Looking Queer: Body Image and Identity in Lesbian, Bisexual, Gay, and Transgender Communities [Paperback]

Dawn Atkins (Author, Editor)

Book Description

ISBN-10: 156023931X | ISBN-13: 978-1560239314 | Publication Date: June 17, 1998 | Edition: 1

Looking Queer: Body Image in Lesbian, Bisexual, Gay, and Transgender Communities contains research, firsthand accounts, poetry, theory, and journalistic essays that address and outline the special needs of sexual minorities when dealing with eating disorders and appearance obsession. Looking Queer will give members of these communities hope, insight, and information into body image issues, helping you to accept and to love your body. In addition, scholars, health care professionals, and body image activists will not only learn about queer experiences and identity and how they affect individuals, but will also understand how some of the issues involved affect society as a whole.

Dismantling the myth that body image issues affect only heterosexual women, Looking Queer explores body issues based on gender, race, class, age, and disability. Furthermore, this groundbreaking book attests to the struggles, pain, and triumph of queer people in an open and comprehensive manner. More than 60 contributors provide their knowledge and personal experiences in dealing with body image issues exclusive to the gay and transgender communities, including:

• exploring and breaking down the categories of gender and sexuality that are found in many body image issues
• finding ways to heal yourself and your community
• discovering what it means to “look like a dyke” or to “look gay”
• fearing fat as a sign of femininity
• determining what race has to do with the gay ideal
• discussing the stereotyped ”double negative”--being a fat lesbian
• learning strategies of resistance to societal ideals
• critiquing ”the culture of desire” within gay men’s communities that emphasizes looks above everything else
  
  Revealing new and complex dimensions to body image issues, Looking Queer not only discusses the struggles and hardships of gay, lesbian, bisexual, and transgendered persons, but looks at the processes that can lead to acceptance of oneself. Written by both men and women, the topics and research in Looking Queer offer insight into the lives of people you can relate to, enabling you to learn from their experiences so you, too, can find joy and happiness in accepting your body.
  
  Visit Dawn Atkin’s website at: http://home.earthlink.net/~dawn_atkins/

Editorial Reviews

From the Back Cover

Looking Queer contains research, first-hand accounts, poetry, theory, and journalistic essays that address and outline the special needs of sexual minorities when dealing with eating disorders and appearance obsession. More than 60 contributors provide their knowledge and personal experiences in dealing with body image issues exclusive to gay and transgender communities. Written by both men and women, the topics and research in Looking Queer offer insight into the lives of people you can relate to, enabling you to learn from their experiences so you, too, can find joy and happiness in accepting your body. --This text refers to the Hardcover edition.

Product Details

• Paperback: 467 pages
• Publisher: Haworth; 1 edition (June 17, 1998)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 156023931X
• ISBN-13: 978-1560239314
• Product Dimensions: 8.2 x 6 x 1.3 inches
• Shipping Weight: 1.6 pounds (View shipping rates and policies)
• Average Customer Review: 3.0 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (2 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #1,453,167 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

More About the Author

Dawn Atkins, (MA, Anthropology) is a nationally known writer, educator, and activist on a variety of issues including body image, sexuality and diversity issues. She has given workshops and lectures around the country and abroad on a variety of topics.

She has also been guest editor of issues of the Journal of Lesbian Studies, Journal of Gay, Lesbian and Bisexual Identity and Journal of Bisexuality. She also served on the editorial board of the Journal of Lesbian Studies and the Journal of Bisexuality.

She was the founder and Chair of the Body Image Task Force and is the former Research Chair for the National Association to Advance Fat Acceptance. She is featured in the educational video "Killing Us for Our Own Good: Dieting and Medical Misinformation" (produced by the BITF).

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

30 of 32 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Essential reading for the queer community., April 30, 1999

By 

Jennifer Pelland (Outside Boston) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

This review is from: Looking Queer: Body Image and Identity in Lesbian, Bisexual, Gay, and Transgender Communities (Paperback)

Body image has always been a hot topic in the queer community, but has never been expressed so eloquently as in this book. Looking Queer is packed with first person accounts of all sorts of body image issues: from lesbians with eating disorders who are shunned from the lesbian community for being so body-oriented, to disabled gay men who can't find a place in the image-conscious gay dating scene, to transsexuals recounting the journey they've been through to get to where they are now, to intergendered people who proudly refer to themselves as "mythical creatures." Every single story in this anthology touched me deeply. In this increasingly lookist world, this book is a must-read of the first degree.

0 of 4 people found the following review helpful:

1.0 out of 5 stars so sad:(, September 27, 2011

By 

bigb - See all my reviews

Amazon Verified Purchase

This review is from: Looking Queer: Body Image and Identity in Lesbian, Bisexual, Gay, and Transgender Communities (Paperback)

This book looked like someone had left it out in the rain, it had mold in it. I was sooo very disapointed.