September / October 2010
Feminist Critique and the Cultural of Lookism
as it Relates to Eating Disorders
Jacqueline A. Reilly
Professionals working in the field of Eating Disorder recovery help patients bring often dangerous ED behaviors into safer range as healing is fostered. Knowing “why” an ED develops may or may not ever be fully understood, but we do know that in our culture there is a predisposition toward thinking that if one’s appearance is in order then other deeper issues feel like they are in order too. For example, an elderly female patient from Louisiana who cultivated a rather careful outward appearance stated that, “I put myself together so that I don’t remember during the day that I wanted to sit up and scream in the middle of the night”. This quote captures the idea that there is something gained from attending to one’s appearance and that doing so gave this woman a sense that she could forget during the day how tough her night can be. In EDs the preoccupation with outward appearances often betrays a rather troubled inner world. Furthermore, the seeking of a solution to inner pain via perfecting appearances is something that our culture wholeheartedly promotes.
In a larger sense we all know of the importance assigned to appearance in Western culture particularly for women. This socio-cultural dynamic has been written about for years, is the basis of a multi-billion dollar industry and has been considered a core problem in the canon of feminist literature since before the famed 1970’s. Why this is important here is because while EDs are not about appearance per se, and inculcate much deeper emotional/identity and relational object issues, “concern about appearance” is the currency through which the sufferer of the ED often interprets his or her own experience of unresolved pain. One suffering with bulimia nervosa may say of having over eaten, “I could never keep it in, (after binging) people would see my huge stomach”. Or with anorexia, “my body is different, I could never eat like my friends, I would get fat and then look like a pig”. As in the quote above, the imperative that appearance be fussed over, managed, contrived etc… gives the sense that there is a process via controlling ones eating and thus one’s body shape, that will lead to feeling good, (i.e., when I am thin I will feel great).
Feminists have discussed the issue of “lookism” for decades. Cultural norms regarding gender expression (i.e., appearance and associated assumptions about gender) is addressed at length by Judith Butler who in her book, Gender Trouble (1990) takes on the issue of gender meaning. Her discussion distills for us the notion that we are all in “drag” sporting a contrived outer visage that the culture of lookism wants us to believe indicates a fixed feminine ideal underneath. This speaks to the thought that we all, no matter how fancy and fussy or natural and carefree - are donning a look. That all appearance is contrived and that it hooks into deeper issues of identity and cultural expression of enforced norms. Often a person struggling with an eating disorder will work extremely hard at dismantling the perceived dilemma of their appearance attending diligently every day to reach a goal of thinner, and thinner yet. More importantly, however, is the currency that ED sufferers all engage in that surfs over the top of deeper emotional delving. The idea that one must work very hard at one’s appearance is a myth that is promoted in Western culture all the while promising relief from real underlying issues. It is a trigger that helps give shape to the inner troubled world that surrounds life with an ED.
When parents of young girls ask ED treating professionals about how to talk to girls about appearance, we often respond that over as well as under emphasis on looks can be problematic. Often well meaning parents will tell their very young girls that they are beautiful. It is difficult not to gush forth when we look upon our children and especially young females in this culture. Drawing from what we know clinically, it might be a good idea to reconsider how we speak about beauty to our children. Yes, children take in compliments as positive reinforcement, however, when there is too much emphasis on the way one looks, the child is introduced to a notion that they contain a quality that they cannot fully understand but one that is important. Children cannot quite take in the concept of being beautiful because developmentally they are at a phase where they are very unaware of appearances. Children often do not work to contrive any particular look and are generally going about their day with little awareness of how they appear. What they take in when parents compliment their looks is that they have something special that they are not sure they understand but that they are sure they should not lose. When self consciousness appears on the scene around the advent of puberty, folks who develop EDs often recall that they began to feel that their looks were very important and that they would lose a sense of self if they were not vigilant in maintaining or creating their perfect body/appearance.
Feminist theorists addressing the issue of “lookism” have focused the critical lens on what it means to be overly attached to concern for the way one looks. Though some fair better in this culture that stresses the outward aspect, others become enmeshed in seeking an answer or resolution to the “problem” of appearance. The core issue here is that the way one looks has been crafted as a problem that needs to be resolved. How else could we spend billions on how we look if we do not collaborate with the notion that there is a problem in the first place? When it comes to EDs we do know that an intense fixation with ones outer presentation marks the core of the ED’s energy. The notion that an ideal could be reached that would resolve all other problems and make one feel whole is the myth that threads its way through all EDs in some way or another.
End Notes
Judith Butler, Gender Trouble Feminism and the Subversion of Identity (London, Routledge, 1990).