him trying to get over his fatphobia to be a good therapist to a fat woman who’s come to him, and I guess theoretically he does, but the way he tells the story, it’s like he’s languorously relishing these extended descriptions of how grossed out he is by her, and how gross he imagines her body is; he conflates and conflates and conflates her body with her morals, and her personality, and blames her for the fact that she’s fat; he gloats over the fact that once he gets over his fatphobia (let’s be clear that he doesn’t use the word fatphobia) she starts losing weight. It’s pretty gross. There areother gross things here but I read it a couple weeks ago and don’t really remember what. I think I wanted him to be more upset at the guy who was being gross to sexual assault survivors, but that’s not the thing I’m trying to remember. Who cares.

I read this ’cause I’m a little bit obsessed with the therapy process right now and it was interesting but ugh I wish that therapist in the bay who helps people with like activist burnout and non-monogamous relationship counseling- I don’t remember her name- had written it.

Also stfu spellchecker fatphobia is too a word. Who are you, Dr. Irving Yalom?