If only I could lose ten pounds. I hate my thighs. I wish my stomach were more toned. What woman doesn’t experience moments of self-doubt when it comes to her body? Who of us doesn’t secretly wonder how our life might improve “if only” we could change one physical attribute? Why are we so hard on ourselves?

In her fascinating, tell-all locker room confidential, Leslie Goldman reveals just how driven American women have become in their constant quest for perfection, when really they need only look to themselves for the “perfect” body. Often dressed in no more than a towel, Goldman spent five years talking with women of all shapes and sizes about their bodies, from taut twenty-somethings to heavyset seniors. Using her own stories as a springboard, she asks them what goes into shaping not just their bodies but their body image: What are their exercise routines? Which body part do they like the most? The least? Is the locker room a place for female camaraderie or an arena for harsh self-judging? She hears from women who follow compulsive workout schedules and make daily dates with the scale; she talks to those who undergo bikini waxes, body fat measurements, and plastic surgery and to those who struggle with eating issues every single day. Here, too, are new mommies who bond over losing that post-baby bump. But perhaps the loudest chorus in the steam room is the women who speak candidly of their long road to self-acceptance, of recognizing that every wrinkle, stretch mark, bit of cellulite (yes, it’s part of being a woman!) defines who we are and makes us uniquely lovely.

Blending expert opinion with wonderfully intimate, often hilarious, confidences, Locker Room Diaries will inspire anyone who knows the highs of exercise to leave the lows of self-esteem behind. It is a wake-up call for any woman who has ever wished her body were something other than it is. In other words, this book is for every woman.

Praise for Locker Room Diaires

"Locker Room Diaries gives heart and humor to body image in a way like-minded books have not before. While it parses out the individual issues that plague each woman, by doing so it reminds the reader that fat, thin; rich, poor; short, tall; blonde, brunette; fair- or dark-skinned, there isn't a person alive who hasn't looked in the mirror and asked herself, "Am I good enough within this skin?" Within her book, Leslie Goldman gives us permission to come to some peace with ourselves and our past."

— Erin Shea, author of Tales from the Scale

"Interviews and stories will resonate with readers and provide inspiration for maintaining a positive self-image."

— Kirkus Reviews

"A must-read for any woman who struggles with her body image. Finally, someone has asked women what they really think about their bodies, and their answers are at once surprising, life-affirming, heartbreaking, and hilarious. Leslie Goldman has written an important book with humor and compassion that will help women put their body image woes to rest once and for all"

— Ann Kearney-Cooke, PhD
author of Change Your Mind Change Your Body
and media spokesperson for the Dove Real Beauty Campaign.

"Goldman holds the reader's attention with her empathy and humor."

— Clublife Magazine

“This book doesn't just explore the locker room –Leslie Goldman's fascinating study of body anxieties gets into our own heads and under our skins. In the best way."

— Wendy McClure, author of I'm Not the New Me

“Yes, that woman across the locker room is looking at you: she's checking out your curves, admiring your physique, and hoping she can help you appreciate your unique, strong, beautiful female form. In Locker Room Diaries, Leslie Goldman reminds you that the ‘perfect' body is your body."

— Wendy Shanker, author of The Fat Girl's Guide to Life

"When Goldman, then a public-health master’s candidate focusing on women’s health, learned of the “No Nudity” policy in the locker rooms of Women’s Workout World, she concluded that women’s self-esteem had dropped very low indeed, and she began close observation, as “a peeping Tomassinna,” of women’s locker-room culture. When naked, we are physically and emotionally vulnerable, she posits, and insecurities surface. As a recovered anorexic, Goldman was intimate with her inner critic, and that enabled her to appreciate such rites as mounting the dreaded scale, so equated with self-worth; quasi-covert comparisons of breasts; and $50 bikini waxes and other beauty rituals. Citing numerous women, she concludes that a very great number hate their bodies and therefore themselves, and this attitude is found in ever-younger girls. Having seen that age brings with it greater body confidence and comfort and the shedding of self-consciousness, Goldman, who underwent deep transformation while preparing this eminently suitable addition to women’s studies, says it is “time to throw in the towel on hating our bodies."

— Whitney Scott, Booklist