Am I Thin Enough Yet?

Sharlene Hesse-Biber is Associate Professor of Sociology at Boston College. The former director of the Women's Studies Program at Boston College, she is founding director of the National Association for Women in Catholic Higher Education.

"[Hesse-Biber] makes the politics of weight personal as she provides therapeutic options for those seeking to overcome weight obsessions."--Booklist"[G]ives a needed perspective on the artificial creation of a mind/body dichotomy, and offers solutions in the forms of social activism and education to combat what, for many anorexia sufferers, is a slow form of suicide."--Listener"Interesting reading."--Child & Family Behavior Therapy"A scholarly, well-written book on the social psychology of overvalued thinness in today's society. It clearly conveys a sense of the overwhelming propaganda of the thinness-industrial complex and its impact on the lives and well-being of women."--Joel Yager, M.D., University of New Mexico School of Medicine"Examining the role of the family in delivering society's messages about women as physical objects, [Hesse-Biber] makes the politics of weight personal as she provides therapeutic options for those seeking to overcome weight obsessions."--Booklist"Suggests ways in which women can initiate social change through personal gestures within their own circle of family, friends, and coworkers.... Likely to stimulate lively discussion in classes devoted to women's studies."--Kirkus Reviews"Hesse-Biber provides a 'tour de force' examination of the cultural factors that contribute to women's obsession with thinness. She weaves together a review of historical materials, an exploration of current psychological and sociological research, and interviews with women. Am I Thin Enough Yet? is a scholarly yet highly readable analysis of why women get so caught up with the quest for thinness."--Ruth H. Striegel-Moore, Ph.D., President of theAcademy for Eating Disorders"The discontent of American women is nowhere stronger than in the way they look--almost everyone thinks she is too fat. Sharlene Hesse-Biber's book combines research data with the voices of lamenting women to show us that we have not come a long way at all! We are right where we started--loathing ourselves and victims of a distorted image. We may think we have risen high in our organizations, but we only care about whether we have risen on our scales.Hesse-Biber's book asks women to liberate ourselves from this meaningless concern."--Shulamit Reinharz, Department of Sociology, Brandeis University