Eating disorders refer to psychological states in which the relationship established by the individual with concepts such as eating behavior, weight control, and body perception is distorted. These disorders are related to how the person sees and evaluates themselves, and the physiological consequences can be quite dangerous. When it comes to eating disorders, the first examples that come to mind for almost everyone are Anorexia Nervosa, Bulimia Nervosa, and Binge Eating Disorder. At the meeting point of all these, there is often a distorted body perception. Body perception is a multi-layered structure that encompasses one’s thoughts, feelings, and evaluations towards one’s body; it is not only the reflection in the mirror, but the meaning attributed to it.
From Sociocultural Pressures to Individual Pathology
In psychology, we often treat eating disorders as individual pathologies: we can explain them in terms of loss of control, impulsivity, low self-esteem, or impaired body image. But from a feminist perspective, all of this can be shallow and inadequate. Because the body is not only a biological being, but also a socially shaped field. In particular, the female body is condemned to be constantly controlled and to be adapted to certain norms, historically and culturally. The ideal of perfect body, the importance attributed to youth, the expectation of perfection… All these concepts have been imposed for many years and have been made impossible to overcome and inaccessible for women.
Reframing Eating Disorders
In this context, we should be able to think of eating disorders not only as an individual pathology, but as a result of the relationship established with social norms. Eating behavior is a reflection of the individual’s relationship with the world. The desire to control this behavior is not just about food, it describes the effort to establish order over one’s life.
But at this point, we encounter a situation that we can call a paradox. While we think that we control our own body, we are actually under the influence of internalized social norms.
Values such as eating little, being fit, and being disciplined are largely culturally preached and reinforced norms, although they may seem like our own choice.
As a matter of fact, if we compare different cultures, we can say that while a thinner appearance is idealized in Western societies, for example, in some Eastern societies, fuller bodies fit the perception of beauty. This suggests that body perception is a culturally constructed phenomenon that varies from period to period as it varies from society to society: in 18th- and 19th-century Europe, a pale, white skin was idealized, while women even used lead-based products to achieve this appearance, and since the early 20th century, bronze skin has become a symbol of health, leisure, and attractiveness in Western societies.
Control Over the Body
The individual is not only exposed to the gaze of others over time, but internalizes those gazes. This is also closely related to internalized sexism. Now, the woman has accepted the social expectation and looks at her own body according to these criteria. We can also explain this process with “Objectification theory”. According to the theory, rather than experiencing ourselves as a subject, we begin to perceive ourselves as an object observed from the outside. Feeling like you are constantly being watched brings with it the need to maintain constant control over the body.
In this context, Michel Foucault‘s analysis of surveillance and power also offers an important theoretical basis. His Panopticon conceptualization explains that individuals discipline themselves through the possibility of constant monitoring. In modern society, surveillance no longer needs an external authority; individuals have been made controllers of themselves by power. When examined in the context of eating disorders, it occurs in the form of constant surveillance, evaluation, and control of one’s own body. It also reflects the influence of the patriarchal order on the body. Thus, social power maintains its effect on the body without direct intervention.
So, Why Feminist Therapy?
At this point, feminist therapy teaches the individual to understand the context of the problem from a different and holistic perspective. It makes visible the social, cultural, and political context that shapes the individual’s experience, rather than trapping the problem inside the individual.
It not only asks the client why they feel this way, but also encourages questioning under which social conditions these feelings occur and how they gain meaning. In other words, the problem is no longer an individual deficiency but a contextually evaluated experience. In a different world order, for example, in an alternative society that does not expect perfection from the female body and accepts it as it is, would we still experience it, or how would our feelings differ? In summary, the problem is no longer treated as an individual deficiency but as a contextual experience.
In this process, the individual learns to look at themselves not only as a body, but as a person. Being able to become partially free from the impositions and expectations of the patriarchal order allows one to redefine the relationship established with oneself. This begins to transform the feeling of guilt and makes the healing process more comprehensive and meaningful.
Transformation and Reconstruction
While psychology is irreplaceable and undeniable when trying to understand eating disorders, it offers an incomplete framework when its intersection with sociological, anthropological, and political levels is ignored.
Sociologically, eating disorders are a reflection of social norms, power relations, and disciplinary mechanisms on the body. Society idealizes certain body types while excluding others. What this leads to is that individuals constantly evaluate and supervise themselves.
From an anthropological point of view, we see that the body and eating practices are cultural constructions. The meanings attributed to beauty, body, and eating behavior in different societies may differ at unpredictable extremes. Our point is that eating disorders are not only biological or individual but also culturally shaped experiences.
On the political level, the body becomes an arena of struggle. In particular, the female body appears as a structure that is supervised, regulated, and shaped to fit norms within the patriarchal order. In this context, eating disorders can be interpreted not only as a disorder, but also as a concrete manifestation of the effect of the existing system on the individual.
Feminist therapy offers the opportunity to restructure the individual’s self-view by taking into account this multi-layered structure. It enables the individual to make sense of themselves not only through deficiencies and inadequacies, but also within the social context in which they live. That is, feminist therapy aims not only to reduce symptoms, but also to transform the individual’s relationship with themselves.
References
Fredrickson, B., & Roberts, T. (1997). Objectification Theory
Foucault, M. (1992). Hapishanenin doğuşu (6. baskı). İmge Yayınları.
Fairburn, C. G. (2008). Cognitive behavior therapy and eating disorders. The Guilford Press.
Eli, K., & Warin, M. (2018). Anthropological perspectives on eating disorders: Deciphering cultural logics. Transcultural Psychiatry, 55(4), 443–453.