title: Feminism, eating, and mental health.
abstract: Eating disorders are prevalent health problems for women today. The traditional biomedical or psychiatric approaches offer a narrow perspective of the problem, its courses, and its treatment. Analyzing disordered eating from a feminist perspective, this article discusses cultural, political, and social phenomena that have had a significant impact on the development of these disorders. Parallels of eating disorders and other women's mental illnesses and the medicalization of their symptoms is explored. A "new view" of disordered eating in women is proposed that can be advanced only through feminist research.
authors.affiliation: Division of Psychiatric-Mental Health Nursing, Catholic University of America, Washington, DC.
authors.forename: J H
authors.initials: JH
authors.lastname: White
mesh_terms: D001828:Body Image; D003469:Culture; D001068:Feeding and Eating Disorders / Q000523:psychology*; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D008603:Mental Health; D011057:Politics; D012938:Social Perception; D013561:Symbolism; D014933:Women's Rights