Fasting Girls: The Emergence of Anorexia Nervosa as a Modern Disease

Abstract

Fasting Girls is one of a spate of books appearing in recent years on eating disorders, and especially anorexia nervosa. What is unique, however, is that its author, a historian and director of women's studies and family development, offers a sociohistorical survey. In examining theoretical models of anorexia, Brumberg cites Hilde Bruch, giving a concise and accurate viewpoint in a single paragraph. To me, Bruch had perhaps the clearest formulation on anorexia of anyone, yet there appears perhaps just the faintest critical tone in relation to it. Yet there is accuracy in the recognition that no single psychological model is complete. Brumberg turns to the cultural model and the cultural imperative of slimness as an attribute of female beauty. Wisely, she rejects the concept of free choice in anorexia, thus allowing for unconscious factors. To those uninformed about medieval Europe, it is interesting to learn that many woman saints ate