Between feminism and anorexia: An autoethnography

Holmes, Su ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0003-4243-8337 (2016) Between feminism and anorexia: An autoethnography. International Journal of Cultural Studies, 19 (2). pp. 193-207. ISSN 1460-356X

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Abstract

Critical feminist work on eating disorders has grown substantially since its establishment in the 1980s, and has increasingly incorporated the use of anorexic stories, voices and experiences. Yet rarely do such accounts offer the anorexic a space to respond to the now established feminist conceptions of the problem which structure the books or articles in which they appear. Anorexic, or recovered anorexic, voices are used by the researcher to interpret the role played by gender, even whilst the subjects are invited to respond to and critique, medical and popular discourses on the disorder. This lack of dialogue is all the more striking in the context of the feminist aim to fight ‘back against the tendency to silence anorexic women’s’ own interpretations of their starving, treatment and construction (Saukko, 2008: 34). As someone who suffered from anorexia for 20 years, this article offers an autoethnographic account of my experience of encountering the feminist literature on anorexia in a bid to speak back, or enter into a dialogue between feminist politics and eating disorder experience.

Item Type:	Article
Uncontrolled Keywords:	anorexia,feminism,autoethnography,sexuality,subjectivity,starvation,sdg 5 - gender equality ,/dk/atira/pure/sustainabledevelopmentgoals/gender_equality
Faculty \ School:	Faculty of Arts and Humanities > School of Art, Media and American Studies
UEA Research Groups:	Faculty of Arts and Humanities > Research Groups > Film, Television and Media
Depositing User:	Pure Connector
Date Deposited:	16 Jan 2015 15:50
Last Modified:	21 Jul 2023 09:37
URI:	https://ueaeprints.uea.ac.uk/id/eprint/51270
DOI:	10.1177/1367877914561831

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