by Anne Elizabeth Moore
The Feminist Press
4/18/2023, paperback
SKU: 9781558612860
Whether for entertainment, under the guise of medicine, or to propel consumerism, heinous acts are perpetrated daily on women's bodies. In Body Horror: Capitalism, Fear, Misogyny, Jokes, award-winning journalist Anne Elizabeth Moore catalogs the global toll of capitalism on our physical autonomy. Weaving together unflinching research and surprising humor, these essays range from investigative--probing the Cambodian garment industry, the history of menstrual products, or the gender biases of patent law--to uncomfortably intimate. Informed by her own navigation of several autoimmune diagnoses, Moore examines what it takes to seek care and community in the increasingly complicated, problematic, and disinterested US healthcare system.
A Lambda Literary Award finalist and a Chicago Review of Books Nonfiction Award shortlist title, Body Horror is "sharp, shocking, and darkly funny... Brainy and historically informed, this collection is less a rallying cry or a bitter diatribe than a series of irreverent and ruthlessly accurate jabs at a culture that is slowly devouring us" ( Publishers Weekly, starred review). Featuring an updated introduction and new essays, as well as illustrations by Xander Marro, this new edition of Body Horror is a fascinating, insightful portrait of the gore that encapsulates contemporary American politics.
Reviews:
"An exploration of misogyny unlike any I've ever read, this reissued and updated volume brings us again into the excellence of Anne Elizabeth Moore's research and ability as a historian. She writes with wit, wry humor, and the instincts of a detective-novelist-cum-muckraking-journalist. In Body Horror, Moore brings us stories that will never leave us alone again." -- Riva Lehrer, artist and author of Golem Girl: A Memoir
"Moore also holds the serious alongside the hilarious, and the clarity and intelligence of her prose illuminates both. Original, funny, and brilliant, this book outmaneuvers, outshines, and will outlive so many memoirs that seek to cover the same tenuous ground." -- Kerri Arsenault, Orion Magazine
"Moore infuses this memoir with keenly researched insights about the historical forces that created Detroit's (and America's) housing crisis, creating a heartfelt, funny, thought-provoking meditation on the multifaceted fallacy of the American Dream." --Booklist (starred review)
About the Author:
Anne Elizabeth Moore was born in Winner, SD. She is the author of Unmarketable, the Eisner Award-winning Sweet Little Cunt, Gentrifier: A Memoir, which was an NPR Best Book of the Year, and others. She is the founding editor of Houghton Mifflin's Best American Comics and the former editor of Punk Planet, The Comics Journal, and the Chicago Reader. She has received support from the National Endowment for the Arts, the New York State Council on the Arts, and the Ragdale Foundation. She is a Fulbright Senior Scholar, has taught in the Visual Critical Studies department at the School of the Art Institute of Chicago, and was the 2019 Mackey Chair of Creative Writing at Beloit College. She lives in the Catskills with her ineffective feline personal assistants, Taku and Captain America.