A Few Good Eggs

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Contact: Jill Siegel, 212.698.1262

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“I’m the mother of two teenage girls, so <= i>Perfect Girls, Starving Daughters hit me like a hard= cover punch in the gut. It’s a long overdue takedown of our culture’s unhealthy obsession with physical appearances—and what it’s doi= ng to our kids. Courtney E. Martin so= unds a clarion call for all of us—mothers, daughters, pundits—to stop counting calories and start changing the world.”

—Arianna Huffington, columnist, TV personality, and autho= r of Fanatics and Fools and

How to Ove= rthrow the Government

"A self-described perfect girl, Martin brings a personal perspective to the topic....Martin has a valuable mission: calling on young women to harness their intellectual and emotional energy and learn to enjoy their bodies, 'imperfect' though th= ey may be."

—Publishers Weekly

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Perfect Girls, Starving Daughters

The Frightening New Normalcy of Hating Your Body

By Courtney= E. Martin

“I look at the driven, diverse, brilliant, courageous, and beautiful women aro= und me and am devastated by how many struggle with [body] issues. At age twenty-five, I can honestly say that the majority of the young women I know either have full-blown eating disorders or screwed up attitudes towards food and fitness.”

—from Perfect Girls, Starving Daughters

If you take a quick glance at headlines across the nation—and even across the world—there is no denying that eating disorders have been resurrected as one of the public’s biggest concer= ns. And it’s not just supermodels and pop stars. Nearly 30 years after anorexia and bulimia became a part of our national vocabular= y, we still haven’t gotten a handle on our culture’s eating disord= er epidemic. Now, with PERFECT GIRLS, STARVING DAUGHTERS: The Frightening New= Normalcy of Hating Your Body (Free Press; April 17, 2007; $25.00), Courtney E. Martin puts a finger on the pulse of this generationR= 17;s struggle with body image and food – an in-depth, searingly honest loo= k at how the desire to be thin overlies a even more insidious and ultimately impossible goal: the desire t= o be perfect. Drawing from more th= an 100 personal interviews, pop culture analysis, and the insight of iconic femini= sts who precede her, Courtney Martin brings a vital, updated perspective to the problem that won’t go away.

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&= #8220;We live in a time when getting an eating disorder, or having an obsession over weight – at the very least – is a rite of passage for girls,= 221; Martin writes. Somehow, eating disorders and body issues have become the new normal:

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· 10 million Americans suffer from eating disorders

· Eating disorders now occur in girls as young as nine

· More than half of American women between the ages of 18-25 would rather be run o= ver by a truck than be fat

· Eating disorders have the highest mortality rate of any psychological disease=

· Eating disorders affect more than 70 million people worldwide. <= /p>

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W= hy and how is this happening? While recent research does indicate genetic factors = in eating disorders, Martin focuses on the other piece of the puzzle: cultural influences. She writes,

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The daughters of baby boomers have driven straight on past

equality to dominance when it comes = to achievement – academic or

otherwise […] Mediocrity is for sissies, and as inheritors of Title IX

and “go-girl” femin= ism, we despise nothing more than weakness (except,

perhaps, fatness, which we equate w= ith weakness).

M= artin identifies her generation as the “third wave” of feminism, maki= ng a distinction between the baggage of her mother’s generation (“good” girls) and her own (“perfect” girls). And these good-girls-turned mothers are part= of the problem; since they themselves are often dissatisfied with their lives = and bodies, they unwittingly pass this message on to their daughters. Even when= a mother is aware enough to urge “do as I say and not as I do,” a daught= er will observe the smaller portion of food on the plate, the mutter of disgus= t at the reflection in the mirror, and the frenetic workouts. Is it any wonder, then, that that young girls are tempted to starve the impending womanhood right out of themselves?

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A= way from home and into the world at large, the messages are no less troubling; From = the Madonna-whore persona of pop-stars like Britney Spears to the sexual objectification of women in hip-hop, to the very public, very dramatic weig= ht loss of young celebrities Lindsay Lohan and Nicole Richie, girls are told t= hat their bodies are their currency. And so while eating disorders and weight issues are nothing new, the commodification of body image certainly is:

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<= span style=3D'mso-tab-count:1'> &= nbsp; It wasn’t always this way. There was a time when female musicians

<= span style=3D'mso-tab-count:1'> &= nbsp; were actually musicians, when they had a message beyond their midriffs,

<= span style=3D'mso-tab-count:1'> &= nbsp; when their bodies were not their only claim to fame. T= hirty years ago

female singers were icons with personality: Janis Joplin, Aretha Franklin, […] Bonnie Raitt. These women’s lives had not been molded for celebrity

from birth with Disney mouse ear= s, talent scouts, and personal trainers.

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To compound these pitfalls, many teens and young adults today lack a spiritual= foundation; PERFECT GIRLS, STARVING DAUGHTERS<= /b> examines the overwhelming absence of meaningful rituals in society today. In this regard, girls’ hunger for meaning and direction is met only with= an empty core where their inner compasses ought to be. This void, in turn, is filled by an obsession with food and the subsequent illusion of control:

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<= span style=3D'mso-tab-count:1'>        &= nbsp;       Many perfect girls pursue weight loss with a religious fervor. They

<= span style=3D'mso-tab-count:1'>        &= nbsp;       become ritualistic about their eating habits, describe= food as forbidden

<= span style=3D'mso-tab-count:1'>        &= nbsp;       or sinful, grow extremely dogmatic in their views on nutrition or fitness,

<= span style=3D'mso-tab-count:1'>        &= nbsp;       and in the process develop a view of themselves as alm= ost saintlike

<= span style=3D'mso-tab-count:1'>        &= nbsp;       figures – pounds away from messy human existence= .

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S= o where do we go from here? PERFECT GIRLS<= /b>, STARVING DAUGHTERS acknowledges t= hat there is not, nor ever will be, a one-size-fits all cure for eating disorde= rs. On one end of the treatment spectrum is intensive therapy with or without hosp= italization, and to this end PERFECT GIRLS, STA= RVING DAUGHTERS discusses some of the most recent advancements and includes a resource guide. For other girls and women, it is hopefully not too late to = turn things around for themselves; speaking to this audience, Courtney Martin ur= ges young women to channel their anger into self-empowerment instead of self-destruction. It takes incredible will to deny your own hunger; with th= is kind of control and determination turned towards something productive, the possibilities are limitless. Relinquishing the need to control their own bodies, girls could instead change the world.

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U= sing the latest research and interviews with today’s teens and young women, nutritionists, mental health professionals, and cultural experts, PERFECT GIRLS, STARVING DAUGHTERS passionately, intelligently, and provocatively renews the national conversa= tion about eating disorders. In giving a voice to this generation of smart, capa= ble, yet conflicted women, PERFECT GIRL= S, STARVING DAUGHTERS is the first step in bringing a nearly universal mad= ness to an end, one daughter at a time.

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PERFECT GIRLS, STARVING DAUGHTERS:

The Frightening New Normalcy of Hating Your Body

By Courtney E. Martin

Free Press; Ap= ril 17, 2007; $25.00; ISBN: 0-7432-8796-7

To download high-resolution digital images of Fr= ee Press covers, authors, and selected interior illustrations, as well as press releases, author bios, and excerpts of current and recent titles, please vi= sit http://resources.simonsays.com

Visit Simon & Schuster on the Web at www.simonsays.com

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To arrange an interview with Courtney E Martin, contact Jill Siegel at 212.698.1252 or jill.siegel@simonandschuster.com