Rebecca Gibson – författare

Both a translation and critique of an early 20th century seminal French text on the physical effects of corseting, The Bad Corset explores contemporary anti-woman bias to challenge the commonly accepted assertions about corsetry’s contribution to disease, disfigurement, and disorders of the female body.The original 1908 French book, Le Corset by Ludovic O'Followell—with its graphic illustrations, some of which are reproduced here—tells a story, familiar to anyone interested in popular culture and fashion history, of women suffering for fashion, tormented by and subject to their corsets. However, a close reading of the texts tells a very different, and more complicated, story.This fascinating exploration, approaching the topic from a scientific perspective, and reproducing facsimiles of the original text, with translations and annotations, critiques the presumptions and anxieties of male medical professionals on the ‘damage’ caused by corsets to the female body and psyche. Rather than seeing the women who wore these perceived instruments of torture as victims or dupes, The Bad Corset confidently asserts the agency of the women who wore them and highlights the way in which seminal texts can continue to influence our interpretation of the past, and women’s lives and histories.The Bad Corset is a remarkable resource for scholars and students of fashion, medicine and gender history, taking a feminist approach to female agency and choice, and helping us reconsider the way we think about the shaping of women’s bodies, and their lives.

Both a translation and critique of an early 20th century seminal French text on the physical effects of corseting, The Bad Corset explores contemporary anti-woman bias to challenge the commonly accepted assertions about corsetry’s contribution to disease, disfigurement, and disorders of the female body.The original 1908 French book, Le Corset by Ludovic O'Followell—with its graphic illustrations, some of which are reproduced here—tells a story, familiar to anyone interested in popular culture and fashion history, of women suffering for fashion, tormented by and subject to their corsets. However, a close reading of the texts tells a very different, and more complicated, story.This fascinating exploration, approaching the topic from a scientific perspective, and reproducing facsimiles of the original text, with translations and annotations, critiques the presumptions and anxieties of male medical professionals on the ‘damage’ caused by corsets to the female body and psyche. Rather than seeing the women who wore these perceived instruments of torture as victims or dupes, The Bad Corset confidently asserts the agency of the women who wore them and highlights the way in which seminal texts can continue to influence our interpretation of the past, and women’s lives and histories.The Bad Corset is a remarkable resource for scholars and students of fashion, medicine and gender history, taking a feminist approach to female agency and choice, and helping us reconsider the way we think about the shaping of women’s bodies, and their lives.

The best of British wildlife without the carbon footprint – where to go in search of wildlife by train, bus, bike and on foot.With carbon footprint now finally seen as a serious issue in the public eye, travelling to see wildlife by car is becoming increasingly hard to justify. This book – a site guide with a difference – offers the solution to this problem.Featuring over 100 sites in or around 20 towns and cities that can all be accessed by train, bus, bicycle or on foot, this is the essential guide to planning a low-carbon itinerary for the perfect wildlife-watching trip. Each site offers either one or two top-tier species or a broader wildlife experience. There are directions for all sites, plus detailed information on travel options, access, species present and when best to visit, along with photographs of the sites and some of the special species you might see. Whether it’s otters in Carlisle, butterflies in Norfolk, seabird cliffs in coastal Wales or red squirrels in the Highlands, this book tells you where to go and how to get there while minimising your carbon footprint. It's a new and unique way to enjoy Britain's wildlife heritage, and one that we should all embrace.

Taking a broad interpretation of “supernatural” to include anything beyond nature, Global Perspectives on the Liminality of the Supernatural examines the liminality of often-overlooked types of supernatural beings in light of the themes of death and gender. It gives the reader a tour of the continents and takes them out into space, looking at popular culture and mythologies to propose answers to fundamental anthropological questions about humanity, the concept of “dead,” and how we relate to our own genders when using the supernatural to understand them.

Smitten by Scotland since childhood, travel writer Rebecca Gibson moved to Moray and started exploring her new home region on foot to produce this new title in Bradt's award-winning series of Slow travel guides to UK regions. Walkers, cyclists, wildlife lovers, families, history and folklore enthusiasts, and foodies are all catered for, with coverage of a wide range of attractions. As the only comprehensive guidebook to North East Scotland in print, it also contains all the practical information you could need to plan and enjoy time in this thrillingly diverse yet largely under-explored part of Britain. This region of mountains and coasts, ancient Caledonian pine forests and salmon-rich rivers harbours much to enthral and surprise. Long famous among hillwalkers, mountaineers and nature lovers, the Cairngorms is the UK's largest National Park and holds five of its six tallest summits - but also abounds in fairy folklore. Balmoral Estate has been a royal residence since Queen Victoria's reign, while Aberdeenshire - with its unique language, Doric - has Scotland's highest density of castles and numerous Pictish stone circles among an astounding 30,000 sites of historical and archaeological interest. Between Inverness and Aberdeen lies the less-familiar region of Moray, which hosts the world's most northerly population of bottle-nosed dolphins, Scotland's oldest independent museum, and Forres, where Shakespeare's Macbeth met the three witches. Here the Scots language and culture are celebrated through gatherings such as fire festivals.This guidebook's Slow approach to travel fits with a growing ethos of sustainability in this part of Scotland, from Findhorn Ecovillage to a celebration of locally sourced, artisan and organic food alongside the well-known products of whisky, Aberdeen Angus beef and River Dee salmon. Key heritage attractions are described in intimate detail - but so too are opportunities to see some of Scotland's most special wildlife, from pinewood-dwelling crested tits to high-altitude specialists like ptarmigan. Whether you are keen to visit castles or indulge in whisky-tastings amid Britain's highest concentration of distilleries, to hike among Cairngorm's remote mountains or to stride boldly along miles upon miles of coastline, discover North East Scotland with Bradt's unique Slow guide.

Gender, Supernatural Beings, and the Liminality of Death: Monstrous Males/Fatal Females examines representations of the supernatural dead to demonstrate shifts in the manifestation of gender. Including readings of East Asian detectives/cyborgs, Iranian vampires, and African zombies, among others, This collection offers a multi-faceted look at myth, legend, and popular culture representations of the gendered supernatural from a broad range of international contexts. The contributors show that, as creatures pass through the liminal space of death, their new supernatural forms challenge cultural conceptions of gender, masculinity, and femininity.

Gender, Supernatural Beings, and the Liminality of Death: Monstrous Males/Fatal Females examines representations of the supernatural dead to demonstrate shifts in the manifestation of gender. Including readings of East Asian detectives/cyborgs, Iranian vampires, and African zombies, among others, This collection offers a multi-faceted look at myth, legend, and popular culture representations of the gendered supernatural from a broad range of international contexts. The contributors show that, as creatures pass through the liminal space of death, their new supernatural forms challenge cultural conceptions of gender, masculinity, and femininity.

This book examines how science fiction’s portrayal of humanity’s desire for robotic companions influences and reflects changes in our actual desires. In creating a new species of potential companions, science fiction highlights what we already want and how our desires dictate—and are in return recreated— by what is written.

Unpacking assumptions about corseting, Rebecca Gibson supplements narratives of corseted women from the 18th and 19th centuries with her seminal work on corset-related skeletal deformation.

The Matrix (Lana Wachowski and Lilly Wachowski 1999) has permeated our cultural consciousness for two decades, working its way into such common parlance as “a glitch in the Matrix,” and the idea of taking the Red Pill.