Orsini Gisella
Department of Anthropological Sciences, University of Malta, Msida, MSD 2080, Malta.
Cult Med Psychiatry. 2017 Mar;41(1):111-141. doi: 10.1007/s11013-016-9507-6.
This article aims to shed light on the self-perceptions of people with eating disorders in Malta and Italy through a deep understanding of their narratives. In contrast to the biomedical perception of the phenomenon and in opposition with the prevalent feminist theories on the subject, I consider eating disorders as the result of self-transformative processes. I suggest that anorexics, bulimics and binge eaters are actively and deliberately engaged in a project of moral self-transformation that is culturally defined. The moral transformations of women with eating disorders in Malta and Italy, the two considered contexts of this research, reflect the social expectations of women in these societies. The drastic changes in personal attitudes towards both food and the body that characterise eating disorders are the result of a complete dedication to the moral values embodied in thinness, namely the control of bodily needs and pleasure. The self-transformative process of people with eating disorders can be understood as a form of moral conversion along a continuum of increasing control over hunger: the higher the control, the higher the level of satisfaction and the degree of moral conversion achieved. Considering the general low recovery rates of people with eating disorders, this approach helps in the understanding of why people who are diagnosed with an eating disorder accept medical definitions and treatments to different extents.
本文旨在通过深入理解马耳他和意大利饮食失调者的叙述，来揭示他们的自我认知。与对该现象的生物医学认知以及关于该主题的主流女权主义理论相反，我认为饮食失调是自我转变过程的结果。我认为厌食症患者、暴食症患者和暴饮暴食者积极且刻意地参与了一个由文化定义的道德自我转变计划。在本研究考虑的两个背景——马耳他和意大利，患有饮食失调症的女性的道德转变反映了这些社会对女性的社会期望。饮食失调所特有的对食物和身体的个人态度的剧烈变化，是完全致力于体现瘦的道德价值观的结果，即对身体需求和愉悦的控制。饮食失调者的自我转变过程可以被理解为一种沿着对饥饿控制不断增强的连续体的道德转变形式：控制程度越高，满意度水平和实现的道德转变程度就越高。考虑到饮食失调者总体较低的康复率，这种方法有助于理解为什么被诊断患有饮食失调症的人在不同程度上接受医学定义和治疗。
