Jewish anorexia salad (dressing on the side, please?)
Over at Jewess there’s an interview with Karen Smith, specialist in Jewish eating disorders, asking the question: are Jewish women more prone to eating disorders than other populations?
There are the expected answers: Jews tend to be affluent and anorexia tracks affluence; there’s no actual data on Jews per se, but educated groups are more likely to seek treatment.
And then there’s the whackadoo: did you know that anorexia is feminism’s fault? “I would say that it [anorexia] is a reaction to the feminist movement, which history would support.”
There are stereotyping claims: Jewish anorexia is a result of overbearing yentas overfeeding their young, “What you don’t want to have another latke?” or, rather, depriving their young, “How many latkes are you going to eat? You’re going to be fat like your Aunt Goldie.”
Smith has some nice things to say about Jewish liturgy and food “I think the Haggadah says something like, “Let all who are hungry come and eat, all who are in need be satisfied at this seder table.””
The idea that anorexia could possibly be a result of feminism just sticks in my amply fed Jewish craw. Victorians had the whalebone corset; Catherine of Siena ate nothing but Eucharist in the 14th C. It’s like crediting feminism with the female orgasm - it was probably always there, but feminism made it something we could talk about.
4 Responses to “Jewish anorexia salad (dressing on the side, please?)”
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Universal Unitarian Says:
March 14th, 2007 at 5:46 pmkosher is an eating disorder of biblical proportions
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Leah Koenig Says:
March 15th, 2007 at 9:04 amCould you explain what you mean? That statement may have some interesting thoughts behind it, but for now it just seems like an unfocused attack.
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Universal Unitarian Says:
March 16th, 2007 at 10:09 amAnorexia is an eating disorder where individuals focus on the fear of becoming fat as a means to contol anxiety.It is common in females at puberty when restricting food becomes a means to deal with the fear of becoming sexual.The anorexia to kosher equation could be viewed as a case of phylogeny recapitulating ontology.The development of the individual parallels the development of the species.Primitive tribes used eating restriction as a ritual to control fear of the elements Kosher is such a ritual and can still bring relief from anxiety as it reminds one of home and safety.
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Karen Smith Says:
April 19th, 2007 at 7:22 amHey, I didn’t say anorexia is the fault of feminism1 Quite the opposite: I said it was a reaction to feminism. My career is focused on trying to help powerful young eating disordered women who reject the label of feminism to see how feminism, and powerful women, have been villified by mainstream society, resulting in a beauty ideal of the ematiated woman whose body declares her needlessness. As per history, what I was referencing is that history’s periods of visable eating disorders were preceeded by periods of increase is women’s societal power. It was an interview, not an article.
