Starving For Salvation: The Spiritual Dimensions of Eating Problems among American Girls and WomenOxford University Press, 2 Σεπ 1999 - 224 σελίδες In recent years, eating disorders among American girls and women have become a subject of national concern. Conventional explanations of eating problems are usually framed in the language of psychology, medicine, feminism, or sociology. Although they differ in theory and approach, these interpretations are linked by one common assumption--that female preoccupation with food and body is an essentially secular phenomenon. In Starving for Salvation, Michelle Lelwica challenges traditional theories by introducing and exploring the spiritual dimensions of anorexia, bulimia, and related problems. Drawing on a range of sources that include previously published interviews with sufferers of eating disorders, Lelwica claims that girls and women starve, binge, and purge their bodies as a means of coping with the pain and injustice of their daily lives. She provides an incisive analysis of contemporary American culture, arguing that our dominant social values and religious legacies produce feelings of emptiness and dissatisfaction in girls and women. Trapped in a society that ignores and denies their spiritual needs, girls and women construct a network of symbols, beliefs, and rituals around food and their bodies. Lelwica draws a parallel between the patriarchal legacy of Christianity, which associates women with sin and bodily cravings, and the cultural preference for a thin female body. According to Lelwica, these complimentary forces form a popular salvation myth that encourages girls and women to fixate on their bodies and engage in disordered eating patterns. While this myth provides a sense of meaning and purpose in the face of uncertainty and injustice, Lelwica demonstrates that such rigid and unhealthy devotion to the body only deepens the spiritual void that women long to fill. Although Lelwica presents many disturbing facts about the origins of eating disorders, she also suggests positive ways that our society can nourish the creative and spiritual needs of girls and women. The first step, however, is to acknowledge that female preoccupation with thinness and food signifies a strong desire for fulfillment. Until we recognize and contest the religious legacies and cultural values that perpetuate eating disorders, many women will continue to turn to the most accessible symbolic and ritual resources available to them--food and their bodies--in an attempt to satiate their profound spiritual hunger. |
Περιεχόμενα
3 | |
BODIES OF EVIDENCE BODIES OF KNOWLEDGE Contemporary Approaches Historical Perspectives New Directions | 15 |
THE GOOD THE TRUE AND THE BEAUTIFUL FEMALE BODY Popular Icons of Womanhood and the Salvation Myth of Female Slendemess | 39 |
LOSING THEIR WAY TO SALVATION Popular Rituals of Womanhood and the Saving Promises of Culture Lite | 67 |
UNIVERSES OF MEANING WORLDS OF PAIN The Struggles of Anorexic and Bulimic Girls and Women | 95 |
A DIFFERENT KIND OF SALVATION Cultivating Alternative Senses Practices and Visions | 125 |
Notes | 149 |
Selected Bibliography | 191 |
201 | |
Άλλες εκδόσεις - Προβολή όλων
Starving for Salvation: The Spiritual Dimensions of Eating Problems Among ... Michelle Mary Lelwica Περιορισμένη προεπισκόπηση - 2002 |
Starving for Salvation: The Spiritual Dimensions of Eating Problems Among ... Michelle Mary Lelwica Περιορισμένη προεπισκόπηση - 2002 |
Starving for Salvation: The Spiritual Dimensions of Eating Problems Among ... Michelle Mary Lelwica Δεν υπάρχει διαθέσιμη προεπισκόπηση - 1999 |
Συχνά εμφανιζόμενοι όροι και φράσεις
American anorexia and bulimia Anorexia Nervosa anorexic and bulimic anorexic woman appetite Beauty Myth become behavior beliefs bell hooks bingeing Black Bruch Bulimia Nervosa bulimic women calories Christian Conversations with Anorexics create critical Culture Lite culture's defined diet discourse dominant DSM-IV Eating Disorders Eating Our Hearts eating problems experiences Fasting Girls feel female body female slenderness feminine Feminism Feminist gender girls and women Harper's Bazaar holy Hornbacher ibid ideal images International Journal Journal of Eating legacy Leslea Newman lives lose weight magazine Margaret Miles Marya Hornbacher meaning modern Nervosa and Bulimia Never Too Thin norms obesity Overeaters Anonymous patriarchal percent Perspectives physical political popular practices relationship religious rituals salvation myth secular sense sexual social spiritual starving stories strategies struggles with food suggests Susan Bordo symbolic Theology transcendent University Press values Virgin Songs vision weight-loss woman explains Womanist women's struggles York