Looking Queer: Body Image and Identity in Lesbian, Bisexual, Gay, and Transgender Communities (Haworth Gay & Lesbian Studies) (Hardcover)

~ (Author) "After nearly a lifetime of silence, I am eager to write about lesbian bodies..." (more)
Key Phrases: queer sex spaces, gay male beauty, lesbian body image, New York, San Francisco, United States (more...)

Editorial Reviews

Product Description

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/

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.

Product Details

• Hardcover: 467 pages
• Publisher: Routledge; 1 edition (June 18, 1998)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0789004631
• ISBN-13: 978-0789004635
• Product Dimensions: 8.4 x 6.2 x 1.6 inches
• Shipping Weight: 2.1 pounds
• Average Customer Review: 5.0 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (1 customer review)
• Amazon.com Sales Rank: #2,872,952 in Books (See Bestsellers in Books)

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

29 of 31 people found the following review helpful:

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

By	"siubhan" (Near Boston, MA United States) - See all my reviews

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.