Critical Bodies: Representations, Identities, and Practices of Weight and Body Management / Edition 1

by S. Riley, M. Burns, H. Frith, S. Wiggins, P. Markula

Overview

Using work produced from the critical and postmodern arena in social sciences, this book examines three key areas - representation, identities and practice - to explore and interrogate how body and weight management, subjectivities, experiences and practices are constituted within and by the normative discourses of contemporary western culture.

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9780230517738
Publisher:	Palgrave Macmillan UK
Publication date:	02/05/2008
Edition description:	2008
Pages:	206
Product dimensions:	5.51(w) x 8.50(h) x 0.03(d)

About the Author

LUCY APHRAMOR is a Senior Health Promotion Specialist in Diet and Cardiovascular Health, and Senior Research Assistant at the Applied Research Centre, Coventry University, UK
KATY DAY Senior Lecturer in Psychology, Leeds Metropolitan University, UK
JOHN EVANS Professor of Sociology of Education and Physical Education, School of Sport and Exercise Sciences, Loughborough University
ROSALIND GILL Professor of Social Psychology and Cultural Theory, Open University, UK
DEBRA GIMLIN Lectures in Sociology, University of Aberdeen, UK
JACQUE GINGRAS Assistant Professor, Ryerson University, School of Nutrition, Toronto, Canada
COLLEEN HEENAN is a Psychotherapist and University Lecturer
TAMMY KEYS graduated from Leeds Metropolitan University, UK, in 2003 with Joint Honours in Psychology and Sociology
HELEN MALSON Reader in Social Psychology, Centre for Appearance Research and School of Psychology, University of West of England, Bristol, UK
NICOLA GAVEY Department of Psychology, University of Auckland, New Zealand
EMMA RICH Lecturer in Physical Education, Gender, Identity and Health, School of Sport and Exercise Sciences, Loughborough University, UK
PAULA SAUKKO Senior Lecturer in the ESRC-Centre for Genomics in Society, University of Exeter, UK

Table of Contents

Introducing Critical Bodies: Representations, Practices and Identities of Weight and Body Management; P.Markula , M.Burns & S.Riley SECTION 1: Representations and Constructions of Body Weight and Body Management; S.Wiggins Deconstructing Un/healthy Body Weight and Weight Management; H.Malson 'I Feel Ridiculous About Having Had It': Critical Readings of Lived and Mediated Stories on Eating Disorders; P.Saukko Learning to be Healthy, Dying to be Thin: The Representation of Weight Via Body Perfection Codes in Schools; E.Rich, & J.Evans SECTION 2: Constructing Embodied Identities; H.Frith Starving in Cyberspace: The Construction of Identity on 'Pro-eating-disorder' Websites; K.Day & T.Keys Body Talk: Negotiating Body Image and Masculinity; R.Gill Feminist Object Relations Theory and Eating 'Disorders'; C.Heenan SECTION 3: Meanings of Body Management Practices: Women's Experiences; P.Markula Dis/Orders of Weight Control: Bulimic and/or 'Healthy Weight' Practices; M.Burns & N.Gavey Sustaining Imbalance - Evidence of Neglect in the Pursuit of Nutritional Health; L.Aphramor & J.Gingras Older and Younger Women's Experiences of Commercial Weight Loss; D.Gimlin Critical Bodies: Discourses of Health, Gender and Consumption; S.Riley , H. Frith , S.Wiggins, P.Markula & M.Burns

Editorial Reviews

'The book demonstrates the persuasive power that inter- and multi-disciplinary discursive research can have when different versions are brought coherently to bear on an interconnected area of research. It will be of use to all researchers, and advanced students, who are interested in food, gender, the body, and, in particular, their pathologization under a medical gaze.' - Joseph Burridge, Discourse& Society

'The editorial group have successfully pulled together a coherent and diverse collection of nine chapters that offer a considerable breadth of material in relation to the, mainly but not exclusively, female body. Size, weight and the practices which produce and reproduce normative and rigid standards of desirable bodies are the central concerns.' - Liz Frost, Sociology of Health and Illness

'Critical Bodies is a well-structured text that presents a set of sophisticated, contemporary analyses of representations, identities and practices of weight and body management. The book contextualises body management practices in current health and gender related discourses, and provides a convincing account of the centrality of socio-political power dynamics in the production of embodiment.' - Lilliana del Busso, Journal of Community & Applied Social Psychology

From the Publisher