In this unique approach to the field of body studies, author, scholar, and educator Victoria Kannen explores what it means to exist in a body that is constantly on display and subjected to public scrutiny. Kannen examines the interplay of many ways our bodies express identity, such as gender, race, body size, sexuality, disability, body modification, and age, and how public scrutiny of those expressions can impact our public and private selves.
Intertwining personal narratives of self-identified “odd and awed” women with theoretical chapters that help to elucidate the role of social power, this volume tackles the stares, comments, and questions that are directed towards bodies in public space through original research, personal narratives, and artistic expression. As readers encounter the narratives and images throughout the book, they will be supported by scholarly chapters on embodiment, identity, resistance, and power to help analyze, reflect on, and critically engage with the content.
Through stories, theory, and art, this timely new resource will engage students and scholars of women’s and gender studies, sociology, critical disability studies, and body studies.
FEATURES
offers a unique understanding of interpretation and what it means to have a body that causes curiosity, discrimination, and lifelong interactions
accessible and engaging for students and scholars, as well as those outside of academia
provides creative and non-traditional opportunities for critical engagement with various embodiments
Chapter 2: Well-Meaning Strangers: Identities, Stares, and Hair
Body Story: Nana
Body Story: Rae
Body Theories: Responding to Nana and Rae
Chapter 3: Our Bodies as Private and Public (Sexualized) Spaces
Body Story: Kali
Body Story: Alice
Body Theories: Responding to Kali and Alice
Chapter 4: Underestimated and Overdetermined: Shame, Tokenism, Exoticism, and Fierce Resistance
Body Story: Viola
Body Story: Gioia
Body Theories: Responding to Viola and Gioia
Chapter 5: Excessive Bodies: Modified and Un/Natural Freaks
Body Story: Quinn
Body Story: Victoria
Body Theories: Responding to Quinn and Victoria
Chapter 6: Bodies and Their Stories
Appendix
Glossary
References
Biography
Victoria Kannen writes and teaches on the subjects of identity, embodiments, education, and popular culture. She is the co-editor of The Spaces and Places of Canadian Popular Culture (Canadian Scholars Press, 2019). Her work has also been published in such journals as the Journal of Gender Studies, Culture, Theory and Critique, and Teaching in Higher Education. Victoria holds a PhD from the Ontario Institute for Studies in Education at the University of Toronto.
“In Gendered Bodies and Public Scrutiny, Victoria Kannen offers a brilliant and accessible way to explore what we think we know about bodies—our own and those of others—based only on what we see. Using the “body stories” of eight women, she unpacks intersectional feminist theories of embodiment and identities, of gaze and representation, of power, privilege, and oppression, to make crucial connections between these core theoretical concepts and the material experience of living with/in our bodies. With this book, Kannen not only creates new research on bodies, but also uses new methods to do it. I couldn’t put this book down, and I’m already imagining ways to use it in my courses.”
—Kimberly Williams, Associate Professor of Women's & Gender Studies, Mount Royal University, and author of STAMPEDE
“It is so refreshing to read a book that takes a deep dive into how bodies can be scrutinized in the public eye in an evidence-based and engaging way. Gendered Bodies and Public Scrutiny teaches readers many lessons, but the most important is how to rebel against harmful societal pressures and learning how to invest in themselves and be agents for positive change in the world.”
—Amanda Scriver, journalist and body image advocate
