books

According to Jessica Weiner, 40 percent of elementary school girls are on diets. It's a shocking statistic until you think about all of the women you know who hate their bodies—that shit has to start somewhere, right? In her latest book, Do I Look Fat in This? (Simon Spotlight Entertainment), Weiner posits that it all begins with the Language of Fat, a way of speaking that has become second nature to most women: We learn it at home, at school, in the media, from our friends, from everyone. And the only way to stop speaking it is to recondition ourselves through the Language of Self-Love. Admittedly, Weiner veers into self-help babble-land a little too often (she is a self-described Actionist, and yes, the title-casing is all hers), and her theories on how to combat a culture of body loathing may seem simplistic to a reader who has spent her entire life counting calories. But she has an astute and engaging way of deconstructing the ingrained and wholly accepted way that women interact with one another, one that will make even the most self-assured woman take a hard, critical look at the way she views herself and her body.

Jessica Weiner reads and signs Wed., March 1, 7 p.m., free, Penn Bookstore, 3601 Walnut St., 215-898-7595.