Feminist Perspectives on Eating Disorders

by Fallon, Patricia; Katzman, Melanie A.; Wooley, Susan C.

• ISBN13: 9780898621808
• ISBN10: 0898621801
• Format: Hardcover
• Copyright: 1993-11-05
• Publisher: The Guilford Press

Summary

This important work illuminates the relationship between the anguish of eating disorder sufferers and the problems of ordinary women. It covers a wide variety of issues from ways in which gender may predispose women to eating disorders to the widespread cultural concerns these problems symbolize. Chapters all share three basic elements: The psychology of women is reflected in the concepts and methods described; there is an explicit commitment to political and social equality for women; and therapy is reevaluated based on an understanding of the needs of women patients and the potentially differing contributions of male and female therapists.

Author Biography

Patricia Fallon, Ph.D., is a psychologist in private practice and a clinical faculty member, University of Washington, Seattle. She serves on the editorial board of Eating Disorders: The Journal of Treatment & Prevention and speaks frequently at conferences on feminist theory and treatment of eating disorders. She is co-author of Bulimia: A Systems Approach to Treatment and author of articles in the areas of eating disorders, family therapy, and abuse.

Table of Contents

Introduction	ix
Contributors	xv
I. A GENDERED DISORDER: LESSONS FROM HISTORY
Fashion
Too ``Close to the Bone'': The Historical Context for Women's Obsession with Slenderness	3	(14)
Roberta P. Seid
Images
... And Man Created ``Woman'': Representations of Women's Bodies in Western Culture	17	(36)
O. Wayne Wooley
Appearance
``I'll Die for the Revolution but Don't Ask Me Not to Diet'': Feminism and the Continuing Stigmatization of Obesity	53	(24)
Esther D. Rothblum
Female Maladies
Faces of Female Discontent: Depression, Disordered Eating, and Changing Gender Roles	77	(17)
Deborah Perlick
Brett Silverstein
Power
Hunger	94	(21)
Naomi Wolf
II. A PLACE FOR THE FEMALE BODY
Therapist's Body
Four Generations of Women: Our Bodies and Lives	115	(17)
Bonita Brigman
Pregnant Therapist
When Reproductive and Productive Worlds Meet: Collision or Growth?	132	(20)
Melanie A. Katzman
Treatment
Imagining Ourselves Whole: A Feminist Approach to Treating Body Image Disorders	152	(19)
Marcia Germaine Hutchinson
III. TREATMENT ISSUES: A FEMINIST REANALYSIS
Xexual Abuse
Sexual Abuse and Eating Disorders: The Concealed Debate	171	(41)
Susan C. Wooley
Fatness
Alternatives in Obesity Treatment: Focusing on Health for Fat Women	212	(19)
Debora Burgard
Pat Lyons
Medication
A Collaborative Approach to the Use of Medication	231	(20)
Nancy C. Raymond
James E. Mitchell
Patricia Fallon
Melanie A. Katzman
Hospitalization
Feminist Inpatient Treatment for Eating Disorders: An Oxymoron?	251	(21)
Robin Sesan
Mother Blaming
Mothers, Daughters, and Eating Disorders: Honoring the Mother-Daughter Relationship	272	(15)
Judith Ruskay Rabinor
Twelve-step Programs
``Hi, I'm Jane: I'm a Compulsive Overeater''	287	(14)
Katherine van Wormer
IV. RECONSTRUCTING THE FEMALE TEXT
Adolescents
Conflicts of Body and Image: Female Adolescents, Desire, and the No-Body Body	301	(17)
Deborah L. Tolman
Elizabeth Debold
Therapists
The Female Therapist as Outlaw	318	(21)
Susan C. Wooley
Recovery
The Journey of Recovery: Dimensions of Change	339	(16)
Linda Peters
Patricia Fallon
Multiculturalism
Food, Bodies, and Growing Up Female: Childhood Lessons about Culture, Race, and Class	355	(26)
Becky Thompson
V. POSSIBILITY
Politics
The Politics of Prevention	381	(14)
Catherine Steiner-Adair
Advertising
Still Killing Us Softly: Advertising and the Obsession with Thinness	395	(24)
Jean Kilbourne
Education
Toward a New Model for the Prevention of Eating Disorders	419	(19)
Catherine M. Shisslak
Marjorie Crago
Research
A Feminist Agenda for Psychological Research on Eating Disorders	438	(17)
Ruth H. Striegel-Moore
Index	455