Based on interviews with pregnant women, this book provides a multi-disciplinary empirical account of pregnant embodiment and how it relates to wider sociological and feminist discourses about gender, bodies, 'fitness', 'fat', celebrity and motherhood.

The complexity of the mother-children relationship, the problems of maternal loss, inordinate erotic love and betrayal, along with the need for a woman to affirm her own identity against every patriarchal oppression, arguably make Medea one of the most popular myths re-enacted by contemporary women writers. Toni Morrison and Liz Lochhead turn to it for the freedom of creating narratives that offer both victimized and empowered portrayals of women, and exploit the key figure of problematic motherhood to invert its canonical tropes. The role of classic appropriation as a counter-hegemonic discourse demonstrates the possibilities of classical literature for voicing the concerns of the marginalized, and in such light shows the connection between classicism and female, racial and cultural empowerment.

Manic cake-baking at midnight. After-school activities and young social lives that require dedicated and complex organisation. Mother-of-the-birthday-boy meltdowns. No Sex. No Nights out. No Sleep. Ever. What's wrong with this picture? That's the question Judith Warner asked herself after taking a good, hard look at the world of modern motherhood, at anxious women at work and in bed with unhappy husbands. By moving personally between the worlds of stay-at-home and working motherhood, interviewing numerous women and reading and seeing what our popular culture and politicians had to offer on the subject of motherhood in our time, Warner comes to a stark conclusion: that what is now happening in the culture of motherhood is nothing less that perfect madness. Written in a lively, accessible and often amusing tone, this is a book that all mothers will be able to relate to.

This book evaluates the major debates around which the discipline of international relations has developed in the light of contemporary feminist theories.

Making good nutritional choices can mean women optimise the outcomes of their birthing experience and offer their babies the best possible start in life. To support this, all health professionals who work with women during pregnancy, birth and the postnatal period need to have an appropriate knowledge of nutrition, healthy eating and other food related issues. This evidence-based text provides an informative and accessible introduction to nutrition in pregnancy and childbirth. As well as allowing readers to recognise when nutritional deficiency may be creating challenges, it explores the psychosocial and cultural context of food and considers their relevance for women’s eating behaviour. Finally, important emerging issues, such as eating during labour, food supplements and maternal obesity, are discussed. An important reference for health professionals working in midwifery or public health contexts especially, this book is also the ideal companion for a course on nutrition in pregnancy and childbirth.

Masculinity, Class and Same-Sex Desire in Industrial England, 1895-1957 explores the experiences of men who desired other men outside of the capital. In doing so, it offers a unique intervention into the history of sexuality but it also offers new ways to understand masculinity, working-class culture, regionality and work in the period.

Provides a model for queering motherhood that resists racist, neoliberal, and hetero- or homonormative ideals of “good” mothering.

Real Recognition investigates the complexities of literary and social recognition with the aim of putting a fresh, cross-disciplinary spin on reader identification and social acknowledgment. Engaging with contemporary Danish and Anglophone works on racialization, disability, and gender, Marie-Elisabeth Lei Pihl argues in favor of a close relation between aesthetic appeals to recognition and the political dimensions of literary texts. Moreover, she proposes a framework bent on experience and relations, as opposed to identity and status, for articulating new fruitful understandings of how literary texts call for aesthetic and social recognition. Based on this, she argues that literary texts can make readers get what social validation is about – and thereby help us redefine a key concept in the social sciences. Marie-Elisabeth Lei Pihl earned her PhD in literature and sociology from the University of Southern Denmark in 2020. Currently, she works as a postdoctoral researcher within narrative medicine and literature-based social interventions at the University of Southern Denmark in collaboration with the National Institute of Public Health in Copenhagen. Chapter 3 of this book is available for free in PDF format as Open Access from the individual product page at www.routledge.com. It has been made available under a Creative Commons Attribution-Non Commercial-No Derivatives 4.0 license.

This revised set of resources for Cambridge International AS and A Level Sociology syllabus (9699) is thoroughly updated for the latest syllabus. Written by a highly experienced author, the Coursebook provides comprehensive support for the syllabus. Accessible language combined with the clear, visually-engaging layout makes this an ideal resource for the course. Discussion of significant sociological research, case studies, explanation of key terms and questions within the text reinforce knowledge. Stimulating activities build interpretation and application as well as analytical and evaluation skills. Revision checklists help in consolidating understanding. The book provides complete exam support with each chapter culminating in exam-style questions and a further chapter dedicated to revision, and examination skills and practice. A Teacher's CD-ROM is also available.