Eating Disorders: A Feminist IssueWhat is a feminist approach to understanding eating disorders? Not all feminists have the same understanding of eating disorders. There are many different theories prevalent in feminist literature today. This webpage will explore some of the different feminist perspectives on the cause of eating disorders in our culture. Control of power and obedience In her book Unbearable Weight, Susan Bordo (1993) argues that the fear of female fat is actually a fear of female fat. energy. Therefore, as women gain power in society, their bodies diminish and suffer. She states that "female hunger - for public power, for independence, for sexual gratification - [must] be contained, and the public space that women can occupy must be circumscribed, limited... On the body of the anorexic In the woman such rules are darkly and deeply imprinted" (Bordo, 171). Naomi Wolf (1991) has a similar explanation of the origin of eating disorders in her bestseller The Beauty Myth. She states, “a cultural fixation on female thinness is not an obsession with female beauty but an obsession with female obedience” (Wolf, 187). Women who stay thin are obedient; it's another way the patriarchy controls women. “If women cannot eat the same food as men, we cannot experience equal status in the community” (Wolf, 189). Sexuality Sexuality is another issue that feminist Naomi Wolf explores in an attempt to understand the prevalence of eating disorders among women. “Fat is sexual in women… asking women to become unnaturally thin is asking them to give up their sexuality” (Wolf, 193). Women who develop eating disorders, especially anorexia, deny their sexuality and their natural feminine... middle of paper... disordered attitudes and behaviors. Psychology of Women Quarteriv. 2-0, 2.Goodman, Ellen. (1996). The skeleton look is in fashion. Tennessee. June 1 1.Mahowald., Mary Betody. (1995). To be or not to be a woman: anorexia nervosa, normative gender roles and feminism. Annoying questions. Ed. Dana E. Bushnell. Boston: Rower Er Littlefield. Martz, D. M., Handley, K. B. Er Eisler, R. M. (1995). The relationship between female gender role stress, body image and eating disorders. Women's Psychology Quarterly, 19, 4.Morris, B.J. (1985). The phenomena of anorexia nervosa: a feminist perspective. Feminist Issues, 5, 2.Orbach, Susie. (1978) Fat is a feminist issue. New York: Berkeley Press. Swartz, L. (1985). Is thinness a feminist issue? International Forum on Women's Studies, 8. 5.Wolf, Naomi. (1991). The myth of beauty. New York: Double Day.