If my hatred of my belly was a person she would be old enough to have completed a lengthy
education and given me grandchildren. An unflinching and feminist portrait of one woman's
obsession with her belly and the cultural and social norms that feed that obsession--for
readers of Nora Ephron's classic memoir I Feel Bad About My Neck. Hilde Ostby says she's never
entered a room without thinking about her belly. She can't stand it. ... So [she] decided to
really examine why she spent most of her adult life hating how she looked.-NPR Weekend Edition
Hilde Ostby is an acclaimed cultural critic and successful writer living in Norway. At the
start of My Belly she is on tour in London promoting her latest book about the culture and
science of memory. As she poses for a photograph for the London Times she silently worries
about how her belly will look on the front page of the Arts section. Later she realizes how
ridiculous this is: she's being celebrated for an intellectual achievement and yet all she can
focus on is her belly. How did a girl from an academic home where intellect came before looks
find herself in this position? As Hilde approaches her 45th birthday she calculates that she's
spent 30 years obsessing over her belly. If she had spent that time writing books instead she
would have written the equivalent of Knaussgard's My Struggle. All six volumes. How can we stop
obsessing over our bodies and claim back our time? We can start by understanding who and what
led us to this place. In My Belly Hilde explores the original reason she began hating her
body: at fifteen she was sexually abused. She also examines patriarchal attitudes towards
women's bodies and delves into diets revealing that by the time most women reach her age
they have tried 61 diets. Drawing on philosophy neurology sociology literature and popular
culture as well as her own dark truths Hilde offers an honest look at an obsession that seems
to have plagued women for centuries. Readers will come away with laughter anger tears and a
new perspective on their own unique struggles.
