Body Work: Beauty and Self-Image in American Culture

by Debra Gimlin

Book Overview

Today 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...

• Format: Paperback
• Language: English
• ISBN: 0520228561
• ISBN13: 9780520228566
• Release Date: January 2002
• Publisher: University of California Press
• Length: 181 Pages
• Weight: 0.48 lbs.
• Dimensions: 0.5" x 5.5" x 8.2"

Customer Reviews

Body Perfect

Gimlin achieves her purpose of sharing information on the justification behind body work through the format of her book. First, she presents her research then she provides a conclusion. Gimlin does this for each chapter, which changes as she looks at the different forms of body work. This allows the reader to assess the work and come to their own conclusion before reading her thoughts. This directly incorporates the reader into the book, which maintains their interest. The format is a major strength of the work. Another strength of the book is the quotes from interviews that Gimlin conducts with the subjects and her field research. The interviews add reality to the work and also encourage the interest of the reader. In Sociology, field research involves the researcher actually being in the environment of the subjects and even participating in their activities. This also adds to the element of realism and gives an everyday perspective of what women go through. These elements combine together to add personality to the work. A weakness of the book would be the author's focus on only female body work. For comparison purposes, including males in the study would open up interpretations for the double standards placed, or shed light on whether men have the same stigmas to overcome. Gimlin answers the question on her exclusion of males by stating, "While contemporary men must undoubtedly work to negotiate the relationship between body and self, women, more than men, face social pressures that make the negotiation difficult and complicated" (Gimlin, 12).An aspect of the book that I truly enjoyed was its feminist sociological viewpoint. So often we only see situations from a male viewpoint, even if the literature is geared towards women. Gimlin takes a whole new look at the beauty industry and its relationship to women and comes up with a perspective of the self-empowerment of women. We are not forced to conform by society, but we choose. As a young woman on my way out on my own, I value this book. It gives women a new outlook so that instead of feeling helpless and pressured to look a certain way in order to succeed and be happy, they can change or not change their body based on one thing: their own happiness. Gimlin's stress on empowerment is something every woman can take away from this book. Her message is reinforced by her format and the purpose of the book is accomplished.