Postfeminism and Health : Critical Psychology and Media Perspectives

This groundbreaking book employs a transdisciplinary and poststructuralist methodology to develop the concept of ‘postfeminist healthism,’ a twenty-first-century understanding of women’s physical and mental health formed at the intersections of postfeminist sensibilities, neoliberal constructs of citizenship and the notion of health as an individual responsibility managed through consumption. Postfeminist healthism is used in this book to explore seven topics where postfeminist sensibility has the most impact on women’s health: self-help, weight, surgical technologies, sex, pregnancy, responsibilities for others’ health and pro-anorexia communities. The book explores the ways in which the desire to be normal and live a good life is tied to expectations of ‘normal-perfection’ circulated across interpersonal interactions, media representations and expert discourses. It diagnoses postfeminist healthism as unhealthy for both those women who participate in it and those whom it excludes and considers how more positive directions may emerge. By exploring the under-researched intersection of postfeminism and health studies, this book will be invaluable to researchers and students in psychology, gender and women’s studies, health research, media studies and sociology. Cover Half Title Series Information Title Page Copyright Page Dedication Table of contents Series editor preface Acknowledgements Prologue This girl can Postfeminist healthism Overview of the book Note 1 Self-help Nobody can be anybody else, but we can all be better Historicising our ‘inner self’ Between Homo economicus and Homo sentimentalis The women are not all right Mean girls grow up Conclusion: the confidence trick Notes 2 Weight In a fat-hating society, is everyone fat? Governed by the scale Problems with BMI (or, what to say next time a nurse suggests weighing you) ‘Your health your choices’ Health at every size? Conclusion: health is not a lifestyle Notes 3 Technologies Upgrading the body Technologies: self, subjectivity, norms and experts Striving for normalcy with weight-loss surgery Female genital cosmetic surgery – choice in what context? Conclusion Notes 4 Sex Liberating women Inventing sex The rise of the sexpert The big ‘o’ Sexual dysfunction and risky subjects: am I normal? Conclusion Notes 5 Pregnancy Snapping back into shape Mapping the pregnant body: historical connections ‘Expecting’: the perfection of postfeminist pregnancy Governing postfeminist pregnancy Conclusion Notes 6 Intimate responsibilities The good mother A woman’s place: caring, postfeminism and re-traditionalisation Responsibility and risk: government, media and commerce Breast is best? Conclusion Notes 7 Pro-ana Unhealthy transformations Anorexia in a postfeminist sensibility Eat something Pro-ana Pro-ana, healthism and mediation: ‘those pics make me sick’ Conclusion Notes Epilogue Assembling postfeminism and health Pulling threads and ending on a high note Notes References Index Winner of the 2021 BPS Book Award: Academic Text category, this groundbreaking book employs a transdisciplinary and poststructuralist methodology to develop the concept of ‘postfeminist healthism,'a twenty-first-century understanding of women's physical and mental health formed at the intersections of postfeminist sensibilities, neoliberal constructs of citizenship and the notion of health as an individual responsibility managed through consumption. Postfeminist healthism is used in this book to explore seven topics where postfeminist sensibility has the most impact on women's health: self-help, weight, surgical technologies, sex, pregnancy, responsibilities for others'health and pro-anorexia communities. The book explores the ways in which the desire to be normal and live a good life is tied to expectations of ‘normal-perfection'circulated across interpersonal interactions, media representations and expert discourses. It diagnoses postfeminist healthism as unhealthy for both those women who participate in it and those whom it excludes and considers how more positive directions may emerge. By exploring the under-researched intersection of postfeminism and health studies, this book will be invaluable to researchers and students in psychology, gender and women's studies, health research, media studies and sociology. This book uses the notion of postfeminist healthism-a conception of health at the intersection of postfeminism, neoliberalism, and consumerism-to explore key topics in women's mental and physical health.