The Hungry Feminine and a Patriarchal Gag Order: Binge Eating in American Women (Setteducato, V.R., Master’s thesis, Pacifica Graduate Institute, 2017). ProQuest.
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Abstract:
This thesis explores the relationships between American women and food, and how those relationships are influenced by a culture that fetishizes food, celebrates consumption, and shames bodies. What is it about food, and the physical consequences of too much of it, especially pertaining to women, that turns away even the most skilled at empathy and understanding? With specific attention to binge eating disorder, this inquiry examines early attachment relationships as they impact addiction, archetypal functions of overconsuming food, the role of the repressed feminine, and cultural governance of the female body in America. The clinical implications of these factors for the treatment of binge eating are presented. Using alchemical hermeneutic and heuristic methodologies, the author builds upon the findings of psychologists and mythologists and presents her personal stories and perspectives as a therapist, therapy client, and woman with binge eating disorder.
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