Critical bodies : representations, identities, and practices of weight and body management / edited by Sarah Riley, Maree Burns, Hannah Frith, Sally Wiggins and Pirkko Markula.

Houndmills, Basingstoke, Hampshire ; New York : Palgrave Macmillan, 2008.

xii, 206 pages ; 23 cm

Introducing critical bodies : representations, identities and practices of weight and body management / Pirkko Markula, Maree Burns and Sarah Riley -- Section I. Representations and constructions of body weight and body management / Sally Wiggins. Deconstructing un/healthy body-weight and weight management / Helen Malson ; 'I feel ridiculous about having had it' : critical readings of lived and mediated stories on eating disorders / Paula Saukko ; Learning to be healthy, dying to be thin : the representations of weight via body perfection codes in schools / Emma Rich and John Evans -- Section II. Constructing embodied identities / Hannah Frith. Starving in cyberspace : the construction of identity on 'pro-eating-disorder' websites / Katy Day and Tammy Keys ; Body talk : negotiating body image and masculinity / Rosalind Gill ; Feminist object relations theory and eating 'disorders' / Colleen Heenan -- Section III. Meanings of body management practices : women's experiences / Pirkko Markula. Dis/orders of weight control : bulimic and/or 'healthy weight' practices / Maree Burns and Nicola Gavey ; Sustaining imbalance : evidence of neglect in the pursuit of nutritional health / Lucy Aphramor and Jacqui Gingras ; Older and younger women's experiences of commercial weight loss / Debra Gimlin -- Conclusion : Critical bodies : discourses of health, gender and consumption / Sarah Riley [and 4 others].

Includes bibliographical references and index.