Published in Women and Therapy, Vol. 22, No. 4, 1999, pp. 113-114.

LOOKING QUEER: BODY IMAGE AND IDENTITY IN LESBIAN, GAY, BISEXUAL AND TRANSGENDER COMMUNITIES, edited by Dawn Atkins. New York: Harrington Park Press, $29.95, Paperback

The 1990s has seen an explosion in the literature on body image and eating disorders. This literature is broad and includes personal narratives, large scale research studies, therapeutic interventions and challenges to the dominant cultural fixation with thinness. A common (and valid) criticism of the literature points out that the subjects of much of this work are middle-class white women, with the presumption that women are diet- and image-obsessed because they are trying to please men. Less addressed is the fact that the focus is also overwhelmingly heterosexual. Although some therapists and researchers have addressed body image and eating disorders in lesbians, gay men and bisexual women and men (e.g., Siever, Rothblum, Brown), much of that has been in comparison to heterosexuals. In addition, little if any research or therapeutic literature has addressed body image issues for transgendered or intersexed individuals. Dawn Atkins' book, Looking Queer, is the first (that I am aware of) to focus specifically on "queers' " (lesbians, gay men, bisexual women and men, trans women and men, and intersexed individuals) body image and identity.

Atkins, founder of the Body Image Task Force (BITF), states in reference to her work with the BITF that although the literature on body image satisfaction and eating disorders focused on white, middle-class heterosexual women, "I realized that two-thirds of the active members of BITF identified as lesbian or bisexual . . . and many of us and our audience members were not at all middle-class, young, or white" (p. xxix). This book is essential reading for anyone interested in body image and identity issues beyond the white, middleclass, heterosexual mainstream.

Atkins divides the book into four sections, focusing separately on women; men: "one. both, neither," which focuses on the experiences of those who are bisexual. traps and intersexed: and "beyond the pale" which examines race and disability. Each section is then further divided into a total of thirteen parts, addressing a vast array of topics such as: looksism in the gay male community, living in an intersexed body, butch/femme, erotic images and ethnicity, dressing queer and aging bodies. Importantly, the authors of the 63 essays and poems address the issues from their own perspectives and experiences-not as comparisons to heterosexuals, but in their own words. Contributors challenge and celebrate and lament the queer body and queer identity. Many of these essays "break the silence" of queer culture and identity: the oppressiveness of disability aging in a (gay males culture that values youth and hard (able) bodies, living in a body that does not fit into the culturally prescribed categories of male or female, the body liberation that some women experience when they opt out of heterosexuality. the eroticism of race and ethnicity. Too many of these topics have not been discussed elsewhere.

One criticism I have about the hook is that only the section on women includes research articles. It seems odd to have only one section that does this. This may reflect the sheer lack of research addressing body image and eating disturbances in anyone other than heterosexuals, but surely there must be some work on body image and gay men. To her credit, in her introduction, Atkins does briefly discuss the paltry empirical literature on queers and eating disorders/body satisfaction.

Otherwise, there is little to complain about. With over 450 pages, this book is a massive and impressive undertaking. Contributions come from a variety of disciplines and genres. The text includes poetry, personal narratives and articles that are more academically written. Although I am a researcher. many of these essays that I found particularly compelling were those that are autobiographical.

Although this book is not aimed specifically at feminist practitioners, there is much that therapists will find useful in this book. For feminist therapists who have seen (or may see) clients who do not fit the profile of the "average" person with eating disorders or body image disturbance, this book is enlightening reading. It may also be used as a part of bibliotherapy for queer individuals who do not see their own body/weight issues and identity addressed in any way by the mainstream literature or even in queer culture.

In conclusion, I cannot say enough good things about this book. I ordered this book for myself months before the publication date. It is a great start to till the void in the literature on body image and identity in queer individuals. I believe that feminist therapists will find that the contributors discuss issues that are all too common but not often addressed in the heterosexist body image literature or even among queers themselves.

Christine Smith, PhD