Brumberg, J. J. (1988). Fasting girls: The emergence of anorexia nervosa as a modern disease. Cambridge, Mass: Harvard University Press.
Project: Clothing size and taxonomy
Keywords: anorexia nervosa, eating disorders, women, gender, body image, medicalization, medical history
Format: Book
Abstract: "Winner of four major awards, this updated edition of Joan Jacobs Brumberg's Fasting Girls, presents a history of women's food-refusal dating back as far as the sixteenth century. Here is a tableau of female self-denial: medieval martyrs who used starvation to demonstrate religious devotion, "wonders of science" whose families capitalized on their ability to survive on flower petals and air, silent screen stars whose strict "slimming" regimens inspired a generation. Here, too, is a fascinating look at how the cultural ramifications of the Industrial Revolution produced a disorder that continues to render privileged young women helpless. Incisive, compassionate, illuminating, Fasting Girls offers real understanding to victims and their families, clinicians, and all women who are interested in the origins and future of this complex, modern and characteristically female disease."
Key points: Brumberg gives valuable context to something characteristically modern and feminine. She explores the tension between anorexia nervosa as a physiological illness versus a psychological one. She also goes into the differing cultural environments across time, from the piety argument for anorexia to the beauty argument to the health argument. That, and the issue of control as something newly relevant to anorexia nervosa. Highlights the important distinction between anorexia nervosa and other related disorders like anorexia mirabilis.
Key concepts: appetite suppression as power or moral act, ideals of class and gentility, changing social mores of feminine value, changing role of women in society, evolution of family structure
Entities: doctors, parents, the medical establishment, organized religion
Date this entry was written: 25/May/2012
Project: Clothing size and taxonomy
Keywords: anorexia nervosa, eating disorders, women, gender, body image, medicalization, medical history
Format: Book
Abstract: "Winner of four major awards, this updated edition of Joan Jacobs Brumberg's Fasting Girls, presents a history of women's food-refusal dating back as far as the sixteenth century. Here is a tableau of female self-denial: medieval martyrs who used starvation to demonstrate religious devotion, "wonders of science" whose families capitalized on their ability to survive on flower petals and air, silent screen stars whose strict "slimming" regimens inspired a generation. Here, too, is a fascinating look at how the cultural ramifications of the Industrial Revolution produced a disorder that continues to render privileged young women helpless. Incisive, compassionate, illuminating, Fasting Girls offers real understanding to victims and their families, clinicians, and all women who are interested in the origins and future of this complex, modern and characteristically female disease."
Key points: Brumberg gives valuable context to something characteristically modern and feminine. She explores the tension between anorexia nervosa as a physiological illness versus a psychological one. She also goes into the differing cultural environments across time, from the piety argument for anorexia to the beauty argument to the health argument. That, and the issue of control as something newly relevant to anorexia nervosa. Highlights the important distinction between anorexia nervosa and other related disorders like anorexia mirabilis.
Key concepts: appetite suppression as power or moral act, ideals of class and gentility, changing social mores of feminine value, changing role of women in society, evolution of family structure
Entities: doctors, parents, the medical establishment, organized religion
Date this entry was written: 25/May/2012