Young Women and the Body

"Young Women and the Body advances the argument that an unhappy relationship with their own bodies is the common experience of contemporary Western young women. This book looks first at currently recognised body disorders: eating disorders, self-harm and dysmorphic disorder, and finds that these are primarily diagnosed in young women. Having briefly considered appropriate theoretical perspectives, it then proceeds to argue that body-hatred is not just the experience of a few sick girls, but a general difficulty of this generation. Explanations for this are sought in ways in which society defines young women as unstable adolescents, as rampant consumers, as sexually suspect and as relatively powerless. The book also considers whether modern boys suffer such a difficult relationship with their bodies, and finds little evidence for this. Interview material with girls in a psychiatric facility and girls with no known disturbance in a school setting substantiates the body-hatred theme."--Jacket.

Beyond its central premise, the book can be read through the connected lenses of Mental Health, Nonfiction. Those themes offer useful points of attention as the characters, ideas, or world develop, especially where the book complicates the expectations of its primary category.