Speaking of bodies in justice-oriented, feminist teacher education

The United States is a society that is simultaneously consumed and repulsed by the body; a society where obsession over a constructed “obesity ” epidemic runs alongside obsession over thinness; a society where advertisers manipulate digital images of bodies to present two-dimensional versions of ideal male and female physiques, and plastic surgeons cut, suck, tuck, and fill three-dimensional fleshed versions of those digital images. In this article, the authors articulate a theory of a critical body pedagogy that can contribute to a larger justice-oriented project. This project is one of shaping young women and men who are more comfortable in their bodies, who will engage in critical readings of body-related texts, and—perhaps—can one day help future early childhood and elementary students construct healthier relationships with their bodies and the larger world through a justice-oriented pedagogy. Keywords justice-oriented pedagogy, social justice teacher education, feminist pedagogy, bodies, body image, preservice teachers My body, the body of the teacher, is inseparable from the cur-riculum. Perhaps the body of the teacher is the curriculum. Mimi Orner, 2002 The United States is a society that is simultaneously con