Since 1998, The Politics of Women's Bodies: Sexuality, Appearance, and Behavior has served as the premiere text in the area of women and the body. This revised and updated fourth edition brings together recent (and a few classic) critical writings in this important field. The selections reflect three themes: how ideas about women's bodies in the United States are socially constructed, how these social constructions can be used to control women's lives, and how women attempt to resist these forces. Exceptionally well-written and edited to be accessible and pedagogically friendly, the articles in this collection cover a wide range of topics while paying attention to class, ethnicity, disability, body size, and sexual orientation.

The Politics of Women's Bodies: Sexuality, Appearance, and Behavior

Politics & Social Sciences

Weitz, Rose

Kwan, Samantha

Social Sciences

Oxford University Press

According to public health officials, obesity poses significant health risks and has become a modern-day epidemic. A closer look at this so-called epidemic, however, suggests that there are multiple perspectives on the fat body, not all of which view obesity as a health hazard. Alongside public health officials at the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention are advertisers of the fashion-beauty complex, food industry advocates at the Center for Consumer Freedom, and activists at the National Association to Advance Fat Acceptance. Framing Fat takes a bird’s-eye view of how these multiple actors construct the fat body by identifying the messages these groups put forth, particularly where issues of beauty, health, choice and responsibility, and social justice are concerned. Samantha Kwan and Jennifer Graves examine how laypersons respond to these conflicting messages and illustrate the gendered, raced, and classed implications within them. In doing so, they shed light on how dominant ideas about body fat have led to the moral indictment of body nonconformists, essentially “framing” them for their fat bodies.

Framing Fat: Competing Constructions in Contemporary Culture

Graves, Jennifer

Rutgers University Press

Under the Knife: Cosmetic Surgery, Boundary Work, and the Pursuit of the Natural Fake

Most women who elect to have cosmetic surgery want a "natural" outcome--a discrete alteration of the body that appears unaltered. Under the Knife examines this theme in light of a cultural paradox. Whereas women are encouraged to improve their appearance, there is also a stigma associated with those who do so via surgery.&nbsp; &nbsp;Samantha Kwan and Jennifer Graves reveal how women negotiate their "unnatural"--but hopefully (in their view) natural-looking--surgically-altered bodies. Based on in-depth interviews with 46 women who underwent cosmetic surgery to enhance their appearance, the authors investigate motivations for surgery as well as women's thoughts about looking natural after the procedures. Under the Knife dissects the psychological and physical strategies these women use to manage the expectations, challenges, and disappointments of cosmetic surgery while also addressing issues of agency and empowerment. It shows how different cultural intersections can produce varied goals and values around body improvement.Under the Knife highlights the role of deep-seated yet contradictory gendered meanings about women's bodies, passing, and boundary work. The authors also consider traditional notions of femininity and normalcy that trouble women's struggle to preserve an authentic moral self.

Temple University Press

See the best price to sell, buy, or rent books by Kwan, Samantha. BookScouter helps to compare book prices from 25+ online bookstores and 30+ buyback vendors with a single search.

Books by Kwan, Samantha