Eating Disorders and the Cultural Forces Behind the Drive for Thinness

Abstract

Responding to mainstream ideals of female beauty, many women and girls view thinness as a requirement for feeling acceptable to themselves and to others. The drive to be thin can lead to problematic eating patterns, such as self-starvation, binge-eating, and purging, symptoms of the eating disorders, anorexia and bulimia nervosa. Most current literature on eating disorders and the drive for thinness focuses only on White middle-class women and girls. African American females have been largely excluded from studies, due to the assumption that the Black community's acceptance of women with fuller shapes protects its women from eating problems. However, recent studies are beginning to show that race, class, and exposure to a dominant culture which denigrates Black features and physiques impact body image among Black women and may play a role in the development of eating problems.