Food problems – anorexia nervosa – girls’ problems
Written by: Nadia Abdel-Hadi Ateeq
Bulimia, anorexia nervosa (excessive thinness), eating in large quantities, and harsh dieting are the most discussed health food issues in the last 20 years. The author believes that food problems are ways women follow to adapt to different systems such as (sexual form , racism, classism, discrimination between women and men, or poverty). These four ways of eating a woman follows is an abuse of her body to relieve the pain she feels due to the systems and problems she is exposed to..
Skin color and excess weight in women
Joseline, the black girl who was suffering from a slight increase in weight, was suffering from verbal abuse and belittlement from her white grandmother because of her color and body shape, and this is an embodiment of racism in addition to her father, who rose through his work to a higher class, so he aspired to be thinner to match the girls belonging to the new class, and therefore Joseline was forced to work A harsh diet and taking weight-loss medications before puberty, which led to her mental confusion about her body, and here we see that the abuse that occurred was not only physical, but psychological, and it was not a crime against the female only, but a crime against the childhood.
inclinations
Amma (Marta) From the working class, she had sexual inclinations towards her female counterparts, which caused her loneliness and confusion, and thus she tended to eat to release the feeling of pressure, as if she rejected her body as a girl’s body.
Skin color and poverty
Yolanda A poor woman and a black mother left her husband and turned to food to relieve her pain, instead of turning to alcohol or drugs because they are expensive and she needs to stay alert to be able to take care of her children. Yolanda embodies the full role of a woman in a patriarchal society who lives for others.
Exposure to harassment and psychological problems
Antonia The one who greedily ate food as a result of sexual harassment she was subjected to since her childhood, which made her accept food so that she could go back to sleep. She was aware that it exposed herself to the problem of gluttony, but she considered it an anesthesia for her pain, in addition to that Antonia grew up in an environment that believes that a girl should be skinny and not She could be Antonia, that girl, so she became outside the required societal status, so her mother gave her weight loss pills at the age of 11, but she continued to eat in secret, which increased her psychological symptoms.
Women are forced to adapt their body shape according to what society requires, although it is the behaviors of the surrounding society that prompted these women to turn to food as the most appropriate solution to alleviate their pain due to the various pressures that force them to appear in a certain way and commensurate with social visions, which leads to an unhealthy obsession among some. Women to appear slim. (Watch some of Maqal’s YouTube videos).
