Confidence and Joy

A prescriptive, empowering, and psychology-driven guide to building confidence in your body, clothes, beauty, and life in the era of toxic social media-driven beauty standards. Between picture-perfect Instagram celebrities, ultra-lean fitness gurus, and effortlessly chic fashion influencers, it's getting harder and harder to feel good about the way we look. Despite the growing movement toward female empowerment and body positivity, the pressure for women to conform to beauty standards is higher than ever, and the culture of social media has raised the bar. But it's not too late to break the looks-obsessed cycle and live a happy, confident, authentic life. Beyond Beautiful is a no-fuss, psychology-backed guide to help women develop a healthy attitude toward their bodies, looks, clothing, health, and aging. Filled with proven strategies for proactive self-care, this stylish and essential guide provides sage answers to tricky questions like- * Why do I hate the way I look in pictures? * How can I stop comparing myself to all those beautiful people on social media? * Would I be happier if I lost weight? * Why is everyone else so stylish? Illustrated with full-color spot art, Beyond Beautiful is a much-needed breath of fresh air that will enhance your confidence and joy, and help you live your best life.

Hailed by The New York Times as a "feminist classic," and "America's bestselling book on women's health," the comprehensive guide to all aspects of women's health and sexuality, including menopause, birth control, childbirth, sexual health, sexual orientation, gender identity, mental health and general well-being.

This groundbreaking book challenges the medicalized approach to women's experiences including menstruation, pregnancy, and menopause and suggests that there are better ways for women to cope with real issues they may face. Before any woman diets, douches, botoxes, reduces, reconstructs, or fills a prescription for antidepressants, statins, hormones, menstrual suppressants, or diet pills, she should read this book. Contesting common medical practice, the book addresses the many aspects of women's lives that have been targeted as "deficient" in order to support the billion-dollar profits of the medical-pharmacological industry and suggests alternatives to these "remedies."

Did you know that breast milk contains substances similar to cannabis? Or that it's sold on the Internet for 262 times the price of oil? Feted and fetishized, the breast is an evolutionary masterpiece. But in the modern world, the breast is changing. Breasts are getting bigger, arriving earlier, and attracting newfangled chemicals. Increasingly, the odds are stacked against us in the struggle with breast cancer, even among men. What makes breasts so mercurial--and so vulnerable?In this informative and highly entertaining account, intrepid science reporter Florence Williams sets out to uncover the latest scientific findings from the fields of anthropology, biology, and medicine. Her investigation follows the life cycle of the breast from puberty to pregnancy to menopause, taking her from a plastic surgeon's office where she learns about the importance of cup size in Texas to the laboratory where she discovers the presence of environmental toxins in her own breast milk. The result is a fascinating exploration of where breasts came from, where they have ended up, and what we can do to save them.

Exploring a range of women's health issues that may be viewed through an evolutionary lens, specifically focusing on reproduction, Trevathan delves into issues such as the medical consequences of early puberty in girls, the impact of migration, culture change, and poverty on reproductive health, and how fetal growth retardation affects health in later life. Hypothesizing that many of the health challenges faced by women today result from a mismatch between how their bodies have evolved and the contemporary environments in which modern humans live, Trevathan sheds light on the power and potential of examining the human life cycle from an evolutionary perspective, and how this could improve our understanding of women's health and our ability to confront health challenges in more creative, effective ways.