The Politics of Starvation- cross posted

[punkisdead]

I want to do a "cyber ethnography" on politically progressive people or acivists/would be activists who have suffered through or are suffering through eating disordered behavior

Comments

[belladonnalin]

Ummm. Is my eating disorder political? Yes. It's political that I've done permament damage to my body and irrevocably changed the way my body functions because of social conditioning.

Is my disorder, itself, a political act? No.

[punkisdead]

I think that most personal choices are in some way political, I moreso mean the usage of controlling personal consumption because we are overwhelmed with the lack of control we have about globally problematic issues.

[belladonnalin]

This sounds pro-ana to me. I'm down with the politics of consumption - this is why I try to eat vegan and local. But this isn't a pro-ana community and I am most certainly not pro-ed.

r i d i c u l o u s.

[punkisdead]

hahaha

pro-ana?

I just want to study the SOMETIMES LESS THAN CONSCIOUS ways in which we seek to find control in our lives when he cannot. Eating disorders, or disordered control of our bodies are no exception to the list of things utilized by certain persons to gain this sense of control. I know that I am NOT pro-ed, but my eating disorder very much reflects this when I unpack it. It is moreso a Marxist analysis of the ways in which our day to day lives can serve as a source of denial regarding larger politically problematic issues our lives are implicated in. Eating, jobs...nothing is exempt from this analysis.

Perhaps I should have posted this in a more academically oriented group....

[treener_deener]

I've never posted on this board officially, but I watch it a lot and was struck by this post. I agree with the above comment that my disorder is not a political act. I am, however, a very political person and use my politics as motivation toward recovery. If that's something you're looking for/interested in, I'd be willing to be interviewed online.

[punkisdead]

yes, any connection to food and personal consumption choices!

this is amazing, you all are great. I will have a set of questions and lit review within the next week and will be bothering you all, most likely

[broadwaybitch]

YES!
Well.... I consider myself mostly recovered at this point, but I still think that way, and at one point was consumed by it.
twistedbarbie@GMAIL.COM

[cookieavalanche]

There's a controversial (and maybe really dangerous and wrong) book called "Hunger Strike" which you may want to read, about ed's as a reaction againt political and societal oppression.

[punkisdead]

Yes, I love it and am using it in my literature review! thanks!

[bellejarred]

hey, this was a while back but i'm writing something about eating disorders as a reaction to the very statement you positioned in this entry:

"Thank God I have this body for which to focus on and hate and spend all my time trying to fix, change, lessen. Thank God I can try and fix my outside because I just know that (the way we treat the world, global capitalism, expoloitation, meat consumption, animal curently, racism, sexism, classism, war, etc etc etc) is beyond repair."

I was wondering if you had any quotes from texts that suggest something very similar to this?

I used to have an ED and recall it as a reaction expressing/positioned in reaction to my perceived helplessness.

[cholinesterase]

Not a member of the community but