Project prompt: Select an artifact (primary source) related to the theme of Empire and Its Ruins. After conducting extensive scholarly research on the artifact, as well as its maker and context, compose an expository academic essay that makes an argument about your artifact’s humanistic significance.

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Sahej Arora
Dr. Annie Yaniga
Humanities Core 1C
June 04, 2019
Anorexia Nervosa - a patriarchal disorder.
Looking in the mirror, I always saw a reflection of a beautiful girl who was immensely
comfortable and satisfied with her body. But in the junior year of high school, the reflection I
looked at changed. Flesh began to get replaced by pointy bones, and I started to look like a
skeleton. I unknowingly welcomed the life threatening eating disorder, Anorexia Nervosa, into
my life. The needle of the weighing scale went from 110 pounds to 79 pounds. The downward
spiral was quick. Putting even a tiny grain of food into my mouth became a challenge. My world
started to fall apart both mentally and physically. At 16 years of age, the time I looked like a
skeleton, it was hard for me to explain to anyone, including my parents why I wanted a bare
minimum amount of flesh on my body. Today I have understood that it was society which
‘made’ me desire to become overly thin. To be precise, it is the ‘patriarchal’ society which
makes girls unconsciously desire to become powerless under the cover of culture hence
maintaining the power structure of male dominance.
The idea that a woman’s most prized attribute lies in her physical appearance is
prevalent since historical Greek mythological times. Society's emphasis on reducing a woman’s
power solely to her looks lies at the root of making her powerless. The power and valueness of
being a beautiful woman can be confirmed by the Judgement of Paris. “Beauty is woman’s

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defining power, equivalent to animals’ teeth or claws or man’s intelligence (​Anacr. ​24).” The
three contestants Hera, the queen of gods, Athena, goddess of intellect and war, and Aphrodite
goddess of beauty and sex chose ‘beauty’ as the ground on which to compete (Blondell). The
fact that the goddesses did not fight to prove who fared superior in wisdom or battlefare or
political power, but instead quarreled over beauty shines light on the point that all three
goddesses valued and wished to be judged supreme in the particular characteristic of attractive
appearance. According to society only a ‘beautiful’ woman can command power and respect.
A woman does not even have the power to judge whether she is beautiful, her beauty lies
in the mercy of man’s perspective. In society a woman plays “the role of a spectacle (Spitzack
2)” . Being spectacles it is the responsibility of women to transform their bodies in a manner
which pleases the spectators, that is the dominating male population. Bartky points out that in
today’s patriarchal culture, the internal whispering voice in the consciousness of a woman is a
man’s: "they stand perpetually before his gaze and under his judgment. Woman lives her body as
seen by another, by an anonymous patriarchal other. (Bartky 72). '' Beauty, which lies in the eyes
of the man, pierce into the confidence of a woman forcing them to achieve bodily perfection,
“with the explicit intention of molding it into arbitrary beauty standards and distracting women
from more profound, political goals (Vester 39).”
Pressurized to be the perfect spectacle, I too went down the unrealistic path of trying to
make the beauty myth into a reality, only to find that the destination of my path was anorexia.
The endless persuasion to attain the set beauty ideals by society is nothing short of a cultural
conspiracy. “Physical appearance is at the core of racism and most other social oppressions,
because it is generally what is used to classify individuals (Zones 354)”. Discriminating against

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women on the basis of their looks further lowers their self esteem and results in eating disorders.
The beauty myth, a product of socio economic causes, is one of the biggest reasons for the
widespread eating disorders. Having transformed a majority of the female gender into sufferers
of a disorder hence makes it very easy for the society to maintain its patriarchal nature.
Although the beauty ideal for women does not remain constant, it’s purpose of
maintaining male dominance remains unchanged. For instance in the late 18th century when
reproduction was considered to be a woman’s most important task, “plumpness was not only
sexy but was also believed to be physical proof of successful motherhood and respectability as
well as women’s sexual availability (Vester 47)”. As time progressed and women started to fight
for their rights in the mid 19th centuries, society very conveniently changed the beauty ideal to
thin and slender to maintain patriarchy. “The great weight shift must be understood as one of the
major historical developments of the century, a direct solution to the dangers posed by the
women’s movement (Vandereycken 11)”. The changing definition of the dominant beauty ideal
shows how male dominance is maintained by manipulating a woman’s beauty. Today the most
dominant ideal, thus, includes being “slender, young, upper-class, and white without noticeable
physical imperfections or disabilities to the extent that a woman’s racial or ethnic heritage, class
background, age, or other social and physical characteristics do not conform to this ideal,
assaults on opportunities and esteem increase (Zones).” This ideal can only be achieved by an
extreme diet and/or exercise routine. “Dieting is the most potent political sedative in women’s
history; a quietly mad population is a tractable one (Wolf 153).”
Anorexia Nervosa, an eating disorder, a living reality of the modern day saying “you can
never be too thin” is a disease that emerges from a cultural syndrome. “Virtually every proposed

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hallmark of underlying psychopathology in eating disorders has been deconstructed to reveal a
more widespread cultural disorder (Bordo 55)”. Anorexia nervosa, a psychological eating
disorder in which the patient strives to lose weight and gets traumatized just by the thought of
becoming fat, implicitly conveys a deep sense of shame that an anorexic female experiences of
not measuring up to today’s standards for ‘beautiful’ women. “An eating disorder is the perfect
answer to not being perfect in a culture that demands it (Maine 79)”.
The solution the patriarchal society came up with when women demanded more political,
social, and economic space was to insist and encourage her to significantly reduce the physical
space she occupied. Therefore “the “tyranny of slenderness” is far from gender neutral (Bordo
154)”. As a result of the persuasive media “women are less satisfied with their bodies, and
permitted less latitude with them by themselves, by men, and by the culture (Bordo 153)”. This
body dissatisfaction causes women to diet voluntarily since “adolescent women are more socially
oriented in their personality development, in that they rely more on social experiences and
appraisals to define their self-concept (Carlson, 1963)”. When the patriarchal society gets too
oppressive in nature for some girls they become anorexics and unconsciously take dieting to the
next level and begin starving to death. Anorexic girls are living proof of the indomitable,
everlasting prevalence of male dominance.
Not having a substantial command or control over certain aspects of society, women then
try to control their own selves by becoming the masters of their own bodies and determining the
exact amount of food they put into their bodies. Instead of empowering them, this control is
responsible for creating anorexic women. The irony is that the patriarchal society allows
anorexics to have some control so that they lead their bodies towards a deathly state which will

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essentially strengthen male dominance in the long run. As the effects of starvation and excessive
exercise pays off, the needle of the weighing scale points to a significantly small number, the
anorexic feels a sense of triumph, a sense of control. This control is applauded by society which
fuels the anorexic’s downward spiral even more. A pilot study of social attitudes towards
anorexia nervosa, Branch and Eurman (1980) found that “the friends and relatives of the
anorectics that they studied (all Caucasian) actually admired the patients’ control and slenderness
(Hsu 397)”. What makes this restraint even more impressive is the fact that most anorexics,
usually people with a high economic status, say no to consumption of goods and lavish food
even though the abundance of availability.
Deceiving an anorexic girl and making her feel as if she has ultimate control over her
body by encouraging her restraint as well as giving her the pleasure of attention, the patriarchal
society is in reality making her existence insubstantial . Having been a victim of anorexia myself,
I have first hand experience of this sense of false exhilaration. Preoccupying myself with
precisely counting my calorie intake and intense physical activity filled the cultural loss and pain
that I had no control over when I moved from India to the States. The physical pain my body
went through was completely eliminated by the divinie achievement I felt, which further led me
to believe that I was the master of my body. Solely obsessed with controlling their calorie
consumption, anorexics’ ultimate purpose in life is only to lose weight. A victim of anorexia
Simon says, “I found a great sense of achievement in being able to refuse all the ‘fattening foods’
I was offered. It put me on a tremendous high. This elation made all the periods of intense
starvation worthwhile (Shelley 6).” The irony of anorexia is that while the victim thinks the
disorder saves them from other problems in their life, in reality it nearly kills the sufferer.

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The very society and culture which persuades a girl to attain an ‘hourglass figure’ to the
extent that it becomes an eating disorder is also responsible for alienating the same girl from
society. Anorexia nervosa may definitely lead to brittle bones, low blood pressure, fatigue,
malnourishment, and in some severe cases physical death. But along with those horrifying
byproducts of the disorder one unavoidable side effect is social death. “Anorexics become
egotistical, aggressive, deceitful, dishonest, secretive and even violent (Shelley 6)”. They will go
to any extent to achieve their most prioritized goal in life of losing weight. When I was battling
anorexia, I remember not being able to connect with my very own parents. Anyone who tried to
feed me was my biggest enemy, be it my mother or my best friend. Victoria, an anorexic, shares
her experience of becoming unrelatable to society in the book Anorexics on Anorexia. She says,
“My social life collapsed. I religiously avoided all social events. Spending time with other people
invariably meant eating and drinking with them, and besides, seeing people eat disgusted me
(Shelley 7).” Hence it would not be wrong to say that all that is left in an anorexic’s life is
anorexia.
Yet another manifestation of an anorexic’s powerlessness is the conflict she faces of
gaining control over her body while being labeled as diseased. In fact, “desiring oneself in a
different form, and a willingness to perform the alterations required to achieve transformation, is
contingent on seeing oneself as a fetishized commodity (Spitzack 15).” Constantly being
monitored by the watchful eyes of society, accepting the norms, and acting as if abiding by the
set rules of the contemporary society was her own independent decision a girl is bound to
collapse under pressure. An anorexic girl is the product of this public surveillance. Anorexics
find themselves in a conflict between resisting the “the public ownership of her body and the

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cultural logic by which the body is invaded, forced into visibility, explained, and classified
(Spitzack 10).”
Today we are surrounded by a society which endlessly promotes tiny waists, long legs,
and a flat stomach. Commercials of fat loss pills, models photoshopped to have unrealistically
perfect bodies, and publicity of programs like weight watchers have influenced countless minds
into believing they have imperfect bodies. The marketing strategy of the weight loss industry
includes arousing a desire of looking a certain way and portraying that desire as a necessity.
“The modern capitalist project required the channeling of the potentially untrammeled desire in
every human heart into a housekeeping of practical need (Marcus)".
One potential way of reducing eating disorders is by transforming our society on a
cultural level. Exposure to thin-ideal images which are responsible for low self esteem and self
hatred need to be mitigated. Anorexia can be treated and prevented if the message given in
commercials, films, and the fashion industry is closely examined to make sure it does not
pressurize woman into falsely believing in the ‘idealistic body’ (Hawkins). The government can
play a major role by establishing liabilities to appearance products and services that have the
potential to harm mental health and safety. Stressing on the idea of changing the legal system in
order to allow women to feel free, Zones says, “The legal system must develop well-defined case
law to assist the court in determining inequitable treatment based on appearance discrimination
(Zones 359).”
Preventing eating disorders will be possible if the society especially men give women a
‘real voice’ rather than pressurize them towards attaining ‘unrealistic’ looks. It is time for men to
open their eyes to the “experience and ugliness of prejudice as it is directed toward the

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overweight” by educating themselves of the manipulated images portrayed by the media (Levine
104). As fathers, men must not treat children differently on the basis of their sex. Lastly and most
importantly men must accept change. “It is useless and cowardly to rattle the fetish of
‘objectivity/science’ at these difficult but pressing issues (Levine 111).”
Recovery from anorexia would not have been possible if I did not not make an effort to
look past the patriarchal cultural fog created by society that was clouding my eyes. An essential
part in my recovery was making myself my own object of desire and thinking, “I must project an
image of myself as existing outside myself. I must see and analyze the extent to which I am
defined by the spectacle; this scrutiny guarantees the emergence of an untainted self (Spitzak
16).” In order for an anorexic to be treated successfully the person must self assess oneself and
empower the body by recognizing oneself as a human being apart from any cultural
representation.

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Work cited
Bartky, Sandra Lee. "Foucault, Femininity, and the Modernization of Patriarchal Power."
Feminism and Foucault: Reflections on Resistance. Ed. Irene Diamond and Lee Quinby. Boston:
Northeastern UP, 1988. 61-86.
Blondell, Ruby. ​Helen of Troy: Beauty, Myth, Devastation​. , 2013. Print.
Bordo, Susan, 1947-. Unbearable Weight : Feminism, Western Culture, and the Body.
Berkeley :University of California Press, 1993. Print.
Budelmann, Felix. "Anacreon and the Anacreontea." The Cambridge Companion to
Greek Lyric. Ed. Felix Budelmann. Cambridge: Cambridge UP, 2009. 227-39. Print. Cambridge
Companions to Literature.
Conquergood, Dwight."​Ethnography, Rhetoric, and Performance​." Quarterly Journal of
Speech 78 (1992): 80-97.
Hawkins et al.“T​he impact of exposure to the thin-ideal media image on women: Eating
Disorders”​, 12 (2004), pp. 35-50.

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Hsu, L. G. (1989). “​The gender gap in eating disorders: Why are the eating disorders
more common among women?​”. Clinical Psychology Review, 9, 393-407.
Jameson, Fredric. "Postmodernism and Consumer Society." The Anti-Aesthetic: Essays
on Postmodern Culture. Ed. Hal Foster. Port Townsend: Bay P, 1983. 111-125
Levine, Michael (1994)“​ Beauty Myth and the Beast: What Men Can Do and Be to Help
Prevent Eating Disorders​”. 2:2, 101-113.
Maine, Margo, and Joe Kelly. ​The Body Myth: Adult Women and the Pressure to Be
Perfect​. Hoboken, N.J: John Wiley, 2005. Print.
Marcus, Greil. Lipstick Traces: A Secret History of the Twentieth Century. Cambridge:
Harvard UP, 19
Shelley, Rosemary. “​Anorexics On Anorexia​”. J. Kingsley Publishers, 1997.
Spitzack, C. (1993). The spectacle of Anorexia Nervosa. Text and Performance
Quarterly,13, 1-20.

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Vandereycken, Walter (1993). ​The sociocultural roots of the fight against fatness:
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Vester, K. “​Regime Change: Gender, Class, and the Invention of Dieting in Post-Bellum
America​.” Journal of Social History, vol. 44, no. 1, 2010, pp. 39–70.
Wolf, N. (1991). The beauty myth: How images of beauty are wed against women. New
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Zones, Jane Sprague. “​Beauty Myths and Realities and Their Impact on Women’s
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