Kathy Davis is Associate Professor of Women′s Studies at the Faculty of Social Sciences, University of Utrecht in The Netherlands. She is author of Reshaping the Female Body: The Dilemma of Cosmetic Surgery (1995) and Power Under the Microscope: Toward a Grounded Theory of Gender Relations in Medical Encounters (1988).CONTRIBUTORSAnna Aalten University of AmsterdamRachel AD Bloul ANU CanberraGon Buurman AmsterdamJulia Edwards University of GlamorganJoanne Finkelstein Monash UniversityIneke Klinge University of UtrechtGesa Lindeman University of Frankfurt Harriette Marshall Staffordshire University Stoke on TrentLinda McKie University of AberdeenMonica Rudberg University of OsloAnne Woollett University of East London, StratfordDubravka Zarkov Nijmegen

• Embody-ing Theory - Kathy DavisBeyond Modernist and Postmodernist Readings of the BodyPART ONE: THE FEMALE BODY: DIFFERENCE AND POWERReading the Body - Anne Woollett and Harriette MarshallYoung Women′s Accounts of Their Bodies in Relation to Autonomy and IndependencePerforming the Body, Creating Culture - Anna AaltenFemale Bodies and Brittle Bones - Ineke KlingeMedical Interventions in OsteoporosisThe Body of Gender Difference - Gesa LindemannVictims or Offenders? `Other′ Women in French Sexual Politics - Rachel A BloulSex as Usual - Dubravka ZarkovBody Politics and the Media War in SerbiaPART TWO: FEMINIST INTERVENTIONS IN BODY/POLITICSErotic Bodies - Gon BuurmanImages of the DisabledWomen′s Public Toilets - Julia Edwards and Linda McKieA Serious Issue for the Body PoliticChic Outrage and Body Politics - Joanne Finkelstein`My Body Is My Art′ - Kathy DavisCosmetic Surgery as Feminist Utopia?The Researching Body - Monica RudbergThe Epistemophilic Project

`These essays are likely to be welcomed by those coming from a women′s studies perspective....In addition, they open up possibilities for articulating an embodied theory of the body, which will be of interest to students of sociology or cultural theory and feminists alike′ - Times Higher Education Supplement`As the editor of this exciting collection notes, while bodies are "in" in social and cultural theory, there has been a surprising neglect of the gendered nature of embodiment. This book presents fascinating and original accounts of the nature and meaning of female bodies over a range of cultural and political contexts and practices. The book′s strengths lie in its successful melding of contemporary theory with empirical research and grounded examples of women′s embodiment′ - Deborah Lupton, Charles Sturt University, Bathurst`An excellent collection on the body from a specifically feminist perspective... a solid empirical work imbued with cutting-edge theorizing. Political implications for women are always foregrounded′ - Judith Lorber