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‘I Feel Ridiculous about Having Had It’ — Critical Readings of Lived and Mediated Stories on Eating Disorders

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Abstract

Eating disorders are commonly perceived to be informed by media images idealising thinness. Research in this area has encompassed both experimental studies on whether exposure to ‘thinness-depicting-and-promoting’ images predicts anorexia and bulimia (Harrison, 2000), and critical feminist studies on the multifarious meanings associated with the slender body (Bordo, 1993). These studies are often predicated on the assumption that while images of thinness have deleterious effects on individual women’s psyche, discussion on eating disorders is emancipatory, pointing towards healthier ways of being a woman.

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© 2008 Sarah Riley, Maree Burns, Hannah Frith, Sally Wiggins and Pirkko Markula

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Saukko, P. (2008). ‘I Feel Ridiculous about Having Had It’ — Critical Readings of Lived and Mediated Stories on Eating Disorders. In: Riley, S., Burns, M., Frith, H., Wiggins, S., Markula, P. (eds) Critical Bodies. Palgrave Macmillan, London. https://doi.org/10.1057/9780230591141_3

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