PDF The Good Body by Eve Ensler in Arts-Photography

Description

Botox; bulimia; breast implants: Eve Ensler; author of the international sensation The Vagina Monologues; is back; this time to rock our view of what it means to have a ldquo;good body.rdquo; ldquo;In the 1950s;rdquo; Eve writes; girls were ldquo;pretty; perky. They had a blond Clairol wave in their hair. They wore girdles and waist-pinchers. . . . In recent years good girls join the army. They climb the corporate ladder. They go to the gym. . . . They wear painful pointy shoes. They donrsquo;t eat too much. They . . . donrsquo;t eat at all. They stay perfect. They stay thin. I could never be good.rdquo;The Good Body starts with Eversquo;s tortured relationship with her own ldquo;post-fortiesrdquo; stomach and her skirmishes with everything from Ab Rollers to fad diets and fascistic trainers in an attempt get the ldquo;flabby badnessrdquo; out. As Eve hungrily seeks self-acceptance; she is joined by the voices of women from L.A. to Kabul; whose obsessions are also laid bare: A young Latina candidly critiques her humiliating ldquo;spread;rdquo; a stubborn layer of fat that she calls ldquo;a second pair of thighs.rdquo; The wife of a plastic surgeon recounts being systematically reconstructedndash;inch by inchndash;by her ldquo;perfectionistrdquo; husband. An aging magazine executive; still haunted by her motherrsquo;s long-ago criticism; describes her desperate pursuit of youth as she relentlessly does sit-ups.Along the way; Eve also introduces us to women who have found a hard-won peace with their bodies: an African mother who celebrates each individual body as signs of naturersquo;s diversity; an Indian woman who transcends ldquo;treadmill maniardquo; and delights in her plump cheeks and curves; and a veiled Afghani woman who is willing to risk imprisonment for a taste of ice cream. These are just a few of the inspiring stories woven through Eversquo;s global journey from obsession to enlightenment. Ultimately; these monologues become a personal wake-up call from Eve to love the ldquo;good bodiesrdquo; we inhabit.From the Hardcover edition.