Wonder Book ... Silicone Spells by Dr. White

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From: Ilena Rose

Date: Sun, 24 Jul 2005 10:28:12 -0600

Subject: Wonder Book ... Silicone Spells by Dr.

White

To:

http://www.greenwood.com/books/bookdetail.asp?sku=C6359

Reviews:

" This is a tragic story of big business, disinterested

government, a powerful medical profession, and

certainly less powerful female consumers.... Highly

recommended for college and university libraries. "

-Choice

" Four stars (very good). "

-Today's Books

" This book should be read with interest by women who

have had, or who contemplate having, breast implants,

and by the people who love and care about them. For

some women, this could be the most important book they

read all year. "

-NWSA Journal Description:

For 30 years, silicone gel breast implants were

marketed to and implanted in at least one million

women in the U.S. alone, damaging the health of

hundreds of thousands.

To many women seeking to improve their appearance,

these virtually untested implants were promoted as a

safe, lifelong answer to their needs. In actuality,

however, they have been the cause of devastating,

often irreversible health problems, making the

implantation of these bags of gel one of the worst

health care debacles in recent memory.

Lawsuits against the manufacturers and the resulting

trials have made prominent headlines and are a matter

of public records, but until the publication of

Silicone Spills: Breast Implants on Trial, there has

never been a sophisticated and accurate presentation

of the women who have had implants, why they have had

them, and what has happened to them socially,

medically, and legally as a result.

Silicone Spills portrays the breast implant " business "

as a personal and social tragedy, as well as a complex

legal and political controversy. Sociologist

White interviewed over 50 women at great

length, examined questionnaires completed by 60 other

women, observed pre-trial hearings and courtroom

proceedings during the litigation against implant

manufacturers, and read countless documents and press

coverage about the cases.

The fascinating and horrifying story she tells in this

book, full of women's personal experiences, is a tale

of corporate greed, of the commodification and

medicalization of women's bodies, and of women's lack

of personal and economic power.

How can so many women have been damaged and failed by

the very people and institutions that exist to protect

them? Silicone Spills reveals that the complex answers

to this question lie in our culture, in which women

continue to be eager consumers of any procedures and

products that seductively promise physical

transformation into the desirable feminine ideal.

Table of Contents:

Preface

Introduction

Breast Wishes

The Path of Destruction: Implant Development, Data

Distortion, and the Ineffectiveness of the FDA

Oh, You Beautiful Doll: Transforming the Self in

American Culture

A Nip, A Tuck, A Lift: Medicalizing Healthy Women

Women's Bodies, Women's Worth

The Aftermath and the Stigma Path

Medical Records: Negotiated Reality

The Medical-Legal Controversy and Its Impact on

Litigation

Breast Implants in the Larger Context of Violence

Against Women

Glossary

Bibliography

Index

LC Card Number: 97-41006

LCC Class: RD539

Dewey Class: 618