Innovative essays that explore how men perform femininity and what femininity looks like without womenWhat counts as “male femininity”? Is it simply men behaving in effeminate ways or is it the absence of masculinity? Male Femininities presents a nuanced, critical collection of essays that highlight the extent to which male femininities are neither an imitation of femaleness nor an emptying of masculinity. These innovative essays focus on both gay and stra...

Innovative essays that explore how men perform femininity and what femininity looks like without womenWhat counts as “male femininity”? Is it simply men behaving in effeminate ways or is it the absence of masculinity? Male Femininities presents a nuanced, critical collection of essays that highlight the extent to which male femininities are neither an imitation of femaleness nor an emptying of masculinity. These innovative essays focus on both gay and stra...

One of NPR's Best Books of 2017The first in-depth social investigation into the development and rising popularity of BotoxThe American Society for Aesthetic Plastic Surgery estimates there are about two-and-a-half million Botox procedures performed annually, and that number continues to increase. The procedure is used as a preventive measure against aging and a means by which bodies, particularly women’s, can be transformed and “improved” through the appear...

"A must-read for anyone ready to start shaking this fat = bad, thin = good obsession. Brown's book can help you love your body now." — BustleFor more than three decades, our quest for thinness has morphed into a relentless obsession with weight and body image. As a science journalist, Harriet Brown has explored this collective longing and fixation from an objective perspective; as a mother, wife, and woman with "weight issues," she has str...

“We live in a society where sex is used against women as much as it’s used by women. Sexy Feminism calls foul on that (and other) double standards—and makes manifest my frequent observation that feminists are almost always the sexiest people in the room.” —Jennifer Baumgardner, author of F’em!: Goo Goo, Gaga, and Some Thoughts on BallsNot your mother’s feminism! A humor-filled action plan for an accessible, cool, and, yes, even sexy brand of 21st-century feminism

Thinking of leaving academia? Or have you already started inching toward the exit? In this volume, 14 former graduate students, adjuncts, and tenure-track professors tell their personal stories about leaving academia, rediscovering their lives in the "real world," and finding new jobs and careers. The essays are full of personal stories, memories, and frank discussions about the complex feelings and emotions that each author went through as they decided to leave and ultim...

Esteemed Psychotherapist and writer Susie Orbach diagnoses the crisis in our relationship to our bodies and points the way toward a process of healing.Throughout the Western world, people have come to believe that general dissatisfaction can be relieved by some change in their bodies. Here Susie Orbach explains the origins of this condition, and examines its implications for all of us. Challenging the Freudian view that bodily disorders originate and progress in th...

What do women want? The same thing men were promised in the Declaration of Independence: happiness, or at least the freedom to pursue it.For women, though, pursuing happiness is a complicated endeavor, and if you head out into America and talk to women one-on-one, as Jill Filipovic has done, you'll see that happiness is indelibly shaped by the constraints of gender, the expectations of feminine sacrifice, and the myriad ways that womanhood itself differs along line...

Winner of the 2010 Distinguished Publication Award from the Association for Women in PsychologyWinner of the 2010 Susan Koppelman Award for the Best Edited Volume in Women’s Studies from the Popular Culture AssociationWe have all seen the segments on television news shows: A fat person walking on the sidewalk, her face out of frame so she can't be identified, as some disconcerting findings about the "obesity epidemic" stalking the nation are read by a dise...

Obese individuals are twice as likely to experience heart failure as non-obese people. More than eighty-five per cent of type 2 diabetes sufferers are overweight. And in the United States, obese and overweight individuals make up more than two-thirds of the adult population. Public health organizations and governments have traditionally tried to combat obesity through shame-inducing policies, which assure people that they can easily lose weight by eating right and exercising. This generic ...

The United States, we are told, is facing an obesity epidemic-a "battle of the bulge" of not just national, but global proportions-that requires drastic and immediate action. Experts in the media, medical science, and government alike are scrambling to find answers. What or who is responsible for this fat crisis, and what can we do to stop it? Abigail Saguy argues that these fraught and frantic debates obscure a more important question: How has fatness come to be understood as a public hea...

Margo Maine spares no target in this straightforward and entertaining expose. Loaded with facts and inspirational quotes, this is an activist's guide for parents, educators, therapists, patients, former patients, or anyone who wants to fight against the forces that prevent women from being comfortable in their own bodies. Included are extensive Strategies for Change with ideas for personal and cultural growth, as well as resources with addresses, organizations, and recommended reading.