Remaking the Body

Looks at the role of embodiment in our sense of self. Focusing on people who have experienced dramatic bodily change in the form of physical disability, this book examines how their experiences of sexuality, incontinence, dressing and other everyday activities affect their sense of self.

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Our lives are preoccupied with bodily maintenance. We spend many of our waking hours eating, exercising, washing, grooming and dressing in order to maintain our sense of self. What happens after major physical impairment? How do we relate to a damaged body? Wendy Seymour interviews men and women who have suffered profound bodily paralysis, and explores how they deal with their appearance, relationships, sexuality, incontinence and sport. She finds that even major impairment hasn't annihilated these people's experience of an embodied self. She shows that the process of self-reconstruction is interwoven with social expectations and argues that the experience of disability highlights the continuous work involved in embodiment for everyone. Remaking the Body is a major contribution to the field of the sociology of the body and essential reading for rehabilitation professionals and students.