A mulitcultural anthology of fiction and non-fiction literary narratives which addresses the psychological and political aspects of a woman's body in today's culture. An important and much-needed book for women who seek to understand their bodies and find independent, imaginative ways to cope with aging, beauty expectations beauty expectations, and ethnic comparisons.
Minding the Body
and over one million other books are available for Amazon Kindle.
Learn more
| ||||||||||||||||||||||||
Book Description
Frequently Bought Together
Editorial Reviews
Amazon.com Review
Twenty intensely personal essays on physical and emotional self-image by women writers from a wide range of ages, races, and conformity.
From Booklist
The era of birth control pills and legalized abortions is a golden age of freedom compared with our grandmothers' times. Yet, as this collection of fiction and nonfiction suggests, many women's relationships to their bodies are complex and sometimes baffling. So many women hate their bodies, often as a manifestation of a media-influenced body consciousness that exalts a narrow range of physical proportions including ultraslender hips and large breasts. The same media that facilitate such self-loathing also minutely document excessive forms of body awareness (anorexia, bulimia, purging), although rarely the complicated interplay of thoughts and emotions that exacerbates those conditions. The writings at hand generally dissect women's obsessions with media-manufactured body ideals that turn women's bodies into sexual bargaining chips. As they do, they bring new meaning to the notion of selling and being sold and to the term sexual politics. Whitney Scott
--This text refers to an out of print or unavailable edition of this title.
Product Details
Would you like to update product info or give feedback on images?
|
Customer Reviews
|
Share your thoughts with other customers:
|
||||||||||||||||||||||
|
Most Helpful Customer Reviews
5 of 5 people found the following review helpful:
4.0 out of 5 stars
Focus on Perfection,
By A Customer
This review is from: Minding the Body: Women Writers on Body and Soul (Paperback)
This collection of essays gives the reader the opportunity to experience the world through the different minds and bodies of several women, each with a different focus. The essays present a forum for the reader, no matter what shape, size, weight or configuration, to examine the way in which she views her own body and how society has insisted that we label ourselves. It encouraged me to look anew for perfections in my own body, and in the human body in general, and to focus less on perceived flaws.
3 of 3 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars
Inspirational,
By A Customer
This review is from: Minding the Body: Women Writers on Body and Soul (Paperback)
I first read this book at age 22 as required reading in a college women's studies class. It's themes: dieting, aging, the beauty myth, femininity and how women perceive their bodies individually and culturally, affected me and caused me to reflect on the abuse i had inflicted upon myself in my desire to be thin. Almost a decade later, i still have my dog-eared copy that i have reread many times as a source of inspiration and lent to most of my women friends. I recommend this book to all women and, in particular, to anyone struggling with a negative body image or eating disorder. It is an especially good book for young girls to read before unattainable media images undermine their self valuation and would be an excellent source of dialogue between parents and children.
2 of 2 people found the following review helpful:
4.0 out of 5 stars
amazing stories,
By
This review is from: Minding the Body: Women Writers on Body and Soul (Paperback)
In this anthology edited by Patricia Foster, twenty women writers examine their relationship to their bodies with such topics as obesity, breast cancer, pregnancy and hair frosting. In "A Weight That Women Carry," Sallie Tisdale describes how she's started "to break the scale's spell," and accept her weight. In "Mirrors," Lucy Grealy describes her childhood battle with jaw cancer that left her face disfigured. In "Beauty and the Beast," Connie Porter relates her youthful battles to fit into Levis. The tones range from tart to rueful. Women readers will identify all too well.
Share your thoughts with other customers: Create your own review
|
|
What Other Items Do Customers Buy After Viewing This Item?
Tags Customers Associate with This Product(What's this?)Click on a tag to find related items, discussions, and people.
|
