Abstract
Wainui, A. (1994). E Tu!. Unpublished Master of Social Science Thesis. Hamilton: University of Waikato.
Each year society's image of the 'ideal' woman becomes thinner, weaker and younger. Each year the number of women around the world who die in pursuit of this ideal increases. During the women's missions of self-destruction they experience a 'hell' so prevading that 'the end' appears as a seductive solution.
In the past it has been all too convenient for theorists of anorexia to focus on the individual woman and label her 'disordered', or focus on her mother and label her 'a bad role model', or to focus on her family and label them ;dysfunctional'. Within these theories 'anorexia nervosa' is seen as just another 'woman's problem', the anorexic woman can be cancelled off as insane, atypical, and deviant, and the blame is placed firmly on female shoulders.
These theories make it easier for us to see anorexia as being 'out there', therfore we are out of its reaches. Wrong! The fact is: most women can feel good about themselves only in a state of permanent semi-starvation (Orbach, 1979). The anorexic woman, who we are so quick to label 'insane and deviant' is the perfect woman in a male-dominated world - weak, sexless and voiceless (Wolf, 1990). Anorexic behaviours are sane, and mentally healthy responses to an insane social reality (Orbach, 1970).
The purpose of this thesis is to find out why we view our bodies as 'wrong', and society's warped standards of physical perfection as 'right'. It is only when we look beyond the convenient family, mother and women-blaming theories, theories that keep us feeling weak, helpless and worthless, that the ugly truth pervades.
This thesis is about six women and their pursuit for the 'ideal' woman. This thesis is about six women who are doing only too well what women are suppose to be doing. This thesis is about six women and their sane responses to an insane social reality. |
Community Psychology