Advancing the literature on a critical topic, this important new work illuminates the relationship between the anguish of eating disorder sufferers and the problems of ordinary women. The book covers a wide variety of issues - from ways in which gender may predispose women to eating disorders to the widespread cultural concerns these problems symbolize. Throughout, the psychology of women is reflected in the concepts and methods described; there is an explicit commitment to political and social equality for women; and therapy is reevaluated based on an understanding of the needs of women patients and the potentially differing contributions of male and female therapists. Providing valuable insights into the critical problem of eating disorders, this book is essential reading for clinicians and researchers alike. Also, by examining many of the ways in which women are affected by and respond to society's gender politics, the book may be used as a text in women's studies courses.

A Gendered Disorder: Lessons from History. Seid, Too "Close to the Bone": The Historical Context for Women's Obsession with Slenderness. O.W. Wooley, ...And Man Created "Woman": Representations of Women's Bodies in Western Culture. Rothblum, "I'll Die for the Revolution But Don't Ask Me Not to Diet": Feminism and the Continuing Stigmatization of Obesity. Perlick, Silverstein, Faces of Female Discontent. Wolf, Hunger. A Place for the Female Body. Brigman, Four Generations of Women: Our Bodies and Lives. Katzman, When Reproductive and Productive Worlds Meet: Collision or Growth? Hutchinson, Imagining Ourselves Whole: A Feminist Approach to Treating Body Image Disorders. Treatment Issues: A Feminist Reanalysis. S.C. Wooley, Sexual Abuse and Eating Disorders: The Hidden Debate. Burgard, Lyons, Alternatives in Obesity Treatment: Focusing on Health for Fat Women. Raymond, Mitchell, Fallon, Katzman, A Collaborative Approach to the Use of Medication. Sesan, Feminist Inpatient Treatment for Eating Disorders: An Oxymoron? Rabinor, Mothers, Daughters, and Eating Disorders: Honoring the Mother?Daughter Relationship. van Wormer, "Hi, I'm Jane, I'm a Compulsive Overeater". Reconstructing the Female Text. Tolman, Debold, Conflicts of Body and Image: Female Adolescents, Desires, and the No-Body Body. S.C. Wooley, The Female Therapist as Outlaw. Peters, Fallon, The Journey of Recovery: Dimensions of Change. Thompson, Food, Bodies, and Growing Up Female: Childhood Lessons about Culture, Race, and Class. Possibility. Steiner-Adair, The Politics of Prevention. Kilbourne, Still Killing Us Softly: Advertising and the Obsession with Thinness. Shisslak, Crago, Toward a New Model for the Prevention of Eating Disorders. Striegel-Moore, Toward a Feminist Research Agenda in the Psychological Research on Eating Disorders.