'What nourishes me, destroys me'. Eating Disorders as expressions of sexual violence against women

Abstract

In the present essay, we make a theoretical and political reflection on eating disorders from a feminist perspective, arguing how these can be expressions of sexual violence against women. Considering the practice of women’s body objectification, we approach two concrete phenomena. Firstly, ‘diets’, a socially accepted practice, that we propose to understand as an invisible form of violence related to self-objectification. Secondly, anorexia, a disorder that can lead to death, a death around which we propose a reflection linked to the category of femicide in a broad sense. The approach to both phenomena seeks to open the discussion on eating disorders beyond medicine and psychology, making visible the ways in which violence is hidden in the naturalized practices that even women themselves exert on their own selves in a cisheteropatriarchal society.