Sifting the Feminine

Sifting the Feminine: Essays on a Woman’s Body examines how we define and understand femininity in relation to how we consider and treat women’s bodies. Through a collection of personal, lyric, and flash essays, Ashley Anderson explores how illness, particularly polycystic ovarian syndrome (PCOS), manifests and affects the relationships between women, their bodies, and the world. In retaliation against a history of scrutiny, Sifting the Feminine upends the idea that our bodies are always within our own control. Meditating on illness, health care, social media, storytelling, clothing, various forms of violence, and popular culture, Sifting the Feminine seeks to understand why women’s bodies that challenge societal and cultural expectations of femininity are routinely disregarded in a world where no two bodies, regardless of gender, exist in the same way.