Silicone Spills: Breast Implants on Trial [Hardcover]

Mary White Stewart (Author)

Book Description

Publication Date: October 30, 1998 | ISBN-10: 0275963594 | ISBN-13: 978-0275963590 | Edition: 1

For 30 years, silicone gel breast implants were marketed to and implanted in at least one million women in the U.S. alone, damaging the health of hundreds of thousands. To many women seeking to improve their appearance, these virtually untested implants were promoted as a safe, lifelong answer to their needs. In actuality, however, they have been the cause of devastating, often irreversible health problems, making the implantation of these bags of gel one of the worst health care debacles in recent memory. Lawsuits against the manufacturers and the resulting trials have made prominent headlines and are a matter of public records, but until the publication of Silicone Spills: Breast Implants on Trial, there has never been a sophisticated and accurate presentation of the women who have had implants, why they have had them, and what has happened to them socially, medically, and legally as a result. Silicone Spills portrays the breast implant "business" as a personal and social tragedy, as well as a complex legal and political controversy. Sociologist Mary White Stewart interviewed over 50 women at great length, examined questionnaires completed by 60 other women, observed pre-trial hearings and courtroom proceedings during the litigation against implant manufacturers, and read countless documents and press coverage about the cases. The fascinating and horrifying story she tells in this book, full of women's personal experiences, is a tale of corporate greed, of the commodification and medicalization of women's bodies, and of women's lack of personal and economic power. How can so many women have been damaged and failed by the very people and institutions that exist to protect them? Silicone Spills reveals that the complex answers to this question lie in our culture, in which women continue to be eager consumers of any procedures and products that seductively promise physical transformation into the desirable feminine ideal.

Editorial Reviews

From Publishers Weekly

Arguing that pseudoscientific theories of race from the 19th and early 20th centuries still impact our current standards of beauty and "unhappiness" with our own bodies, prolific critic Gilman (Difference and Pathology) explores plastic surgery as an extension of psychotherapy. He traces the history of aesthetic surgery from its initial function of hiding disease (most particularly syphilis) to its later incarnation as a means of erasing ethnic identity (specifically Jewish identifications by nose shape and size) and creating a more "normal" appearance. Freud and other analysts were instrumental in establishing theories of aesthetic surgery and, Gilman argues, "provided a label for what it cured: inferiority." Several of Gilman's chapters are devoted to tracing this intersection between theories of race, aesthetics and psychology in the works of early psychoanalysts. Although his overarching argument is compelling, Gilman's work relies heavily on technical language. This work will be most useful to the surgeons and therapists who counsel people seeking plastic surgery and to cultural critics interested in tracing mutations in concepts of health, happiness and beauty. (Nov.) FYI: Also due in November is Silicone Spill: Breast Implants on Trial, by Univ. of Nevada sociologist Mary White Weaver, depicting the social, legal and health-care battles fought by women with implant-related health problems. (Praeger, $26.95 226p ISBN 0-275-96359-4)
Copyright 1998 Reed Business Information, Inc.

Review

“This is a tragic story of big business, disinterested government, a powerful medical profession, and certainly less powerful female consumers.... Highly recommended for college and university libraries.”–Choice

“Four stars (very good).”–Today's Books

“This book should be read with interest by women who have had, or who contemplate having, breast implants, and by the people who love and care about them. For some women, this could be the most important book they read all year.”–NWSA Journal

See all Editorial Reviews

Product Details

• Hardcover: 240 pages
• Publisher: Praeger Trade; 1 edition (October 30, 1998)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0275963594
• ISBN-13: 978-0275963590
• Product Dimensions: 9.3 x 6.1 x 0.8 inches
• Shipping Weight: 1 pounds (View shipping rates and policies)
• Average Customer Review: 2.6 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (5 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #2,056,118 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

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Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

4 of 6 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Life changing book read a little too late, April 7, 1999

By A Customer

This review is from: Silicone Spills: Breast Implants on Trial (Hardcover)

After getting breast implants I was given this book. It changed my outlook on everything. I wish I could go back and get these things as small as they used to be. As well as bringing light to the subject of sillicone leakage it also aludes to the back pains associated with artificially large breast like mine.

2 of 3 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars A voice of truth in a complex issue, April 28, 2006

By 

Patricia A. Faussett (Henderson, NV USA) - See all my reviews
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This review is from: Silicone Spills: Breast Implants on Trial (Hardcover)

As Ms Stewart points out in her introduction, the studies that claim to prove that there is no relationship between breast implants and atypical autoimmune diseases prove NO SUCH THING..they were not designed to answer that question. Those often touted studies are actually flawed and biased which any researcher who understands statistical analysis will see. Ms Stewart's approach is not biased, but actually entirely upright and marked with a sense of integrity. She takes an extremely complex and overtly political issue and brings a sense of truth to it that needs to be heard. These many thousands of women are sick because toxic chemicals have been implanted and spilled into their bodies, and that is not a normal event in life. Political posturing has tainted the ugly truth in this issue because interested parties are not willing to lose their financial investment. I applaud Ms Stewart for her important work, which will probably be suppressed and discredited. That's just the way things work in this country, to the detriment of women everywhere. By the way, I had breast implants and I DID get sick from them, without a doubt whatsoever. Am I biased? No, just telling the truth as I experienced it.

1 of 2 people found the following review helpful:

1.0 out of 5 stars An uneducated polemic in support of lawyers, September 20, 2010

By 

Michael J Edelman (Huntington Woods, MI USA) - See all my reviews
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This review is from: Silicone Spills: Breast Implants on Trial (Hardcover)

Author Stewart has a PhD in Sociology, which is to say she has little or no training in epidemiology, anatomy, or medicine; she further demonstrates her ignorance of statistics in this book, which claims to dispute the findings of several peer reviewed studies showing no link between silicone and illness. She believes silicone is toxic, even though silicones have been used in tens of thousands of body implants apart from breast implants over several decades. There are few if any claims of toxic effects from non-cosmetic silicone surgical products, like esophageal stents, tissue grafts, and ear shunts. Perhaps that's simply because the trial lawyer's bar hasn't yet decided to demonize them yet.