Two Girlfriends Get Real About

Doctors explain medican procedures. Two girlfriends explain everything else. If you're considering spending a bundle for a face-lift, breast augmentation, or liposuction, you can't miss Two Gilfriends Get Real about Cosmetic Surgery-an honest, down-to-earth, comprehensive discussion of the ins and outs of cosmetic surgery. Written for women, by women if offers sound advice, hilarious truths, and plenty of emotional support. Here's just some of what's covered: Every popular procedure--laser to liposuction, tummy tucks to face-lifts Real-life results--some women's dreams of being beautiful came true, others encountered unexpected disappointments Best, Funniest, and Wildest Stories--real-life examples of terrific tales and outrageous fibs used to explain bruses, scars, and looking twenty years younger Complications--the after-effects doctors don't tell you about: a sense of loss, outright hysteria, unexpected sexual liberation, and sudden divorce Sex--the secret impact cosmetic surgery has on a woman's desire and her desireability Two Girlfriends Get Real About Cosmetic Surgery will shed light on the procedures that over two million women undergo every year. With these insider tips you'll get great results. So what are you waiting for?

In Glamorama, Bret Easton Ellis delivers a shadowy, looking-glass world. It is a world where fame and fashion, terror and mayhem meet – and begin to resemble the familiar surface of our own lives . . . The centre of the world: 1990s Manhattan. Victor Ward, a model with perfect abs and all the right friends, is seen and photographed everywhere. Even in places he hasn’t been, and with people he doesn’t know. On the eve of opening the trendiest nightclub in New York history, he’s living with one beautiful model and having an affair with another. Now it’s time to move to the next stage. But the future he gets is not the one he had in mind . . . 'Does for the cold, minimal ’90s what American Psycho did for the Wall Street greed of the ’80s. You name it, he manages to get it all in' – Vogue

"Surgery Junkies is an innovative, fast-paced mix of theory and empirical research that advances our understanding of contemporary bodies, lifestyle medicine, and the making of the embodied, self-fashioned self. Scholars and teachers of cultural and media studies, sociology of the body, and health and society will value its contributions to both their research and their teaching."-Arthur W. Frank, author of The Wounded Storyteller: Body, Illness, and Ethics and The Renewal of Generosity: Illness, Medicine, and How to Live "Whether analyzing Extreme Makeover, 'Body Dismorphic Disorder,' or her own rhinoplasty, Pitts-Taylor makes difficult theoretical concepts clear-and clearly relevant to our lives."-Susan Bordo, author of Unbearable Weight: Feminism, Western Culture, and the Body Despite the increasing prevalence of cosmetic surgery, there are still those who identify individuals who opt for bodily modifications as dupes of beauty culture, as being in conflict with feminist ideals, or as having some form of psychological weakness. In this ground-breaking book, Victoria Pitts-Taylor examines why we consider some cosmetic surgeries to be acceptable or even beneficial and others to be unacceptable and possibly harmful. Drawing on years of research, in-depth interviews with surgeons and psychiatrists, analysis of newspaper articles, legal documents, and television shows, and her own personal experience with cosmetic surgery, Pitts-Taylor brings new perspectives to the promotion of "extreme" makeovers on television, the medicalization of "surgery addiction," the moral and political interrogation that many patients face, and feminist debates on the topic. Pitts-Taylor makes a compelling argument that the experience, meanings, and motivations for cosmetic surgery are highly social and, in doing so, provides a much needed "makeover" of our cultural understanding of cosmetic surgery. Victoria Pitts-Taylor is associate professor of sociology at Queens College and the Graduate Center, City University of New York. She is the author of In the Flesh: The Cultural Politics of Body Modification.

A fun, inspirational guide to positive choices for women over 40! Packed with useful checklists, honest personal stories, and no-nonsense resources, this book has the latest information on health, sex, and hormones and shows how to transform relationships, finances, and careers.

Managing life with a disability is tough for a child, the parents, siblings, and for the child’s teacher and classmates. Every person, disabled or not, wants to be happy, loved, and respected. They want to be accepted. Parents also desire these same things for their child. But, often, society doesn’t accept people with disabilities. In Give Me a Chance, author Janis Gilbert offers insight into the world of the disabled. Based on her professional experiences as a special education teacher and a mother of two sons with life challenges, she shares what she’s learned. This guide: gives an overview of disabilities, defining what they are, how they’re acquired, and provides statistics about disabilities in the United States; looks at well-known people with various disabilities and how disabilities have been portrayed in popular culture through movies; covers the history of the treatment of people with disabilities and how it’s changed throughout the years; examines diagnosis and treatment of disabilities and challenges associated with this work, including shortages of resources; gives insight into aspects of life for people with disabilities including family and social relationships, education, employment, transportation, housing, and others; and discusses caregiving, advocacy, community support services through governmental and nonprofit agencies, and planning for the time when parental caregivers are gone. Give Me a Chance provides an understanding of disabilities and the complex issues people with disabilities and their caregivers face every day and suggests ways we can make a person’s life better and more fulfilling.

Feminist theorists have often argued that aesthetic surgeries and body makeovers dehumanize and disempower women patients, whose efforts at self-improvement lead to their objectification. Amending the Abject Body proposes that although objectification is an important element in this phenomenon, the explosive growth of "makeover culture" can be understood as a process of both abjection (ridding ourselves of the unwanted) and identification (joining the community of what Julia Kristeva calls "clean and proper bodies"). Drawing from the advertisement and advocacy of body makeovers on television, in aesthetic surgery trade books, and in the print and Web-based marketing of face lifts, tummy tucks, and Botox injections, Deborah Caslav Covino articulates the relationship among objectification, abjection, and identification, and offers a fuller understanding of contemporary beauty-desire.

If you’re living a perfect, charmed life . . . well, then this book isn’t for you. But if, like the rest of us, you are at times broken, confused, lonely, or scared—if you’re struggling with problems that you think “good Christians” don’t have—then welcome, girlfriend, and pull up a chair! This quirky, friendly, and gut-honest devotional comes straight from the heart of Ellen Miller (CEO, marketing executive, mom, and unapologetic “glorious mess”). Despite the serious struggles she’s faced, Ellen today lives a life of profound joy, and The One Year Book of Inspiration for Girlfriends contains 365 days’ worth of the principles and philosophies that have gotten her there. There’s no subject she’s afraid to tackle! Her quick, daily doses of encouragement will make you laugh, give you something to look forward to, help you to stay (somewhat!) sane . . . and remind you that you’re never alone.

Prospective cosmetic surgery patients confused by media-driven hype and glitz will find a clear road map to selecting the best doctors and the most appropriate and safe procedures in this handy companion. Supplying patients with savvy queries only a veteran cosmetic surgeon would have the insight to ask, the book outlines the seven key questions people must ask themselves before contacting a cosmetic surgeon, a method for quickly eliminating practitioners through screening calls, and the critical questions to ask during the consultation itself. Handy checklists for the most popular procedures, anesthesia, and surgical facilities; anatomical sketches to assist doctors in identifying what they will do and where they will do it; and a comprehensive ratings quiz help patients evaluate which practitioner best suits their needs. Those concerned with the financial aspects of the procedures will find the cost calculation worksheet and directory of companies that finance cosmetic surgery particularly useful.