Eleanor Carey.pdf (267.19 kB)
Eating, food and the female body in the media and medicine: A feminist analysis of eating disorders
journal contribution
posted on 2019-07-16, 08:48 authored by Eleanor Carey“Food is the medium through which women are addressed; in turn food
has become the language of their response” (Orbach cited in Benson
1997, p.137) The above quote sums up the way in which dominant conceptions of femininity filter through social practice and can become literally reflected in one’s physical
body and bodily habits. This essay seeks to examine how women come to embody social ideals concerning food, eating habits, appearance and‘femininity’ itself. In particular it will seek to clarify how interpretations of eating and the female body both in the media and in medicine can become embodied and even become synonymous with ‘femininity’. Eating disorders are widely acknowledged to be a phenomenon of advanced industrial countries.
Moreover, the great majority of those with eating disorders are women, though
the number of men affected is growing (Roach-Anleu, p.368).
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Socheolas;1(1), pp.31-45Publisher
Department of Sociology, University of LimerickNote
peer-reviewedLanguage
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