A Hunger So Wide And So Deep: A Multiracial View of Women's Eating Problems - Softcover

Thompson, Becky

Softcover

ISBN 10: 0816624356 ISBN 13: 9780816624355

Publisher: Univ Of Minnesota Press, 1996

Synopsis

The first of its kind, A Hunger So Wide and So Deep challenges the popular notion that eating problems occur only among white, well-to-do, heterosexual women. Becky W. Thompson shows us how race, class, sexuality, and nationality can shape women's eating problems. Based on in-depth life history interviews with African-American, Latina, and lesbian women, her book chronicles the effects of racism, poverty, sexism, acculturation, and sexual abuse on women's bodies and eating patterns.
A Hunger So Wide and So Deep dispels popular stereotypes of anorexia and bulimia as symptoms of vanity and underscores the risks of mislabeling what is often a way of coping with society's own disorders. By featuring the creative ways in which women have changed their unwanted eating patterns and regained trust in their bodies and appetites, Thompson offers a message of hope and empowerment that applies across race, class, and sexual preference.

About this title

About the Author

Becky W. Thompson is a visiting assistant professor of African American studies and sociology at Wesleyan University.

From Library Journal

In this highly readable account, Thompson (editor of Beyond a Dream Deferred: Multicultural Education and the Politics of Excellence, Univ. of Minnesota Pr., 1993) has broken down the theory that eating disorders are temporary afflictions of the white, middle-class, teenage population. Based on interviews with 18 white, Latina, and African American women, aged 19 to 46, the author found that in one-third to two-thirds of cases, eating disorders were linked to emotional or, more particularly, sexual abuse. These women were seeking control over something in their lives, argues Thompson. Food was more accessible than drugs or alcohol and, unlike substance abuse, binging allowed women to perform their daily lives with a clear head. The author also examines the healing process, detailing these women's experiences with Alcoholics Anonymous (AA), Overeater's Anonymous (OA), or individual counseling sought out in response to some life crisis. Thompson ends the book with short biographies of the interviewees. Her uniquely balanced view of women with eating disorders is highly recommended for public, academic, and medical libraries.
Lisa Wise, Univ. of Southern Colorado, Pueblo
Copyright 1994 Reed Business Information, Inc.

Edition details

• Publisher: Univ Of Minnesota Press
• Publication date: 1996
• ISBN 10: 0816624356
• ISBN 13: 9780816624355
• Binding: Paperback
• Language: English
• Edition number: 2
• Number of pages: 176