An esteemed psychologist examines how cultural forces have conspired to bring about a crisis in the way we experience our bodies
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Bodies "is a plea for us all to understand that the postmodern body is in a state of crisis. Challenging the traditional Freudian view that bodily disorders originate and progress in the mind, Orbach argues that destructive tendencies such as anorexia, bulimia, obesity, and self-mutilation must be examined through the body itself. In the past several decades, the global media has deluged us with images of an idealized, westernized body, and conditioned us to see any exception to the ideal as problematic--something to be fixed. As these strict standards continue to narrow, the body is destabilized, and becomes a site of production and commerce in and of itself. Instead of our bodies making things, we now make our bodies. "Bodies "reveals the true dimensions of the crisis, and points the way toward a process of healing.
