Meeting the challenge: the social constitution of difficulties with eating

ABSTRACT A dichotomy has been identified between traditional and feminist accounts of 'anorexia nervosa', in which both literatures tend towards universalising accounts of the development of difficulties with eating (focusing on either the individual, or social factors). This study draws on post-structuralist theory to examine the social constitution of 'anorexia', on the basis of interviews with six women who had been discharged from a hospital programme for their eating difficulties. The analysis identified discourses which were used by these women to account for their difficulties, and examined the subject positions allocated to the women through these constructions. It is argued that in order to move beyond the dualism inherent in reductionist literature, it is necessary to consider the meanings of eating difficulties which are produced and regulated in everyday practices