Who are we? -- A horror beyond tears: Reflection on a history of abuse -- A pyrrhic victory: Contemplating the physical cost of surviving -- Disenchanting faith and the femaile body: Deconstructing misogynous themes in Christian Doctrine -- A thinly veiled skein: Exploring troublesome connections among incest, eating disorders, k and religious discourse -- Self-help or self-harm? Analyzing the "Politics" of twelve-step groups for recovery -- Summary of key findings
Summary
How do survivors of sexual and domestic violence relate to religion and to a higher power? What are the social and religious contexts that sustain and encourage eating disorders in women? How do these issues intersect? The relationship between Christian religious discourse, incest, and eating disorders reveals an important, and so far unexamined, psychosocial phenomenon. Drawing from interviews with incest survivors whose sexual and religious backgrounds are intimately connected with their problematic relationship with food, Jennifer Manlowe here illuminates the connections between female body, weight, and appetite preoccupations. Manlowe offers social and psychological insights into the most common forms of female suffering-incest and body hatred. The volume is intended as a resource for professionals, advocates, friends of survivors, and most importantly, the survivor of incest herself as she attempts to understand the links of meaning in her mind between her incest experience and her subsequent eating disorder
Bibliography
Includes bibliographical references (pages 205-216) and index
