Synopsis

In a culture where plastic surgery has become nearly as routine a procedure as a root canal, this expanded and updated edition of fresh and incisive commentary challenges the media's standard notions of beauty with honesty and humor. Pick up a magazine, turn on the TV, and you'll find few women who haven't been fried, dyed, plucked or tucked. In short, you'll see no body outlaws. The writers assembled here celebrate the body in all its splendored shapes, sizes, colors and textures. In doing so, they expand the national dialogue on body image to include race, ethnicity, sexuality and power -- issues that, while often overlooked, are intimately linked to how women feel about their bodies. Body Outlaws offers stories by those who have chosen to ignore, subvert or redefine the dominant beauty standard in order to feel at home in their bodies.