1st Edition
Postfeminism and Body Image
Postfeminism and Body Image is a groundbreaking work that provides a poststructuralist and psychosocial analysis of key issues at the intersections of body image, psychology and media. The book outlines the theoretical framework through the work of renowned philosophers, Michel Foucault and Gilles Deleuze, and their use in feminist scholarship, to address body-image issues and challenges in the context of a postfeminist sensibility.
The authors rethink body image, calling into question assumptions and obligations that affect recent issues related to social-media use, body positivity, the transformation imperative, body shaming and muscular masculinity. The analysis shows the advantage of seeing body image as a form of non-linear warfare, structured by contradiction, confusion and critique, where attempts to challenge oppressive body image practices are appropriated under the guise of positive alternatives to maintain that oppression. Through real-world examples, these nuanced concepts are made relatable and comprehensible to the readers. The book also offers a number of affirmative and hopeful ways forward.
This is an indispensable resource for students and professionals of Gender studies, Health Psychology, Social Psychology and Media and Cultural Studies. It is also ideal for anyone exploring body image, self-image, postfeminism and poststructualism.
Acknowledgements
Preface
Chapter 1: Can We Love our Bodies in a Postfminist Context?
Chapter 2: Because You’re Worth It
Chapter 3: Change Yourself
Chapter 4: Eat Clean, Train Mean, Get Lean
Chapter 5: Oh My God, I Hate You
Chapter 6: Muscle Men Make a Comeback
Epilogue
References
Index
Biography
Sarah Riley is Professor in Critical Health Psychology at Massey University, New Zealand, and the director of its Health Psychology master's programme. Her research examines discourse, affect and materiality in relation to digital technology, subjectivity, gender, bodies and neoliberalism.
Adrienne Evans is Reader for Media in the Centre for Postdigital Cultures at Coventry University, UK. Her research focuses on accounts of intimacy in the context of a postfeminist sensibility. In her work, she explores ways in which gender organises personal, social, intimate and cultural relationships as well as their manifestations in media culture.
Martine Robson is a lecturer in Psychology at Aberystwyth University. Her work focuses on how people negotiate individualistic health-related lifestyle advice and uses poststructuralist theory to examine the ways in which people adopt and resist neoliberal healthism.
Also published by the authors Postfeminism and Health: Critical Psychology and Media Perspectives, winner of the 2021 BPS Book Award, Academic Text category.
'A "must have" exposition of the discourses and flows of affect organising embodied experience. Sarah Riley, Adrienne Evans and Martine Robson's pathsetting new book is rich in nuanced theory and in examples which are then carefully deconstructed to reveal the canonical, contradictory and often unliveable figurations of the body characteristic of postfeminist times. Essential reading for all feminist scholars and inspirational for researchers investigating body and body image.' - Margaret Wetherell, Emertia, Professor, Open University, UK and The University of Auckland, New Zealand
'Finally, we have a body image and media studies text that engages broadly and deeply with the shape-shifting cultural and psychological currents that mark this tumultuous moment in the Anglo-western world. Postfeminism and Body Image weaves new theories and methods by tracing, untangling and making sense of the ever knotty, contradictory bundle of forces that help to make us, collectively and individually: between feminist and post-feminist discourses and sensibilities that offer up radically different visions of "the good life"; between media studies perspectives that seek to analyse these larger cultural patterns and their neoliberal rootings, and psychological ones that probe the meanings and workings of our resulting selves; and between the massive cultural, economic and political shifts that we’ve witnessed over the past thirty years and our sexualities, gendered beings and doings, and health making practices—indeed, our most intimate relations with our bodily selves. In advancing theoretically rich and lucid readings of feminized and masculinized everyday body practices, Riley, Evans and Robson have crafted a paradigm-shifting tome.' - Carla Rice, Canada Research Chair, Feminist Studies and Social Practice, and Professor, University of Guelph, Canada
'Nuanced, theoretically sophisticated, accessible, and engaging, Postfeminism and Body Image provides a very timely exploration of contemporary body image issues. The authors take a critical transdisciplinary approach, drawing on cultural studies, sociology, economics, politics, geography; gender studies, psychology and media studies to interrogate the ways in which bodies and body image are understood, experienced, and regulated in the context of post-feminism. This book significantly advances our understandings of both postfeminism and body image and is a must-have for new and experienced researchers alike.' - Helen Malson, Associate Professor, Social Psychology, University of the West of England, UK
'This is a marvellous and important contribution to key debates in feminist cultural and media studies. It extends the research arc of "postfeminism" so that there is a wider and more international focus, while at the same time providing more detailed analysis of specific iterations in consumer culture. This work also offers further theoretical refinement in the field, as well as illuminating our understanding of the stubborn persistence of "body image" across gender and popular culture.' - Angela McRobbie, FBA, Visiting Professor, Centre for Post-Digital Cultures, Institute for Creative Cultures, Coventry University, UK
