Published Books

Why are women more likely to be positioned or diagnosed as mad than men? If madness is a social construction, a gendered label, as many feminist critics would argue, how can we understand and explain women's prolonged misery and distress? In turn, can we prevent or treat women’s distress, in a

Winner of the 2011 Distinguished Publication Award of the Association for Women in Psychology! Why, despite evidence to the contrary, does the narrative of the negative consequences of teenage pregnancy, abortion and childbearing persist? This book argues that the negativity surrounding early

This book rethinks the way psychological knowledge of domestic violence has typically been constructed. It puts forward a psychological perspective which is both critical of the traditional ‘woman blaming’ stance, as well as being at odds with the feminist position that men are wholly to blame

This book draws on interviews carried out over a period of eight years, as well as novels, films, and domestic violence literature, to explain the role of storytelling in the history of the battered women’s movement. The author shows how cultural contexts shape how stories about domestic abuse get

Feminist interventions in psychoanalysis have often attempted either to subvert or re-frame the masculinist and phallocentric biases of Freud's psychoanalysis. This book investigates the nature of these interventions by comparing the status and treatment of women in two different psychoanalytic

Child sexual abuse is a global problem that negatively affects many women and girls. As such, it has long been of concern to feminists, and more recently mental health activists. This book draws on this revolutionary legacy, feminism and post-structuralism to critically examine current perceptions

Women and Depression: Recovery and Resistance takes a welcome look at women’s experiences of living well after depression. Lafrance argues that the social construction of femininity is dangerous for women’s health, and ultimately, central to their experiences of depression. Beginning with a

Winner of the 2009 Feminist & Women's Studies Association (UK & Ireland) Book Award! Many women find mothering a shocking experience in terms of the extremity of feelings it provokes, and the profound changes it seems to prompt in identity, relationship and sense of self. However,

The increase in numbers of single people has been described as one of the greatest social phenomena of western society. Most women will spend periods of their lives alone, without a committed partner relationship. Yet there is still a degree of social stigma attached to this status. Single women

Accounting for Rape presents an original perspective on the subject of rape, focusing on both female and male sexual violence. The authors investigate everyday beliefs about rape, to examine how blaming the victim and the normalization of rape are achieved by people in a discussion about

Pregnancy provides a very public, visual confirmation of femininity. It is a time of rapid physical and psychological adjustment for women and is surrounded by stereotyping, taboos and social expectations. This book seeks to examine these popular attitudes towards pregnancy and to consider how they

Wendy Hollway explores a subject that is largely absent from the topical literature on care. Humans are not born with a capacity to care, and this volume explores how this capacity is achieved through the experiences of primary care, gender development and later, parenting. In this book, the author

Why do fewer women than men exercise? What is the ‘sporty’ type? The fitness boom of the last two decades has led to many people incorporating exercise into their lifestyles through activities such as jogging and aerobics. However, whilst many physical and psychological health benefits have been

Managing the Monstrous Feminine takes a unique approach to the study of the material and discursive practices associated with the construction and regulation of the female body. Jane Ussher examines the ways in which medicine, science, the law and popular culture combine to produce fictions about

Are scientific 'facts' about body image enough to define conceptions of normality Reassessing Experimental Psychology from a critical perspective, Sylvia Blood demonstrates how its research into Body Image can be misused and prone to misuse. Classifying women who experience distress and anxiety

Gender Talk provides a powerful case for the application of discursive psychology and conversation analysis to feminism, guiding the reader through cutting edge debates and providing valuable evidence of the benefits of fine-grained, discursive methodologies. In particular, the book concentrates on

Should western beauty practices, ranging from lipstick to labiaplasty, be included within the United Nations understandings of harmful traditional/cultural practices? By examining the role of common beauty practices in damaging the health of women, creating sexual difference, and enforcing female

Winner of the Association for Women In Psychology 2006 Distinguished Publication Award! The past two decades have witnessed a significant shift in how rape is understood in Western societies. This shift in perception has revealed the startling frequency of occurrences of date rape, obscuring

Woman's Relationship with Herself explores the relationship women have with themselves and demonstrates how this relationship is often dominated by debilitating practices of self-surveillance. Employing Foucault's notion of panoptical power, Helen O'Grady illuminates the link between this kind of

What can we learn from exploring the differences in male and female orgasmic experience? Is the penis an entity with a mind of its own? These issues and others, such as the popular portrayals of male sexuality as active and outwardly focused and female sexuality as passive and internally located,

In this book, Sheila Greene presents a challenging new perspective on the psychological development of girls and women which emphasises the central role of time in human development. She critically reviews traditional and contemporary theoretical approaches - ranging from orthodox psychoanalysis to

Is language sexist? Do women and men speak different languages?Gender, Language and Discourse uniquely examines the contribution that psychological research - in particular, discursive psychology - has made to answering these questions. Until now, books on gender and language have tended to be

The fitness boom of the last two decades has led to many people incorporating exercise into their lifestyles through activities such as jogging and aerobics. However, whilst many physical and psychological health benefits have been documented, far too few people actually take part in enough

Women are particularly vulnerable to depression. Understanding Depression provides an in-depth critical examination of mainstream approaches to understanding and treating depression from a feminist perspective. Janet Stoppard argues that current approaches give only partial accounts of womens'

Aging in women has traditionally been defined by the menopause, however it is often social and economic changes which are more important to women.In Aging in Women Linda Gannon redresses the balance. From a feminist perspective, she critically reviews current research and provides a more

In one of the first psychological studies of women in heterosexual relationships, Caroline Dryden examines the social context of their experiences and emotional struggles. Unlike the developmental literature in which women are studied only as mothers, or the clinical literature which has little

Post-Natal Depression challenges the expectation that it is normal to be a 'happy mother'. It provides a radical critique of the traditional medical and social science explanations of 'post natal depression' by supplying a systematic feminist psychological analysis of women's experiences following

The Thin Woman provides an in-depth discussion of anorexia nervosa from a feminist social psychological standpoint. Medicine, psychiatry and psychology have all presented us with particular ways of understanding eating disorders, yet the notion of 'anorexia' as a medical condition limits our

Women have been able to have abortions legally for over 30 years. Yet few books have considered it as anything other than a health issue. Mary Boyle breaks this mould by considering the constructions of abortion in Western society. Drawing on ideas from sociology, politics, anthropology and law

Anne Walker shows that women are neither the victims of raging hormonal fluctuations nor entirely unaffected by them. Unlike most previous publications that focus on menstruation (a part of the cycle), The Menstrual Cycle presents a well researched study of the entire menstrual cycle and its