Pixel Flesh by Ellen Atlanta

Readability: This was very easy to read, though I found at time the author was a little too personal and keeping track of names was a bit much.
Structure: This was just a mix of essays with decent bridges between them.
Density: 4/10

Thoughts:

Pixel Flesh was a bit of a struggle for me, I’m not going to lie. The opening chapters really focus on the the fixation many people have with things such as filler and Botox. These chapters really established that the author on this is writing from a place of privilege that made the rest of the book a little off for me. Statements like ‘No self respecting woman posts an unedited photo’ or stating that everyone in a certain age range has considered fillers/botox was very off-putting for me.

The later essays and chapters were very topical and I enjoyed those, but throughout the book small comments such as the above would appear. It felt jarring and a bit condescending at times. For those of us who don’t come from the socio-economic group she’s clearly from, these felt alienating. I feel like the goal here was to be fairly inclusive, and at the toxicity of beauty culture, instead it ended up making me feel like I was looking in at a different world for a good chunk.

Overall I did enjoy a lot of the essays, I enjoyed things she had to say! But the focus early on on expensive and what I would call ‘fancy’ treatments and treating them as common every day things was jarring and inaccurate. I would recommend for those in the industry or huge fans of the industry but casual readers looking for more on the topic might be able to find a more inclusive and friendly book elsewhere.