Locker Room Diaries The Naked Truth about Women, Body Image, and Re-imagining the "Perfect" Body

by Goldman, Leslie

• ISBN13: 9780738210421
• ISBN10: 0738210420
• Format: Hardcover
• Copyright: 2006-05-22
• Publisher: Da Capo Lifelong Books

Summary

I wish my thighs were smaller. "If only I could lose ten pounds." A wake-up call for any woman who has engaged in the "if only" wishing game,Locker Room Diariesuses the unique lens of the locker room to reveal what, exactly, goes into "shaping" not just a woman's body but her body image. The locker room can be a wondrous retreat, a place to toss aside the worries of the day, but it is also where our flaws become most apparent-and where most of us can't help but wonder how we "measure up." Often dressed in no more than a towel, Leslie Goldman spent five years talking with women of all shapes and sizes about their body image, from taut twenty-somethings to heavyset seniors. Why is it, she asks, that almost no one seems satisfied with her physique? From compulsive workouts to daily dates with the scale, from bikini waxes to body fat measurements, American women are swept up in a constant quest for the "perfect" body. Thankfully, more than one woman reveals how she halted her cycle of self-loathing and learned to like her bodyas is. Blending expert opinion with wonderfully intimate, often laugh-outloud, confidences,Locker Room Diarieswill inspire anyone who knows the highs of exercise to leave the lows of self-esteem behind-and, most especially, once and for all, to step off that scale!

Author Biography

Leslie Goldman, M.P.H., is a health writer for the American Medical Association. She also writes for the Chicago Tribune, Health, Marie Claire, People, and Redbook. She lives in Chicago.

Table of Contents

Introduction: Warming Up	xiii
Conquering Mount Toledo: Putting the Scale in Its Place	1	(18)
Booby-Trapped: Hallelujah, My Nipples Have Seen the Light!	19	(20)
A Waist Is a Terrible Thing to Mind: Eating Disorders Exposed	39	(16)
I Scream, You Scream, We All Scream for . . . a $50 Bikini Wax?: Locker Room Beauty Rituals	55	(20)
Belly Dancing: Learning About Pregnancy Straight from the Source	75	(20)
Pimples, Crotches, and Butts, Oh My!: Locker Room Nudity in All Its Splendor . . . and Horror	95	(20)
Cellulite: The Bumpy Bane of My Existence	115	(2)
A Steamy Situation: Talk, Sweat, and Tears in the Sauna	117	(12)
Throwing Our Weight Around: Plus-Sized in the Land of Thin	129	(22)
¿Me Veo Gorda en Esta Ropa?: Do I Look Fat in This? Re-Imagining Body Image: Exploring Race and Ethnicity	151	(24)
The Next Generation: Body Image, Locker Room Mentality, and Today's Young Girls	175	(24)
Having a Senior Moment: What Lessons Can the Older Generation Teach Us?	199	(28)
Epilogue: Smokin' in the Girls' Room: Time to Throw in the Towel on Hating Our Bodies	227	(10)
Acknowledgments	237