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3. - The Art of Starvation

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  10 October 2024

Linda Gask
Affiliation:
University of Manchester
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Summary

Anorexia has a higher mortality rate than any other mental illness and most deaths occur in women. The feminist view is that we are all at risk of developing eating disorders and that the battle for control over the young woman’s life between mother and daughter is key in how anorexia begins. However, current evidence suggests mothers have been unfairly blamed, and that genetic factors play a powerful part in our vulnerability to eating disorders, with genes interacting with environmental factors. Services and expertise to treat young people with eating disorders are lacking and talk of ‘terminal anorexia’ is abhorrent. The fact that these disorders affect more women than men has influenced the level of clinical and research funding that they get. Services must move away from their reliance on BMI to decide who gets care, and their practice of only accepting those who fit into rigid diagnostic boxes. We all must all challenge, as feminism urged us, our society’s obsession with body image. However, feminism also needs to embrace the science that explains how some women are much more vulnerable to developing eating disorder than others, and why biology also matters.

Type
Chapter
Information
Out of Her Mind
How We Are Failing Women's Mental Health and What Must Change
, pp. 52 - 69
Publisher: Cambridge University Press
Print publication year: 2024

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  • The Art of Starvation
  • Linda Gask, University of Manchester
  • Book: Out of Her Mind
  • Online publication: 10 October 2024
  • Chapter DOI: https://doi.org/10.1017/9781009382441.004
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  • The Art of Starvation
  • Linda Gask, University of Manchester
  • Book: Out of Her Mind
  • Online publication: 10 October 2024
  • Chapter DOI: https://doi.org/10.1017/9781009382441.004
Available formats
×

Save book to Google Drive

To save content items to your account, please confirm that you agree to abide by our usage policies. If this is the first time you use this feature, you will be asked to authorise Cambridge Core to connect with your account. Find out more about saving content to Google Drive.

  • The Art of Starvation
  • Linda Gask, University of Manchester
  • Book: Out of Her Mind
  • Online publication: 10 October 2024
  • Chapter DOI: https://doi.org/10.1017/9781009382441.004
Available formats
×