Deviant Bodies

Unraveling the complex relationships between so-called deviant behavior and the bodies of the socially marginalized.

Presents an argument that bodies are knowable only through culture and history; they are not in any simple way natural, nor free of relations of power. This book traces the construction of particular deviant bodies, including the homosexual body, the HIV-infected body, the infertile body, the deaf body, the colonized body, and the criminal body.

". . . the papers in Deviant Bodies reveal an ongoing Western preoccupation with the sources of identity and human character." —Times Literary Supplement

"Highly recommended for cultural studies . . . " —The Reader's Review

"It would be useful for upper-level undergraduate and graduate courses in the sociology of the body, the history and sociology of science and medicine, and women's studies courses, particularly those exploring the feminist critiques of science and medicine." —Contemporary Sociology

". . . a powerful deconstruction of the scientific gaze in configuring bodily deviance as a means of legitimating the social order within multiple historical and social contexts. . . . the many excellent selections will make for compelling reading for students of medical anthropology and the history of science." American Anthropologist

Deviant Bodies reveals that the "normal," "healthy" body is a fiction of science. Modern life sciences, medicine, and the popular perceptions they create have not merely observed and reported, they have constructed bodies: the homosexual body, the HIV-infected body, the infertile body, the deaf body, the colonized body, and the criminal body.