The Politics of Women's Bodies: Sexuality, Appearance, and Behavior begins by looking at how ideas about women's bodies become culturally accepted. As the writings in the first section demonstrate, this is a political process, which can reflect, reinforce, or challenge the distribution of power between men and women. Subsequent sections look at how, once ideas about women's bodies become accepted, they can serve as powerful - and political - tools for controlling women's appearance, sexuality, and behavior. Women are not always passive victims of cultural ideas; rather, they sometimes either collaborate in or resist them. Consequently, this volume also examines the potential for and limits on women's resistance to ideas about female bodies.