Unsqueezed: Springing Free from Skinny Jeans, Nose Jobs, Highlights and Stilettos, By Margot Starbuck alt

Unsqueezed

Springing Free from Skinny Jeans, Nose Jobs, Highlights and Stilettos

by Margot Starbuck

Unsqueezed
ebook
  • Length: 237 pages
  • Published: June 04, 2010
  • Imprint: IVP
  • Item Code: 6747
  • ISBN: 9780830867479

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Ever check the mirror and wonder if you look good enough? Do you choose your clothes to disguise your flaws? Do you sometimes think plastic surgery might be the only way for you to feel good about your body? Do you ever feel squeezed into someone else's mold?

Come and join Margot Starbuck in her journey to become unsqueezed! In twenty-seven brief, funny and reflective chapters she helps us discover why God really gave us bodies and what we can do with them to serve him and others.

Jump out of that suffocating mold and discover what your body is really for.

"Unsqueeze from the skinny jeans and enjoy the humor, stories and practical tips Margot has squeezed into these pages instead! This is a book for real women who have real thighs, real pimples and real issues with accepting the bodies God gave them. Margot assures and reassures us of God's amazing love for us just the way we are. Couch pants, here I come!"

Amy Nappa, author of Thirsty

"Margot Starbuck is one unique cookie. And her countercultural message says you are too so ditch the 'culture's insane enslavement to physical beauty' and get on with getting okay with yourself, just the way you are. In a quirky, often funny, über real and refreshing altogether unhomogenized voice she lays out an argument against valuing bodies for how they appear. Unsqueezed is unsettling. Even if you disagree on some of her points, she provokes thought. The writing also surprises—in a book on body image she manages to address social justice. Fantastic. Cheers to Margot."

Lindsey O'Connor, author of Moms Who Changed the World

"Margot Starbuck reminds us of what's most important: being who God made us to be. That's a truth any young adult, woman or man struggling with body image will never forget."

Michelle LaRowe Conover, 2004 INA Nanny of the Year and author of Nanny to the Rescue! Series

"In a time of rising cultural backlash against unrealistic standards of beauty and value, Margot Starbuck is a fun, fresh voice. And a true woman."

Constance Rhodes, CEO, FINDINGbalance, and cofounder and director, True Campaign (truecampaign.org)

"What are bodies for? With wit and humor Margot Starbuck answers this question and shows us our distorted thinking in regard to our female bodies. With gentle prodding she shows us how to see our bodies through God's eyes. She helps us laugh at ourselves without ever laughing at us. Give this book to your girlfriends and you will start a conversation about the beauty dilemma that plagues Christian women."

Lilian Calles Barger, author of Eve's Revenge

"This book is brilliant! Since beginning to work with eating disorders I've read a lot of books out there on women's relationships with food and their bodies. I found Unsqueezed honest, insightful, challenging and laugh-out-loud funny. It is now at the top of my list for books on food and body image issues. Margot writes with authenticity, heart and a thoroughly biblical understanding of how God designed us to understand the human body. I highly recommend it."

Travis Stewart, ministry relations, Remuda Ranch Treatment Center

"Margot Starbuck navigates the complexities of self-image, appearance, our bodies and beauty with humor, insight and wisdom. Get ready to be both entertained and moved. You will be laughing out loud one moment, then suddenly challenged with biblical truths that will transform your thinking and inspire change. Reading Unsqueezed is a truly liberating experience."

Ann Capper, R.D., C.D.N., nutrition editor, FINDINGbalance.com, and author of Big Thighs, Tight Jeans (Should Jan Go on a Diet?)

"One of the best books I've seen that gives genuine encouragement to women regarding who they are and becoming all that God wants them to be. I love the emphasis placed on relationship rather than appearance. Every woman in the world needs the truth found in these pages!"

Susie Shellenberger, editor of SUSIE Magazine

"Occasionally, someone comes along and challenges you to think—really think—about what it means to follow Jesus in this body you've been given. Unsqueezed did what a book really ought to do: it made me think. This book is the best sort of 'ouch.'"

Paula Rinehart, author of What's He Really Thinking?

"Margot Starbuck finally says what all of us are thinking and, with God obviously whispering in her ear, tells us what to do with it. A must-read for any woman of any age who has ever wrestled with her body image. And who hasn't?"

Nancy Rue, author of Everybody Tells Me to Be Myself but I Don't Know Who I Am

"In twenty-seven brief, funny and reflective chapters [Starbuck] helps us discover why God really gave us bodies and what we can do with them."

Jonathan Broscious, "What's New on the Bookshelf,", WRGN, February 11, 2011

"Starbuck responds to societal pressure to strive for physical perfection with this lighthearted and laid-back book. She's no stranger to the influence of advertising and honestly shares her struggles to avoid falling into a snare. Ultimately, Starbuck observes, God loves His creations just as they are, and artificial means aren't required to maintain a relationship with the heavenly Father."

Elizabeth Wisz, CBA Retailers Resources, July 2010
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CONTENTS

Introduction: A Third Way

Part One: The Problem

1 LIES: Digital Fluff and Other Modern Temptations
2 SHAME: What's Particularly Devilish About Hollywood Makeovers
3 MARKETING: Shame Sells, and We're Buying It
4 TEMPTATION: Even Jesus was Tempted by Carbs
5 JUDGMENT: My Butt Is Ranwd
6 GLUTTONY: Enough Really Is Enough
7 OBJECTIFICATION: How Women Agree with Our Thingification
8 SELF-PREOCCUPATION: The Boiling Frog Syndrome


Part Two: The Purpose

9 FREEDOM: Chain Saw Liberation
10 VALUE: Living into a New Reality
11 RECOGNIZABILITY: Water Park Epiphany
12 FUNCTION: JD's Fabulous Breasts and Other Useful Body Parts
13 CELEBRATION: Embracing Our Queenliness
14 NEED-MEETING: The Life-Changing Day I Actually Needed a Milkshake
15 ACCEPTANCE: Unfortunate Stereotypes and the Lies We Believe
16 LOVE: Christian Bumper Fish
17 TOUCH: "Burrito Me!"
18 RELATIONSHIP: The Truth About Bodies You Won't Hear About on MTV


Part Three: The Plan

19 MISSION: The Look of Unconditional Love and Acceptance
20 IMAGE-BEARING: "Yep, You Belong Together"
21 MOVEMENT: Some Tough Questions About Simulated Exercise
22 OTHER-CENTEREDNESS: Skating Grandma, Rap Mama, and the Pigment-Deficient
23 JUSTICE: From Doritos to Discipleship
24 MINDFULNESS: Why I?m Most Jazzed About My Fabulous Couch Pants
25 AUTHENTICITY: B Who U R
26 FRIENDSHIP: I Get by with a Little Help from My Friends
27 PRACTICES: The Next Thing

Epilogue: Sermon on a Twenty-First Century Mountain
Resources
Group Discussion Questions
About the Author

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Margot Starbuck

Margot Starbuck is a writer and speaker who cares deeply about what it means to follow Jesus in the sneakers, pumps, or Doc Martens in which we find ourselves. She is passionate about communicating God's great love for the worldinextricably bound to God's love for individualsin print and in speech. Margot studied art at Westmont College in Santa Barbara, California. At the beach and in dorm rooms, she began to notice the bind in which women find themselves today, specifically as they're pinched by the culture's insistence on the value of appearances. She was further equipped to process these issues theologically at Princeton Seminary. Today, Margot continues to be energized by the kingdom reality of God's big plan for our bodies which have been called good.