Research Article
BibTex RIS Cite

May It Be A Feminist Protest? A Sociological Study On The Meaning Of Anorexia According To Anorectics

Year 2023, Volume: 15 Issue: 1, 10 - 39, 27.06.2023
https://doi.org/10.46655/federgi.1220991

Abstract

Depending upon the data of a phenomenological field research, this study aims to describe the meaning attributed to anorexia by seven women who were diagnosed and treated with anorexia and to evaluate it in the light of feminist literature. Participants were reached through purposive sampling, and data were collected through face-to-face semi-structured interviews. The findings show that the participants consider anorexia as a disorder, however, they interpret anorexia in relation to the dignity of self-control, liberation, and protection. For the participants, anorexia is not a process of reaching a certain weight or physical image, but a process of moving away from the physical and mental indicators of the secondary status of femininity. In this respect, the findings support the argument that anorexia is an unconscious protest against gender stereotypes. During the anorexia process, the participants reject femininity based on both body and social roles and reconcile with the female identity they reject after psychological or psychiatric treatment. However, problems related to gender-related responsibilities and expectations, which disappeared for a while during the anorexia process due to the fact that this reconciliation did not include a questioning of the meaning of gender roles, reappear after reconciliation with the female identity after treatment.

References

  • American Psychiatric Association. Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders (Arlington: APA, 2013).
  • Baudrillard, Jean. The Consumer Society: Myths & Structures. ed. Michael Featherstone (London: Sage, 1999). Bazzano, Manu. “The body-without-organs: A user’s manual,” European Journal of Psychotherapy & Counselling 23, no.3 (2021): 289-303.
  • Berger, John, Sven Blomberg, Chris Fox, Michael Dibb ve Richard Hollis. Ways of Seeing. (London: British Broadcasting Corporation and Penguin Books, 1972).
  • Bordo, Susan. Unbearable Weight: Feminism, Western Culture, and the Body (Los Angeles: University of California Press, 1993).
  • Brain, Josephine. Hungry for Meaning: Discourses of the Anorexic Body. Doktora Tezi. (Londra: London School of Economics Gender In- stitute, 2006).
  • Bray, Abigail ve Claire Colebrook. “The Haunted Flesh: Corporeal Femi- nism and the Politics of (Dis)Embodiment,” Signs 24, no.1 (1998): 35-67.
  • Burch, Hilde. Eating Disorders: Obesity, Anorexia Nervosa, and the Person Within. (New York: Basic Books, 1973).
  • Burns, Maree. “Eating like an Ox: Femininity and Dualistic Construc- tions of Bulimia and Anorexia,” Feminism and Psychology 14, no.2 (2004): 269-295.
  • Christopulos, Jesse Carin. Oppression Through Obsession: A Feminist Theo- retical Critique of Eating Disorders. (1995). Theses Digitization Project. 1019. https://scholarworks.lib.csusb.edu/etd-project/1019 (Erişim: 24.01.2023).
  • Culbert, Kristen M, Sarah E. Racine ve Kelly E. Klump. “What We Have Learned About the Causes of Eating Disorders” The Journal of Child Psychology and Psychiatry 56, no.11 (2015): 1141-1164.
  • Deleuze, Gilles ve Claire Parnet. Diagloges II: Revised Edition. çev. Hugh Tomlinson ve Barbara Habberjam. (New York: Columbia Univer- sity Press, 2002).
  • Deleuze, Gilles ve Claire Parnet. Diyaloglar. çev. Ali Akay (Ankara: Bağ- lam, 1990).
  • Deleuze, Gilles ve Félix Guattari. A Thousand Plateaus. çev. Brian Massumi (Minneapolis: University of Minnesota Press, 2005).
  • Demir, Serta Timur. “Riyazetten Modern Diyet Toplumuna: Kutsallık ve Hiçlik Arasında Beden,” İnsan ve Toplum 6, no.1 (2016): 155-173.
  • Ferrer-Garcia, Marta ve Jose Gutierrez-Maldonado. “The Use of Virtual Reality in the Study, Assessment and Treatment of Body Image in Eating Disorders and Nonclinical Samples: A Review of the Literature,” Body Image 9, no.1 (2012): 1-11.
  • Gadamer, Hans-Georg. “The Hermeneutics of Suspicion,” Hermeneutics: Questions and Prospects ed. Gary Shapiro ve Alan Sica (Los Ange- les: University of California Press, 1984), 313-323.
  • Giddens, Anthony. Toplumun Kuruluşu: Yapılaşma Kuramının Ana Hatları, çev. Hüseyin Özel (Ankara: Bilim ve Sanat, 1991).
  • Guba, Egon ve Yvonna Lincoln. “Epistemological and Methodological Bases of Naturalistic Inquiry” Educational Communication and Technology Journal 30, no.4 (1982): 233-252.
  • Günindi Ersöz, Aysel. “Tüketim Toplumunda “Sıfır Beden” Söylemi: Neden ve Sonuçları Üzerine Sosyolojik Bir Değerlendirme,” Edebiyat Fakültesi Dergisi 27, no.2 (2010): 37-53.
  • Güzel, Ebru. “Güzellik Dayatması Altında Tüketim Nesnesine Dönüşen Kadın,” Global Media Journal: Turkish Edition 4, no.7 (2013): 81-96.
  • Hepworth, Julie. The Social Construction of Anorexia Nervosa (London: Sage, 1999).
  • Holmes, Su, Sarah Drake, Kelsey Odgers ve Jon Wilson. “Feminist Ap- proaches to Anorexia Nervosa: A Qualitative Study of a Treat- ment Group,” Journal of Eating Disorders 5, no.36 (2017): 1-15.
  • Holmes, Su. “Between Feminism and Anorexia: An Autoethnography,” International Journal of Cultural Studies 19, no.2 (2016): 193–207.
  • Katzman, Martin A. ve Scott Lee “Beyond Body Image: The Integration of Feminist and Transcultural Theories in the Understanding of Self Starvation,” International Journal of Eating Disorders 22, no.4 (1997): 385-394.
  • Levine, Michael P. ve Linda Smolak. “Paradigm Clash in the Field of Eat- ing Disorders: A Critical Examination of the Biopsychiatric Mod- el from a Sociocultural Perspective,” Advances in Eating Disorders 2, no.2 (2014): 158-170.
  • Mabe Annalise, Jean Forney ve Pamela K. Keel. “Do You ‘Like’ My Pho- to? Facebook Use Maintains Eating Disorder Risk,” International Journal of Eating Disorders, 47, no.5 (2014): 516-523.
  • MacSween, Morag. Anorexic Bodies: A Feminist and Sociological Perspective on Anorexia Nervosa. (London: Routledge, 1993).
  • Malecki, Jennifer; Paul Rhodes; Jane Ussher ve Katherine Boydell. “The embodiment of childhood abuse and anorexia nervosa: A body mapping study,” Health Care for Women International 1, no.1 (2022): 1-26.
  • Malson, Helen. “Appearing to Disappear: Postmodern Femininities and Self-starved Subjectivities,” Critical Feminist Approaches to Eating Dis/orders ed. Helen Malson ve Maree Burns (Sussex: Routledge, 2009), 135-145.
  • Malson, Helen. The Thin Woman: Feminism, Post-Structuralism and The So- cial Psychology of Anorexia Nervosa. (London: Routledge, 1998).
  • Martinez-Gonzalez, Leticia; Tania Fernandez-Villa; Antonio J. Molina; Miguel Delgado-Rodríguez ve Vicente Martin. “Incidence of Anorexia Nervosa in Women: A Systematic Review and Meta- Analysis,” International Journal of Environmental Research and Pub- lic Health 17, no.11 (2020): 1-15.
  • Mitchell, Jean. “‘Going for the Burn’ and ‘Pumping Iron’: What’s Healthy about the Current Fitness Boom?” Fed Up and Hungry: Women Op- pression and Food ed. Marilyn Lawrence (London: The Women’s Press Limited, 1987), 156-174.
  • Moola, Fiona. J. ve Moss E. Norman. “On Judgement Day: Anorexic and Obese Women’s Phenomenological Experience of the Body, Food and Eating,” Feminism & Psychology 27, no.3 (2017): 259-279.
  • Muldtofte, Lea. “The Grace of my Perfect Skeleton: An Autoethnographic Analysis of the Anorexic Body,” Capacious: Journal for Emerging Affect Inquiry 1, no.3 (2018): 1-15.
  • Orbach, Susie. Hunger Strike: The Amorectic’s Struggle as a Metaphor for our Age (London: Karnac, 1993).
  • Padin, Paula Friero; Ruben González-Rodríguez; Carmen Verde-Diego ve Raquel Vázquez-Pérez. “Social media and eating disorder psychopathology: A systematic review”. Cyberpsychology, 15, no.3 (2021): 1-21.
  • Palumbo, Laura. “The Connection Between Eating Disorders and Sexual Violence,” National sexual Violence Research Center (2002) https:// www.nsvrc.org/blogs/connection-between-eating-disorders-and- sexual-violence (Erişim: 22.01.2023)
  • Piran, Niva ve Tanya Teall. “The Developmental Theory of Embodi- ment,” Preventing Eating-Related and Weight-Related Disorders ed. Gail McVey, Michael P. Levine, Niva Piran ve Bruce Ferguson (Ontario: Wilfred Laurier Press, 2012), 169-198.
  • Puuronen, Anne. “Understanding Anorexia: An Hermeneutic Approach as a Methodological Alternative for the Field of Contemporary Anorexia Research,” Scripta 17, no.2 (1999): 219-231.
  • Saukko, Paula. The Anorexic Self: A Personal and Political Analysis of a Diag- nostic Discourse (Albany: SUNY Press, 2008).
  • Sharp, Cliff W. ve Christopher L. Freeman. “The Medical Complica- tions of Anorexia Nervosa,” British Journal of Psychiatry 162, no.1 (1993): 452-462.
  • Stice, Eric; Carolyn Black Becker ve Sonja Yokum. “Eating Disorder Pre- vention: Current Evidence- Base and Future Directions,” Interna- tional Journal of Eating Disorders 46, no.5 (2013): 478-485.
  • Uğurlu, Özge. “Kadının Benlik Sunumunun Güncel Bir Aracı Olarak So- syal Ağlar Bir Tasarım Unsuru: “Kusursuzlaştırma,” Uşak Üniver- sitesi Sosyal Bilimler Dergisi 8, no.1 (2015): 231-248.
  • van Eeden Annelies, Daphne van Hoeken ve Hans W. Hoek. “Incidence, prevalence and mortality of anorexia nervosa and bulimia ner- vosa,” Current Opinion in Psychiatry 1, no.34 (2021): 515-524.
  • Vanderheyden, Debbie; Cynthia G. Fekken ve Frederick J. Boland. “Criti- cal Variables Associated with Bingeing and Bulimia in a Univer- sity Population: A Factor Analytic Study,” International Journal of Eating Disorders 7, no.3 (1988): 321-329.
  • Warin, Megan. “Primitivising Anorexia: The Irresistible Spectacle of Not Eat- ing,” The Australian Journal of Anthropology 15, no.1 (2004): 95-104.
  • White, Shane. Beautiful People: The Past, Present, and Future of the Fashion In- dustry’s Thin Ideal. Yüksek Lisans Tezi. (Arkansas: University of Ar- kansas, 2021).
  • Wolf, Naomi. The Beauty Myth: How Images of Beauty are Used Against Women (London: Vintage, 1991).

Feminist Bir Protesto Olabilir Mi? Anorektiklere Göre Anoreksinin Anlamı Üzerine Sosyolojik Bir Çalışma

Year 2023, Volume: 15 Issue: 1, 10 - 39, 27.06.2023
https://doi.org/10.46655/federgi.1220991

Abstract

Bu çalışma, fenomenolojik bir alan araştırmasının verileri üzerinden anoreksi teşhisi konmuş ve tedavi görmüş yedi kadının anoreksiye yükledikleri anlamı betimlemeyi ve feminist literatür ışığında değerlendirmeyi amaçlamaktadır. Katılımcılara amaçsal örneklemeyle ulaşılmış, veriler yüz yüze yapılan yarı yapılandırılmış mülakatlarla toplanmıştır. Bulgular katılımcıların anoreksiyi bir bozukluk olarak gördüklerini, buna rağmen anoreksiye değer görmeyle, kendine hâkim olmanın getirdiği saygınlıkla, özgürleşmeyle ve korunmayla ilgili anlamlar yüklediklerini, incelen bedenlerinden memnun olmadıklarını ama bu süreçte gösterdikleri irade nedeniyle kendileriyle gurur duyduklarını göstermektedir. Katılımcılar için anoreksi belirli bir ağırlığa veya fiziksel görünüme ulaşmaya değil, kadınlığın ikincil statüsünün bedensel ve zihinsel göstergelerinden uzaklaşmaya yönelik bir süreçtir. Bu açıdan bulgular anoreksinin toplumsal cinsiyet kalıp yargılarına yönelik bilinçsiz bir protesto olduğu argümanını desteklemektedir. Katılımcılar anoreksi sürecinde hem beden hem de toplumsal roller üzerinden kadınlığı reddetmekte, psikolojik veya psikiyatrik tedavi sonrası reddettikleri kadınlık kimliğiyle barışmaktadır. Ancak bu barışmanın toplumsal cinsiyet rollerinin anlamına yönelik bir sorgulama içermemesinin etkisiyle anoreksi sürecinde bir süreliğine ortadan kalkan toplumsal cinsiyete bağlı sorumluluk ve beklentilerle ilgili sorunlar, tedavi sonrası kadınlık kimliğiyle barışmanın ardından yeniden ortaya çıkmaktadır.

References

  • American Psychiatric Association. Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders (Arlington: APA, 2013).
  • Baudrillard, Jean. The Consumer Society: Myths & Structures. ed. Michael Featherstone (London: Sage, 1999). Bazzano, Manu. “The body-without-organs: A user’s manual,” European Journal of Psychotherapy & Counselling 23, no.3 (2021): 289-303.
  • Berger, John, Sven Blomberg, Chris Fox, Michael Dibb ve Richard Hollis. Ways of Seeing. (London: British Broadcasting Corporation and Penguin Books, 1972).
  • Bordo, Susan. Unbearable Weight: Feminism, Western Culture, and the Body (Los Angeles: University of California Press, 1993).
  • Brain, Josephine. Hungry for Meaning: Discourses of the Anorexic Body. Doktora Tezi. (Londra: London School of Economics Gender In- stitute, 2006).
  • Bray, Abigail ve Claire Colebrook. “The Haunted Flesh: Corporeal Femi- nism and the Politics of (Dis)Embodiment,” Signs 24, no.1 (1998): 35-67.
  • Burch, Hilde. Eating Disorders: Obesity, Anorexia Nervosa, and the Person Within. (New York: Basic Books, 1973).
  • Burns, Maree. “Eating like an Ox: Femininity and Dualistic Construc- tions of Bulimia and Anorexia,” Feminism and Psychology 14, no.2 (2004): 269-295.
  • Christopulos, Jesse Carin. Oppression Through Obsession: A Feminist Theo- retical Critique of Eating Disorders. (1995). Theses Digitization Project. 1019. https://scholarworks.lib.csusb.edu/etd-project/1019 (Erişim: 24.01.2023).
  • Culbert, Kristen M, Sarah E. Racine ve Kelly E. Klump. “What We Have Learned About the Causes of Eating Disorders” The Journal of Child Psychology and Psychiatry 56, no.11 (2015): 1141-1164.
  • Deleuze, Gilles ve Claire Parnet. Diagloges II: Revised Edition. çev. Hugh Tomlinson ve Barbara Habberjam. (New York: Columbia Univer- sity Press, 2002).
  • Deleuze, Gilles ve Claire Parnet. Diyaloglar. çev. Ali Akay (Ankara: Bağ- lam, 1990).
  • Deleuze, Gilles ve Félix Guattari. A Thousand Plateaus. çev. Brian Massumi (Minneapolis: University of Minnesota Press, 2005).
  • Demir, Serta Timur. “Riyazetten Modern Diyet Toplumuna: Kutsallık ve Hiçlik Arasında Beden,” İnsan ve Toplum 6, no.1 (2016): 155-173.
  • Ferrer-Garcia, Marta ve Jose Gutierrez-Maldonado. “The Use of Virtual Reality in the Study, Assessment and Treatment of Body Image in Eating Disorders and Nonclinical Samples: A Review of the Literature,” Body Image 9, no.1 (2012): 1-11.
  • Gadamer, Hans-Georg. “The Hermeneutics of Suspicion,” Hermeneutics: Questions and Prospects ed. Gary Shapiro ve Alan Sica (Los Ange- les: University of California Press, 1984), 313-323.
  • Giddens, Anthony. Toplumun Kuruluşu: Yapılaşma Kuramının Ana Hatları, çev. Hüseyin Özel (Ankara: Bilim ve Sanat, 1991).
  • Guba, Egon ve Yvonna Lincoln. “Epistemological and Methodological Bases of Naturalistic Inquiry” Educational Communication and Technology Journal 30, no.4 (1982): 233-252.
  • Günindi Ersöz, Aysel. “Tüketim Toplumunda “Sıfır Beden” Söylemi: Neden ve Sonuçları Üzerine Sosyolojik Bir Değerlendirme,” Edebiyat Fakültesi Dergisi 27, no.2 (2010): 37-53.
  • Güzel, Ebru. “Güzellik Dayatması Altında Tüketim Nesnesine Dönüşen Kadın,” Global Media Journal: Turkish Edition 4, no.7 (2013): 81-96.
  • Hepworth, Julie. The Social Construction of Anorexia Nervosa (London: Sage, 1999).
  • Holmes, Su, Sarah Drake, Kelsey Odgers ve Jon Wilson. “Feminist Ap- proaches to Anorexia Nervosa: A Qualitative Study of a Treat- ment Group,” Journal of Eating Disorders 5, no.36 (2017): 1-15.
  • Holmes, Su. “Between Feminism and Anorexia: An Autoethnography,” International Journal of Cultural Studies 19, no.2 (2016): 193–207.
  • Katzman, Martin A. ve Scott Lee “Beyond Body Image: The Integration of Feminist and Transcultural Theories in the Understanding of Self Starvation,” International Journal of Eating Disorders 22, no.4 (1997): 385-394.
  • Levine, Michael P. ve Linda Smolak. “Paradigm Clash in the Field of Eat- ing Disorders: A Critical Examination of the Biopsychiatric Mod- el from a Sociocultural Perspective,” Advances in Eating Disorders 2, no.2 (2014): 158-170.
  • Mabe Annalise, Jean Forney ve Pamela K. Keel. “Do You ‘Like’ My Pho- to? Facebook Use Maintains Eating Disorder Risk,” International Journal of Eating Disorders, 47, no.5 (2014): 516-523.
  • MacSween, Morag. Anorexic Bodies: A Feminist and Sociological Perspective on Anorexia Nervosa. (London: Routledge, 1993).
  • Malecki, Jennifer; Paul Rhodes; Jane Ussher ve Katherine Boydell. “The embodiment of childhood abuse and anorexia nervosa: A body mapping study,” Health Care for Women International 1, no.1 (2022): 1-26.
  • Malson, Helen. “Appearing to Disappear: Postmodern Femininities and Self-starved Subjectivities,” Critical Feminist Approaches to Eating Dis/orders ed. Helen Malson ve Maree Burns (Sussex: Routledge, 2009), 135-145.
  • Malson, Helen. The Thin Woman: Feminism, Post-Structuralism and The So- cial Psychology of Anorexia Nervosa. (London: Routledge, 1998).
  • Martinez-Gonzalez, Leticia; Tania Fernandez-Villa; Antonio J. Molina; Miguel Delgado-Rodríguez ve Vicente Martin. “Incidence of Anorexia Nervosa in Women: A Systematic Review and Meta- Analysis,” International Journal of Environmental Research and Pub- lic Health 17, no.11 (2020): 1-15.
  • Mitchell, Jean. “‘Going for the Burn’ and ‘Pumping Iron’: What’s Healthy about the Current Fitness Boom?” Fed Up and Hungry: Women Op- pression and Food ed. Marilyn Lawrence (London: The Women’s Press Limited, 1987), 156-174.
  • Moola, Fiona. J. ve Moss E. Norman. “On Judgement Day: Anorexic and Obese Women’s Phenomenological Experience of the Body, Food and Eating,” Feminism & Psychology 27, no.3 (2017): 259-279.
  • Muldtofte, Lea. “The Grace of my Perfect Skeleton: An Autoethnographic Analysis of the Anorexic Body,” Capacious: Journal for Emerging Affect Inquiry 1, no.3 (2018): 1-15.
  • Orbach, Susie. Hunger Strike: The Amorectic’s Struggle as a Metaphor for our Age (London: Karnac, 1993).
  • Padin, Paula Friero; Ruben González-Rodríguez; Carmen Verde-Diego ve Raquel Vázquez-Pérez. “Social media and eating disorder psychopathology: A systematic review”. Cyberpsychology, 15, no.3 (2021): 1-21.
  • Palumbo, Laura. “The Connection Between Eating Disorders and Sexual Violence,” National sexual Violence Research Center (2002) https:// www.nsvrc.org/blogs/connection-between-eating-disorders-and- sexual-violence (Erişim: 22.01.2023)
  • Piran, Niva ve Tanya Teall. “The Developmental Theory of Embodi- ment,” Preventing Eating-Related and Weight-Related Disorders ed. Gail McVey, Michael P. Levine, Niva Piran ve Bruce Ferguson (Ontario: Wilfred Laurier Press, 2012), 169-198.
  • Puuronen, Anne. “Understanding Anorexia: An Hermeneutic Approach as a Methodological Alternative for the Field of Contemporary Anorexia Research,” Scripta 17, no.2 (1999): 219-231.
  • Saukko, Paula. The Anorexic Self: A Personal and Political Analysis of a Diag- nostic Discourse (Albany: SUNY Press, 2008).
  • Sharp, Cliff W. ve Christopher L. Freeman. “The Medical Complica- tions of Anorexia Nervosa,” British Journal of Psychiatry 162, no.1 (1993): 452-462.
  • Stice, Eric; Carolyn Black Becker ve Sonja Yokum. “Eating Disorder Pre- vention: Current Evidence- Base and Future Directions,” Interna- tional Journal of Eating Disorders 46, no.5 (2013): 478-485.
  • Uğurlu, Özge. “Kadının Benlik Sunumunun Güncel Bir Aracı Olarak So- syal Ağlar Bir Tasarım Unsuru: “Kusursuzlaştırma,” Uşak Üniver- sitesi Sosyal Bilimler Dergisi 8, no.1 (2015): 231-248.
  • van Eeden Annelies, Daphne van Hoeken ve Hans W. Hoek. “Incidence, prevalence and mortality of anorexia nervosa and bulimia ner- vosa,” Current Opinion in Psychiatry 1, no.34 (2021): 515-524.
  • Vanderheyden, Debbie; Cynthia G. Fekken ve Frederick J. Boland. “Criti- cal Variables Associated with Bingeing and Bulimia in a Univer- sity Population: A Factor Analytic Study,” International Journal of Eating Disorders 7, no.3 (1988): 321-329.
  • Warin, Megan. “Primitivising Anorexia: The Irresistible Spectacle of Not Eat- ing,” The Australian Journal of Anthropology 15, no.1 (2004): 95-104.
  • White, Shane. Beautiful People: The Past, Present, and Future of the Fashion In- dustry’s Thin Ideal. Yüksek Lisans Tezi. (Arkansas: University of Ar- kansas, 2021).
  • Wolf, Naomi. The Beauty Myth: How Images of Beauty are Used Against Women (London: Vintage, 1991).
There are 48 citations in total.

Details

Primary Language Turkish
Subjects Women's Studies
Journal Section Research Articles
Authors

Ayla Zaman 0000-0001-8712-4580

Temmuz Gönç Şavran 0000-0003-0561-4661

Publication Date June 27, 2023
Published in Issue Year 2023 Volume: 15 Issue: 1

Cite

Chicago Zaman, Ayla, and Temmuz Gönç Şavran. “Feminist Bir Protesto Olabilir Mi? Anorektiklere Göre Anoreksinin Anlamı Üzerine Sosyolojik Bir Çalışma”. Fe Dergi 15, no. 1 (June 2023): 10-39. https://doi.org/10.46655/federgi.1220991.