Unbearable weight : feminism, Western culture, and the body

In this provocative book, Susan Bordo untangles the myths, ideologies, and pathologies of the modern female body. Bordo explores our tortured fascination with food, hunger, desire, and control, and its effects on women's lives. Unbearable Weight, Feminism, Western Culture, and the Body......Page 2 CONTENTS......Page 5 ACKNOWLEDGMENTS......Page 6 INTRODUCTION: FEMINISM, WESTERN CULTURE, AND THE BODY......Page 8 Cultural Expressions of Mind-Body Dualism......Page 9 Woman as Body......Page 12 Activity, Passivity, and Gender......Page 18 Anglo-American Feminism, "Women's Liberation," and the Politics of the Body......Page 22 Beyond the Oppressor/Oppressed Model......Page 30 Feminism as Systemic Critique......Page 36 Nature, Culture, and the Body......Page 40 Transcendence, "Difference," and Cultural Transformation......Page 43 PART ONE DISCOURSES AND CONCEPTIONS OF THE BODY......Page 50 The Feminist Challenge......Page 51 Pathology, Culture, and the Medical Model......Page 55 "Body Image Disturbance" and "Bulimic Thinking"......Page 60 The Cultural Argument: Myths and Misconceptions......Page 66 Responses to the Feminist Challenge: Change and Resistance......Page 69 Beyond the Medical Model......Page 72 Are Mothers Persons? Reproductive Rights and the Politics of Subject-ivity......Page 76 Embodied Subjects and De-Subjectified Bodies......Page 77 Fetal Super-Subjects and Maternal Incubators......Page 85 Reclaiming Reproductive Subjectivity......Page 98 The Woman Who Doesn't Eat Much......Page 103 Psyching Out the Female Consumer......Page 107 Food, Sexuality, and Desire......Page 114 Men Eat and Women Prepare......Page 121 Food and Love......Page 125 Food as Transgression......Page 132 Destabilizing Images?......Page 135 PART TWO THE SLENDER BODY AND OTHER CULTURAL FORMS......Page 139 Eating Disorders, Culture, and The Body......Page 142 The Dualist Axis......Page 147 The Control Axis......Page 151 The Gender/Power Axis......Page 157 Reconstructing Feminist Discourse on the Body......Page 168 The Body as a Text Of Femininity......Page 171 Protest and Retreat in the Same Gesture......Page 177 Collusion, Resistance, and the Body......Page 180 Textuality, Praxis, and the Body......Page 183 Reading the Slender Body......Page 188 Contemporary Anxiety and the Enemy Flab......Page 190 Slenderness and the Inner State of the Self......Page 194 Slenderness and the Social Body......Page 201 Slenderness, Self-Management, and Normalization......Page 205 Slenderness and Gender......Page 207 PART THREE POSTMODERN BODIES......Page 216 Feminism, Postmodernism, and Gender Skepticism......Page 217 Contemporary Feminism and Gender Skepticism......Page 218 From the "View From Nowhere" To Feminist Methodologism......Page 220 The "View From Nowhere" and the Dream of Everywhere......Page 227 The Retreat from Female Otherness......Page 231 The Place of Duality in a Plural Universe......Page 235 Plasticity as Postmodern Paradigm......Page 246 Plastic Bodies......Page 247 Plastic Discourse......Page 259 "Material Girl": Madonna as Postmodern Heroine......Page 266 Postmodern Subjects, Postmodern Bodies, Postmodern Resistance......Page 277 Introduction......Page 301 Whose Body is This?......Page 305 Are Mothers Persons?......Page 309 Hunger as Ideology......Page 317 Anorexia Nervosa......Page 318 The Body and the Reproduction of Femininity......Page 328 Reading the Slender Body......Page 332 Feminism, Postmodernism, and Gender Skepticism......Page 335 "Material Girl"......Page 339 Postmodern Subjects, Postmodern Bodies, Postmodern Resistance......Page 341 A......Page 343 B......Page 344 C......Page 345 D......Page 347 E......Page 348 F......Page 349 G......Page 350 H......Page 351 M......Page 352 N......Page 354 P......Page 355 S......Page 357 T......Page 359 W......Page 360 Z......Page 361 Unbearable Weight, Feminism, Western Culture, and the Body 2 CONTENTS 5 ACKNOWLEDGMENTS 6 INTRODUCTION: FEMINISM, WESTERN CULTURE, AND THE BODY 8 Cultural Expressions of Mind-Body Dualism 9 Woman as Body 12 Activity, Passivity, and Gender 18 Anglo-American Feminism, "Women's Liberation," and the Politics of the Body 22 Beyond the Oppressor/Oppressed Model 30 Feminism as Systemic Critique 36 Nature, Culture, and the Body 40 Transcendence, "Difference," and Cultural Transformation 43 PART ONE DISCOURSES AND CONCEPTIONS OF THE BODY 50 Whose Body Is This? Feminism, Medicine, and the Conceptualization of Eating Disorders 51 The Feminist Challenge 51 Pathology, Culture, and the Medical Model 55 "Body Image Disturbance" and "Bulimic Thinking" 60 The Cultural Argument: Myths and Misconceptions 66 Responses to the Feminist Challenge: Change and Resistance 69 Beyond the Medical Model 72 Are Mothers Persons? Reproductive Rights and the Politics of Subject-ivity 76 Embodied Subjects and De-Subjectified Bodies 77 Fetal Super-Subjects and Maternal Incubators 85 Reclaiming Reproductive Subjectivity 98 Hunger as Ideology 103 The Woman Who Doesn't Eat Much 103 Psyching Out the Female Consumer 107 Food, Sexuality, and Desire 114 Men Eat and Women Prepare 121 Food and Love 125 Food as Transgression 132 Destabilizing Images? 135 PART TWO THE SLENDER BODY AND OTHER CULTURAL FORMS 139 Anorexia Nervosa Psychopathology as the Crystallization of Culture 142 Eating Disorders, Culture, and The Body 142 The Dualist Axis 147 The Control Axis 151 The Gender/Power Axis 157 The Body and the Reproduction of Femininity 168 Reconstructing Feminist Discourse on the Body 168 The Body as a Text Of Femininity 171 Protest and Retreat in the Same Gesture 177 Collusion, Resistance, and the Body 180 Textuality, Praxis, and the Body 183 Reading the Slender Body 188 Contemporary Anxiety and the Enemy Flab 190 Slenderness and the Inner State of the Self 194 Slenderness and the Social Body 201 Slenderness, Self-Management, and Normalization 205 Slenderness and Gender 207 PART THREE POSTMODERN BODIES 216 Feminism, Postmodernism, and Gender Skepticism 217 Contemporary Feminism and Gender Skepticism 218 From the "View From Nowhere" To Feminist Methodologism 220 The "View From Nowhere" and the Dream of Everywhere 227 The Retreat from Female Otherness 231 The Place of Duality in a Plural Universe 235 "Material Girl" The Effacements of Postmodern Culture 246 Plasticity as Postmodern Paradigm 246 Plastic Bodies 247 Plastic Discourse 259 "Material Girl": Madonna as Postmodern Heroine 266 Postmodern Subjects, Postmodern Bodies, Postmodern Resistance 277 NOTES 301 Introduction 301 Whose Body is This? 305 Are Mothers Persons? 309 Hunger as Ideology 317 Anorexia Nervosa 318 The Body and the Reproduction of Femininity 328 Reading the Slender Body 332 Feminism, Postmodernism, and Gender Skepticism 335 "Material Girl" 339 Postmodern Subjects, Postmodern Bodies, Postmodern Resistance 341 INDEX 343 A 343 B 344 C 345 D 347 E 348 F 349 G 350 H 351 I 352 J 352 K 352 L 352 M 352 N 354 O 355 P 355 R 357 S 357 T 359 U 360 V 360 W 360 Y 361 Z 361 In this Tenth Anniversary Edition, Susan Bordo examines how women's fantasies of transcending their material existence have led to narcissistic efforts to reinvent themselves. Infatuated with youth, surrounded by homogenous representations of beauty, they surrender themselves to plastic surgeons in ever greater numbers for larger breasts, smaller noses, collagen-plumped lips and wrinkle-free faces. The author's preface brings the book up to date in 2003 and Leslie Heywood's foreword places Susan Bordo's work in the front ranks of the research on women and their bodies. ""Susan Bordo untangles the myths, ideologies, and pathologies of the modern female body. Bordo explores our tortured fascination with food, hunger, desire, and control, and its effects on women's lives.""--Amazon.com description By the 1983 meetings of the New York Center for the Study of Anorexia and Bulimia, palpable dissatisfaction was evident-largely among female clinicians-over the absence of any theoretical focus on gender issues.