This introductory text sets out to make the links between sociological theories of the body and actual human behaviour and experience. It covers a broad range of topics, from long-standing sociological concerns to more contemporary issues. With a focus on the changeability of the body, it examines the part that bodies play in the social construction of categories such as race, sexuality and disability and explores how we express ourselves through our bodies, whether in eating, dress or pain. It also debates how the body is regulated, both through the life course and in reproduction.

"You’d think a Miss America swimsuit winner would feel completely confident about her body, right? Not always! So I decided to write the book I wish I’d had as a teen and in college—an honest, funny, practical, medically accurate, totally reassuring guide to how women’s bodies actually look, smell, feel, behave, and change. Alongside real-deal photographs of women just like you and me (no airbrushing, no supermodels, no kidding) you’ll find medical pictures of things you need to be able to recognize, true confessions by yours truly, and the encouragement you need to appreciate the uniqueness, strength, and beauty of your body. What are you waiting for?"—Nancy Redd From fashion magazines to taboo Web sites, curious young women have access to tons of old wives' tales about and thousands of airbrushed and inaccurate images of the female body—misinformation and harmful portrayals that can lead to low self-esteem, self-destructive acts, or even disturbing plastic surgery procedures. Teaming up with a leading physician specializing in adolescent health issues, Harvard graduate and former Miss Virginia Nancy Redd now offers a down-to-earth, healing, and reassuring response to those damaging myths. In Body Drama, Redd gives girls insight into the issues they're often too ashamed to raise with a doctor or parent. She also reveals her own experiences with the culture of "American beauty," and shows readers all the many versions of "normal." From body hair and bras, to acne and weight issues, along with crucial issues such as the importance of a healthy self image, Body Drama is a groundbreaking book packed with informative fast facts, FYIs, how-tos, and moving personal anecdotes as well as hundreds of un-retouched photographs. A highly visual book, it’s the first of its kind for women: filled with real information and real photographs of real bodies, to celebrate all our different shapes and sizes. Named by Glamour magazine as one of America’s top-ten college women "most likely to succeed—at anything," Redd has spent the most recent years of her life on a mission to tackle the issues least discussed but most significant in young women’s lives. Celebrating the many versions of "normal," and replacing seriously erroneous information with the honest, medically proven truth in a language all girls can understand, Body Drama dares to empower a new generation—with facts instead of fantasies, and the priceless gift of self-knowledge.

With a diversity of bodies and perspectives, this portrait collection presents over eighty yoga practitioners posing and sharing their personal yoga stories. Artfully capturing yoga’s vibrant spirit, Yoga Bodies presents full-color yoga-pose portraits of more than eighty practitioners of all ages, shapes, sizes, backgrounds, and skill levels—real people with real stories to share about how yoga has changed their lives for the better. Some humorous, some heartfelt, others profound, the stories entertain as they enlighten, while the portraits—which joyously challenge the “yoga body” stereotype—celebrate the glorious diversity of the human form. Yoga Bodies is a source of endless inspiration for anyone seeking fresh perspectives on how to live well. “Unpretentious and delightful . . . A collection of first-person portraits of more than 80 people who practice and enjoy yoga. It’s not a book only for yogis—it’s a book for people.” —RealSimple.com

Catalog of Gunther von Hagen's exhibition of human bodies preserved by "plastination"and presented as "natural art" (p. 13). Work also includes a short history of anatomy and essays on ethical perspectives.

A look inside the world of forensics examines the use of human cadavers in a wide range of endeavors, including research into new surgical procedures, space exploration, and a Tennessee human decay research facility.

The Internet is here but have we caught up with all the implications for culture and everyday life? This collection of original articles on the development of computer-mediated communications brings together many of the most accomplished writers on the Net and cyberspace. Cultures of Internet examines the arrival of e-mail and online discussion groups, and considers the prospect of an online world' - a playground for virtual bodies in which identities are flexible, swappable and disconnected from real-world bodies. The book traces the rise of virtual conviviality and how it supplements the physical encounters between actors in public spaces that are abandoned to the homeless. The book is distinguished by a critical and social tone. It presents systematic descriptions of the development of the Internet, its history in the military-industrial complex, the role of state policies leading, for example, to the creation of Minitel, and the building of information superhighways'. It also explores the development of this technology as a commercialized leisure form and a forum for underground political organization and critique.

Describes the discovery of bog bodies in northern Europe and the evidence which their remains reveal about themselves and the civilizations in which they lived.

“Fun…and full of smart science. Fans of CSI—the real kind—will want to read it” (The Washington Post): A young forensic pathologist’s “rookie season” as a NYC medical examiner, and the hair-raising cases that shaped her as a physician and human being. Just two months before the September 11 terrorist attacks, Dr. Judy Melinek began her training as a New York City forensic pathologist. While her husband and their toddler held down the home front, Judy threw herself into the fascinating world of death investigation—performing autopsies, investigating death scenes, counseling grieving relatives. Working Stiff chronicles Judy’s two years of training, taking readers behind the police tape of some of the most harrowing deaths in the Big Apple, including a firsthand account of the events of September 11, the subsequent anthrax bio-terrorism attack, and the disastrous crash of American Airlines Flight 587. An unvarnished portrait of the daily life of medical examiners—complete with grisly anecdotes, chilling crime scenes, and a welcome dose of gallows humor—Working Stiff offers a glimpse into the daily life of one of America’s most arduous professions, and the unexpected challenges of shuttling between the domains of the living and the dead. The body never lies—and through the murders, accidents, and suicides that land on her table, Dr. Melinek lays bare the truth behind the glamorized depictions of autopsy work on television to reveal the secret story of the real morgue. “Haunting and illuminating...the stories from her average workdays…transfix the reader with their demonstration that medical science can diagnose and console long after the heartbeat stops” (The New York Times).

A fashion consultant demonstrates how women of all sizes can identify their body type and select the right clothing and accessories to define their personal style and overcome a variety of fashion challenges.