| Summary: | Disordered eating is a widespread phenomenon which carries emotional, psychological,
and physical repercussions. Women are especially vulnerable to developing patterns of disordered
eating which can become a consuming aspect of a person’s life, thereby shaping aspects of
identity. In exploring the relationship between identity and disordered eating, I have used a feminist
lens to shed light on the contemporary social context and its role in perpetuating the belief that a
woman’s identity is embodied in her physical body. Postmodern feminism, Marxist feminism and
social construction feminism have been included to provide further depth to the analysis. I have
adopted a phenomenological approach in carrying out a series of unstructured in-depth interviews
with individual women in order to answer the following research question: What are women’s
experiences with disordered eating and personal identity? The interviews have been analyzed to
provide the reader with a structural and textural description of the women’s experiences which
converge to describe the essence of this phenomenon. The research findings will then be
discussed in terms of their implications for social work practice. It is my hope that these insights will
be used by service providers to better understand the needs of women currently struggling with this
issue. In this way, the gains which women have made in their personal lives can become a piece of
this larger social and political issue. === Arts, Faculty of === Social Work, School of === Graduate
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