Voluntary Starvation

- apart from not eating because they suffer from a condition that makes it difficult for them to do so
- fasting as a detox (toxins are flushed out because the body needn't direct great amounts of energy to digestion)
- reasoned to help achieve enlightenment, clear headedness and purity

Female saints in the 1600s - see http://www.fastingresearch.org/fasting/saints.cfm to supplement notes
- eating as making the body impure
- after fasting they could do miraculous things with their body, e.g. lactate spontaneously
- preparation of food as a woman's main domestic duty, and detaining from eating was the only choice available to them; this excused them from chores

Evolutionary bases of anorexic behaviour
- ability to tolerate starvation and so have the energy to flee from famine
- may explain why anorexics can survive for long periods of time with little or no food and maintain high energy levels (a mixture of hyperactivity and optimistic outlook)
- anorexia occurs among wild animals also, thus it is not merely a result of the human psyche
- but these notes do not explain why teenage girls and young women are more often affected than males and menopausal women

Gendered food habitus in Western, industrial societies
- stereotypically women are more reserved than men when eating
- she will eat less and make little noise, and finish with a cleaner plate
- while he may shovel in food as he speaks and guffaws from deep i nthe belly
- but it's not a given that men need to eat more although of course the average man tends to be bigger than the average woman; activity dictates calorific needs
- mothers instinctually give their children more food if/when they ask for more

Anorexia nervosa - causes 150-2000 women to die each year
- media images and advertising: Naomi Wolf found that average model weighss 20% less than compared to average woman
- media portraying social trends
- diet and cosmetic surgery industries allowing such images to be continuously used and displayed; playing on insecurities

Susan Bordo: late capitalist consumer culture
- different institutions monitor the ideals, which include:
- control over the body; masterinf internal drives and desires
- avoiding hedonistic or gluttonous activities
- the aim is to not merely become thin, but also not flabby - tight, solid, somewhat like a bodybuilder, ene though loose skin is bound to be flabby (e.g. above the elbow)
- on the other hand, being fat or having fat relatives shows that they are wealthy: that they have the wealth to feed these people
- however this image was broken down in Western society with the rise in the 'fat cat' image; wealth should be kept reserved

Conflicts between production and consumption
- follow Protestant work ethic; delay gratification/luxury to allow for prosperity
- must spend to keep the economy going: enough demand, enough jobs

Why women and why food?
- instinct to nurture and be good mothers
- associations between femininity and the body
- it is possible to become thin enough to look pre-pubescent and even stop menstruating; this allows for an androgenous identity