LEADER 04436nam 22006614a 450 001 9910816536203321 005 20200520144314.0 010 $a9786612758911 010 $a1-59734-506-7 010 $a1-282-75891-8 010 $a0-520-92686-2 024 7 $a10.1525/9780520926868 035 $a(CKB)1000000000001014 035 $a(EBL)224206 035 $a(OCoLC)437143980 035 $a(SSID)ssj0000113601 035 $a(PQKBManifestationID)11141575 035 $a(PQKBTitleCode)TC0000113601 035 $a(PQKBWorkID)10101773 035 $a(PQKB)11540163 035 $a(MiAaPQ)EBC224206 035 $a(DE-B1597)519370 035 $a(OCoLC)1058168048 035 $a(DE-B1597)9780520926868 035 $a(Au-PeEL)EBL224206 035 $a(CaPaEBR)ebr10049070 035 $a(CaONFJC)MIL275891 035 $a(EXLCZ)991000000000001014 100 $a20010209d2001 uy 0 101 0 $aeng 135 $aur||#|||||||| 181 $ctxt 182 $cc 183 $acr 200 10$aBody work $ebeauty and self-image in American culture /$fDebra L. Gimlin 205 $a1st ed. 210 $aBerkeley $cUniversity of California Press$d2001 215 $a1 online resource (182 p.) 300 $aDescription based upon print version of record. 311 0 $a0-520-21051-4 311 0 $a0-520-22856-1 320 $aIncludes bibliographical references (p. 151-163) and index. 327 $tFront matter --$tCONTENTS --$tAcknowledgments --$tIntroduction: Body Work as Self Work --$t1. The Hair Salon: Social Class, Power, and Ideal Beauty --$t2. Aerobics: Neutralizing the Body and Renegotiating the Self --$t3. Cosmetic Surgery: Paying for Your Beauty --$t4. NAAFA: Reinterpreting the Fat Body --$tConclusion: The Body, Oppression, and Resistance --$tNotes --$tIndex 330 $aToday women are lifting weights to build muscle, wrapping their bodies in seaweed to reduce unwanted water retention, attending weigh-ins at diet centers, and devoting themselves to many other types of "body work." Filled with the voices of real women, this book unravels the complicated emotional and intellectual motivations that drive them as they confront American culture's unreachable beauty ideals. This powerful feminist study lucidly and compellingly argues against the idea that the popularity of body work means that women are enslaved to a male-fashioned "beauty myth." Essential reading for understanding current debates on beauty, Body Work demonstrates that women actually use body work to escape that beauty myth. Debra Gimlin focuses on four sites where she conducted in-depth research--a beauty salon, aerobics classes, a plastic surgery clinic, and a social and political organization for overweight women. The honest and provocative interviews included in this book uncover these women's feelings about their bodies, their reasons for attempting to change or come to terms with them, and the reactions of others in their lives. These interviews show that women are redefining their identities through their participation in body work, that they are working on their self-images as much as on their bodies. Plastic surgery, for example, ultimately is an empowering life experience for many women who choose it, while hairstyling becomes an arena for laying claim to professional and social class identities. This book develops a convincing picture of how women use body work to negotiate the relationship between body and self, a process that inevitably involves coming to terms with our bodies' deviation from cultural ideals. One of the few studies that includes empirical evidence of women's own interpretations of body work, this important project is also based firmly in cultural studies, symbolic interactionism, and feminism. With this book, Debra Gimlin adds her voice to those of scholars who are now looking beyond the surface of the beauty myth to the complex reality of women's lives. 606 $aBeauty, Personal$xSocial aspects$zUnited States 606 $aBeauty culture$xSocial aspects$zUnited States 615 0$aBeauty, Personal$xSocial aspects 615 0$aBeauty culture$xSocial aspects 676 $a306.4 686 $aLC 14610$qOBV$2rvk 700 $aGimlin$b Debra L.$f1967-$01597474 801 0$bMiAaPQ 801 1$bMiAaPQ 801 2$bMiAaPQ 906 $aBOOK 912 $a9910816536203321 996 $aBody work$93919231 997 $aUNINA