Body Panic

Shari L. Dworkin is Professor in the Department of Social and Behavioral Sciences and Associate Dean for Academic Affairs at the University of California, San Francisco School of Nursing. She is the author or editor of several books, most recently Body Panic: Gender, Health, and the Selling of Fitness and Men at Risk, both with NYU Press.Faye Linda Wachs is an Associate Professor of Sociology in the Department of Psychology and Sociology at California State Polytechnic University, Pomona (Cal Poly Pomona).

"Body Panic is an interesting, careful, and timely book, and my guess is that it will be a valuable source for anyone interested in the sport-body-gender nexus for years to come." - Kevin Young (American Journal of Sociology) "A terrific critique of the ways that the media create and then sell the desire for perfect (but different) bodies to men and women. Dworkin and Wachs beautifully weave gender theory with empirical analyses of consumer culture for a very readable study." - Judith Lorber,author of Gendered Bodies: Feminist Perspectives and Breaking the Bowls: Degendering and Feminist Change "Dworkin and Wachs have produced the best analysis we have of this crucial moment in the history of sports and gender. They combine real rigor with wit and perceptiveness in a book that will become a standard reference for years to come." - Toby Miller,author of SportSex "In this critical cultural expose, Dworkin and Wachs peel back the surface layers of the health and fitness craze and reveal a festering, discomfiting malaise about gender and sexuality. If the old feminist slogan, 'Our Bodies, Ourselves' helped women regain control over their bodies, Dworkin and Sachs suggest a new slogan, 'Our Bodies, Our Culture.' For only when we see how our bodies have been taken from us, repackaged and returned as deformed and puny, can we see that we've been sold dis-ease and discomfort in the guise of health and fitness." - Michael Kimmel,author of The Gendered Society and editor, Men and Masculinities "Body Panic is an excellent media analysis for those interested in gender, cultural, or media studies. . .a book detailing the complex interplay of media message about health in relation to gender, race, class, and sexuality is a welcome addition to the ongoing dialogue on health and fitness." (Sex Roles)

• Acknowledgments 1 The Nature of Body Panic Culture 2 What Kinds of Subjects and Objects? Gender, Consumer Culture, and Convergence 3 Size Matters: Male Body Panic and the Third Wave "Crisis of Masculinity" 4 "Getting Your Body Back": Postindustrial Fit Motherhood and the Merger of the Second (Household Labor/Child Care) and Third (Fitness) Shifts 5 From Women's Sports & Fitness to Self : Third Wave Feminism and the Consumption Conundrum 6 Emancipatory Potential, Social Justice, and the Consumption Imperative Appendix Notes Bibliography Index About the Authors