Power/Hungry A New Perspective on Eating Disorders
Date of Award
2004
Document Type
Thesis
Degree Name
Bachelors
Department
Social Sciences
First Advisor
Ryan, Kimberly
Keywords
Eating Disorders, Domestic Violence, Women
Area of Concentration
Social Sciences
Abstract
For my senior year at New College of Florida, I dedicated my life to the study of violence against women. Armed with a new perspective on Western misogyny, I chose to do a project exploring the similarities between eating disorders and abusive relationships. After compiling research on both topics from the disciplines of psychology, sociology, and anthropology, I used sociologist Ann Goetting's Getting Out: Life Stories of Women Who Left Abusive Men (2000) as a model to perform a content analysis on narratives written by recovered anorectics and bulimics. The premise that similarities might exist between eating disorders and abusive relationships was based on domestic violence research demonstrating how women in relationships with abusive husbands are physically ravaged and emotionally berated, kept powerless and trapped, and their freedom is curtailed -- while research on eating disorders seemed to indicate that anorexic and bulimic women inflict similar abuse upon themselves. I decided further study was required to explore the potential connections between spousal abuse (interpersonal violence) and eating disorders (intrapersonal violence). It was posited in this study that the psychopathology of eating disorders may be indicative not only of personal dysfunction, but perhaps also larger societal and/or cultural dysfunction. Thus, the senior project is divided into three parts: I) a description of reviewing the current literature and performing the content analysis, II) my reflections on the year-long process, and III) a discussion of this study's possible contributions to the social science fields of psychology, sociology, and anthropology.
Recommended Citation
Shames, Georjana-Grace, "Power/Hungry A New Perspective on Eating Disorders" (2004). Theses & ETDs. 3454.
https://digitalcommons.ncf.edu/theses_etds/3454
Rights
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