Critical Bodies

1. Front Matter

   Pages i-xii

   PDF

2. Introducing Critical Bodies: Representations, Identities and Practices of Weight and Body Management

   1. Introducing Critical Bodies: Representations, Identities and Practices of Weight and Body Management

      • Pirkko Markula, Maree Burns, Sarah Riley

      Pages 1-22

3. Representations and Constructions of Body Weight and Body Management

   1. Front Matter

      Pages 23-26

      PDF

   2. Deconstructing Un/Healthy Body-weight and Weight Management

      • Helen Malson

      Pages 27-42

   3. ‘I Feel Ridiculous about Having Had It’ — Critical Readings of Lived and Mediated Stories on Eating Disorders

      • Paula Saukko

      Pages 43-59

   4. Learning to Be Healthy, Dying to Be Thin: The Representation of Weight via Body Perfection Codes in Schools

      • Emma Rich, John Evans

      Pages 60-76

4. Constructing Embodied Identities

   1. Front Matter

      Pages 77-80

      PDF

   2. Starving in Cyberspace: The Construction of Identity on ‘Pro-eating-disorder’ Websites

      • Katy Day, Tammy Keys

      Pages 81-100

   3. Body Talk: Negotiating Body Image and Masculinity

      • Rosalind Gill

      Pages 101-116

   4. Feminist Object Relations Theory and Eating ‘Disorders’

      • Colleen Heenan

      Pages 117-133

5. Meanings of Body Management Practices: Women’s Experiences

   1. Front Matter

      Pages 135-138

      PDF

   2. Dis/Orders of Weight Control: Bulimic and/or ‘Healthy Weight’ Practices

      • Maree Burns, Nicola Gavey

      Pages 139-154

   3. Sustaining Imbalance — Evidence of Neglect in the Pursuit of Nutritional Health

      • Lucy Aphramor, Jacqui Gingras

      Pages 155-174

   4. Older and Younger Women’s Experiences of Commercial Weight Loss

      • Debra Gimlin

      Pages 175-192

6. Critical Bodies: Discourses of Health, Gender and Consumption

   1. Critical Bodies: Discourses of Health, Gender and Consumption

      • Sarah Riley, Hannah Frith, Sally Wiggins, Pirkko Markula, Maree Burns

      Pages 193-203

7. Back Matter

   Pages 204-206

   PDF

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.

• gender
• nutrition
• object relations theory

'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

• University of Bath, UK

  Sarah Riley

• Eating Difficulties Education Network, Auckland, New Zealand

  Maree Burns

• University of Plymouth, UK

  Hannah Frith

• University of Strathclyde, Glasgow, UK

  Sally Wiggins

• University of Alberta, Canada

  Pirkko Markula

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

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