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Political Science Labor & Industrial Relations

Bent out of Shape

Shame, Solidarity, and Women's Bodies at Work

by (author) Karen Messing

Publisher
Between the Lines
Initial publish date
Apr 2021
Category
Labor & Industrial Relations, Industrial Health & Safety, Women's Studies
  • Paperback / softback

    ISBN
    9781771135412
    Publish Date
    Apr 2021
    List Price
    $24.95
  • eBook

    ISBN
    9781771135429
    Publish Date
    Apr 2021
    List Price
    $9.99

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Description

Award-winning ergonomist Karen Messing is talking with women—women who wire circuit boards, sew clothes, clean toilets, drive forklifts, care for children, serve food, run labs. What she finds is a workforce in harm’s way, choked into silence, whose physical and mental health invariably comes in second place: underestimated, underrepresented, understudied, underpaid.

Should workplaces treat all bodies the same? With confidence, empathy, and humour, Messing navigates the minefield that is naming sex and biology on the job, refusing to play into stereotypes or play down the lived experiences of women. Her findings leap beyond thermostat settings and adjustable chairs and into candid, deeply reported storytelling that follows in the muckraking tradition of social critic Barbara Ehrenreich.

Messing’s questions are vexing and her demands are bold: we need to dare to direct attention to women’s bodies, champion solidarity, stamp out shame, and transform the workplace—a task that turns out to be as scientific as it is political.

About the author

 

Karen Messing is an award-winning (including a Governor General of Canada award and YWCA (Montreal) Women of Distinction) and internationally recognized expert on occupational health. She is the author of more than 130 peer-reviewed scientific articles and the book One-eyed Science: Occupational Health and Working Women. She is also the editor of Integrating Gender in Ergonomic Analysis, which has been translated into six languages.

 

Karen Messing's profile page

Awards

  • Joint winner, Leo Panitch Book Prize
  • Winner, Independent Publisher Book Award Bronze Medalist, Canada-East, Best Regional Non-fiction
  • Winner, Foreword INDIES Book of the Year Award Gold Medalist, Women's Studies Adult Non-fiction
  • Short-listed, The Mavis Gallant Prize for Non-fiction

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