A zoologist explores the unique evolution of the female body in this fascinating study of social, historical, and biological influences. Humans are the only mammals whose females have curvy bodies. In Curvology, zoologist David Bainbridge uses his scientific know-how to explore this anatomical mystery. With wide ranging data and analysis, he delves into the social and psychological consequences of our fixation with curves and fat. Blending evolutionary biology, cultural observation, and cutting-edge psychology, Bainbridge critically synthesize the science and history of women’s body shape, from ancient homonids to the age of the selfie, offering insights into how women’s bodies became objects of fascination and raising awareness about what this scrutiny does to our brains. Packed with controversial and compelling findings that drive us to think about the significance of our curves and what they mean for future generations, Curvology offers not just a compelling collection of facts and studies, but a fascinating take on human evolution.

From breasts and orgasms to periods, pregnancies, and menopause—A Brief History of the Female Body is a fascinating science book explaining the mysteries of the female body through an evolutionary lens. Let's face it: The female body is an enigma. For teenagers first experiencing their periods, the monthly arrival of mood swings and cramps can be agonizing and inconvenient. With pregnancy—perhaps the most miraculous of bodily events—comes countless potential complications, including high blood pressure, diabetes, premature birth, and postpartum depression. And menopause is equally mystifying. Why do females lose their fertility over time and experience the notorious side effects—like hot flashes, weight gain, and hair loss—while males maintain their fertility forever? Evolutionary geneticist and educator Dr. Deena Emera has spent much of her career studying the evolution of female reproduction. A Brief History of the Female Body draws on her vast expertise as a biologist, her experience as a mother of four children, and her love of teaching to look far into our evolutionary past, illuminating how and, more importantly, why the female form has transformed over millions of years and its effects on women's health.

Drawing on a range of texts from the seventeenth century to the present, The Female Body in Medicine and Literature explores accounts of motherhood, fertility, and clinical procedures for what they have to tell us about the development of women's medicine. The essays here offer nuanced historical analyses of subjects that have received little critical attention, including the relationship between gynecology and psychology and the influence of popular art forms on so-called women's science prior to the twenty-first century. Taken together, these essays offer a wealth of insight into the medical treatment of women and will appeal to scholars in gender studies, literature, and the history of medicine.

The story about a body in continuous transformation. This book unravels the mystery surrounding women's biology and explains what is happening underneath the surface. We all know that the female body changes cyclically every month during the reproductive years, and that it completely transforms during puberty, pregnancy and menopause. However, most of us ignore the fascinating details. What triggers those changes and what are the sometimes unexpected consequences? The facts are as mind-blowing as entertaining. Based on the latest research, all information is presented in an easy to read manner with plenty of anecdotes; from historical prejudices to personal experiences, with some evolutionary ideas in between

Women's bodies and the study of anatomy in Italy between the late thirteenth and the mid-sixteenth centuries.

"Seeing Her Sex" questions how the visual representation of women has been used to remove women's bodies from varying discourses, especially in relation to the matter of generation and reproduction.

Explains why lawyers seeking gender progress from primary legal materials should start with the common law.

Hippocrates' Woman demonstrates the role of Hippocratic ideas about the female body in the subsequent history of western gynaecology. It examines these ideas not only in the social and cultural context in which they were first produced, but also the ways in which writers up to the Victorian period have appealed to the material in support of their own theories. Among the conflicting tange of images of women given in the Hippocratic corpus existed one tradition of the female body which says it is radically unlike the male body, behaving in different ways and requiring a different set of therapies. This book sets this model within the context of Greek mythology, especially the myth of Pandora and her difference from men, to explore the image of the body as something to be read. Hippocrates' Woman presents an arresting study of the origins of gynaecology, an exploration of how the interior workings of the female body were understood and the influence of Hippocrates' theories on the gynaecology of subsequent ages.

In early modern English medicine, the balance of fluids in the body was seen as key to health. Menstruation was widely believed to regulate blood levels in the body and so was extensively discussed in medical texts. Sara Read examines all forms of literature, from plays and poems, to life-writing, and compares these texts with the medical theories.

From the first, brief moving images of female nudes in the 1880s to the present, the motion picture camera made the female body a battleground in what we now call the culture wars. Churchmen feared the excitation of male lust; feminists decried the idealization of a body type that devalued the majority of women. This history of Hollywood's treatment of women's bodies traces the full span of the motion picture era. Primitive peepshow images of burlesque dancers gave way to the "artistic" nudity of the 1910s when model Audrey Munson and swimmer Annette Kellerman contended for the title of American Venus. Clara Bow personified the qualified sexual freedom of the 1920s flapper. Jean Harlow, Mae West and the scantily clad chorus girls of the early 1930s provoked the Legion of Decency to demand the creation of a Production Code Administration that turned saucy Betty Boop into a housewife. Things loosened up during World War II when Betty Grable and Rita Hayworth ruled the screen. The postwar years saw the blonde bombshells and "mammary madness" of the 1950s while the 1960's brought bikini-clad sex kittens. With the replacement of the Production Code by a ratings system in 1968, nudity and sex scenes proliferated in the R-rated movies of the 1970s and 1980s. Recent movies, often directed by women, have pointed the way toward a more egalitarian future. Finally, the #MeToo movement and the fall of Harvey Weinstein have forced the industry to confront its own sexism. Each chapter of this book situates movies, famous and obscure, into the context of changes in the movie industry and the larger society.