V. Reinhabiting the Body

Abstract

In the context of multiple new social and vocational opportunities available for young women in western countries, the body stays a silent and oppressed domain. Unchanged rates of violence against women, sexual harassment, the commodification of women’s bodies, the medicalization and deprecation of the female body, the physical exploitation of women who carry multiple roles at home and at work, the silencing of memories regarding sexual abuse, and pressures for extreme thinness are just a few of the diverse and multiple expressions of bodily oppression that women experience. Moreover, in the climate of backlash against the advancement of women in the social and professional spheres, the body has served as a central target for constraining women’s progress (for example, Faludi, 1991; Wooley, 1993). This experience has become particularly poignant for younger women who may experience a greater disparity between new social opportunities for equity that have not been matched with equity in the body domain (Piran, 1999). This discrepancy may relate to the prevalence of potentially harmful bodily mediated behaviors such as eating disorders, smoking, selfharm or high-risk sexual behavior in young women. Feminism, I believe, has a special role in supporting young women’s voicing of problematic experiences in the body domain, contextualizing it socially and politically, reinforcing peer- and multi-generational connections in exploring these experiences, and using these newly forged connections for the sake of social transformation and change. In turn, young women carry a special contributory role in enriching feminist theory development and guiding social transformation and change. For the past 15 years I have spent a considerable amount of time dialoguing with young women about their body-anchored experiences in my capacity as a researcher and advocate in the area of women’s health, the development of body image and body weight/shape preoccupation. Through this work, I have had the