This book focuses on the significance of the body in contemporary feminist scholarship. In recent years, the body has become a `hot item' in both contemporary social theory and research. This renewed interest has received a mixed reaction from feminists. While the body may be back, the `new' body theory often proves to be just as disembodied as it ever was. The body revival seems to be less an attempt to re-embody masculinist science than just another expression of the same condition which evoked the feminist critique in the first place: a flight from femininity and everything that is associated with it in western culture.

Embodied Practices offers a critical appraisal of the recent `body revival', drawing upon insi