Starving For Salvation: The Spiritual Dimensions of Eating Problems among American Girls and Women

220 Pages·1999·12.7 MB·English

by  Michelle Mary Lelwica

S t a r v i ng
f o r
S a l v a t i on
This page intentionally left blank
S t a r v i ng f or
S a l v a t i on
The Spiritual Dimensions
of Eating Problems
among American Girls
and Women
Michelle Mary Lelwica
New York Oxford
Oxford University Press
1999
Oxford University Press
Oxford New York
Athens Auckland Bangkok Bogota Buenos Aires Calcutta
Cape Town Chennai Dar es Salaam Delhi Florence Hong Kong Istanbul
Karachi Kuala Lumpur Madrid Melbourne Mexico City Mumbai
Nairobi Paris Sao Paulo Singapore Taipei Tokyo Toronto Warsaw
and associated companies in
Berlin Ibadan
Copyright © 1999 by Michelle Mary Lelwica
Published by Oxford University Press, Inc.
198 Madison Avenue, New York, New York 10016
Oxford is a registered trademark of Oxford University Press, Inc.
All rights reserved. No part of this publication may be reproduced,
stored in a retrieval system, or transmitted, in any form or by any means,
electronic, mechanical, photocopying, recording, or otherwise,
without the prior permission of Oxford University Press,
Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data
Lelwica, Michelle Mary.
Starving for salvation : the spiritual dimensions of
eating problems among American girls and women / Michelle Mary Lelwica.
p. cm.
Includes bibliographical references.
ISBN 0-19-512743-9
1. Eating disorders—-Patients—Religious life.
2. Women—Health and hygiene—Religious aspects.
I. Title.
RC552.E18L44 1999
616.85'26'0082—dc21 98-50120
1 3 5 7 9 8 6 42
Printed in the United States of America
on. acid-free paper
P R E F A CE
When people ask me about my work as a scholar in the field of religion,
most of them are surprised to learn of my interest in eating disorders. Over
the years, I have come to appreciate the raised eyebrows and vexed smiles,
for at the heart of this confusion resides the challenge of my study: to
articulate connections that are not obvious, processes that are hard to see.
This articulation is appropriate, I assure those who remain interested in my
work, insofar as religion has long been in the business of calling attention
to that which ordinary vision cannot clearly see.
In the course of writing this book, I have come to believe that the
difficulty in seeing the spiritual dimensions of girls' and women's struggles
with anorexia, bulimia, and related problems has much to do with the way
many of us have been taught to look, with what we are encouraged to want
and assume, and what we have learned to do without. There is much talk
about pleasure, but rarely joy; much striving, but little freedom; many words,
but not a lot of understanding.
In reality, most people today are very busy. In this land of maldistributed
abundance, some work day and night just in order to make ends meet;
others strive around the clock in a wishful effort to "succeed." Amid this
hustle and hurry, however, widespread social phenomena—from the pop-
ularity of consumer culture, to the breakup of communal ties and cultural
traditions, to the wave of religious fundamentalism, to the spread of eating
disorders—suggest that many people are also hoping and searching for
vi PREFACE
something more. It seems there is a sense that something precious is seri-
ously endangered, or perhaps it is already missing, from the language and
habits that make up the fabric of life on the evening of the twentieth century.
To explore the spiritual dimensions of girls' and women's troubled re-
lationships to food and their bodies is to take up this question of what is
threatened or missing from this culture at this historical juncture. While my
study suggests an alternative to conventional approaches to "eating disor-
ders," it does so by raising a series of larger questions that I believe these
problems present: questions about where to turn and what to do in the face
of cruelty and injustice; questions about how to make sense out of suffering
and uncertainty. These queries are central to my analysis because in many
ways women's eating problems epitomize the reality that in these revolu-
tionary times, so little seems to have changed. In particular, remnants of the
religious legacies that have historically effaced the diversity and complexity
of women's spiritual yearnings and struggles are alive and well in a host of
"secular" practices, pictures, and promises. Until these legacies are recog-
nized, contested, and changed, many girls and women will continue to turn
to the symbolic and ritual resources most readily available to them—food
and their bodies—in a passionate but precarious quest for freedom and
fulfillment..
A C K N O W L E D G M E N TS
To study the world of eating disorders is to encounter a universe of pain.
Navigating this sad and troubled turf would have been impossible without
the tremendous support and keen vision I received from my teachers, stu-
dents, family, and friends.
I thank first of all my friends at Harvard Divinity School, where this
project was first conceived. My fellow students in the Religion, Gender, and
Culture doctoral program—Irene Munroe, Julie Miller, Nancy Nienhuis,
Lynn Miller, and Emily Neill—encouraged me and gave helpful feedback on
early versions of this project. Jess Gugino and Elizabeth Lemons coached
me through the academic vicissitudes and emotional conundrums that make
up the rhythm of graduate school. Others who helped sustain my mind,
body, and spirit during my years of doctoral study include Jane Shaw, Jen-
nifer Manlowe, Nancy Goldstien, Susan Trabucchi, and Adam Chase. I am
also extremely grateful to the professors who mentored me at Harvard, es-
pecially Gordon Kaufman, Elisabeth Schiissler Fiorenza, and Margaret Miles,
whose creative geniuses and critical spirits nourished this book into being.
Friends, colleagues, and students at Saint Mary's College of California
picked up where my grad school support-system left off, cheering me to the
finish line of this book, while helping me leam the ropes of being a new
professor. I want to especially thank the members of the Religious Studies
Department and the Women's Studies Program.
viii ACKNOWLEDGMENTS
Another community that has indirectly supported my work are the
members of Berkeley Aikikai. I want to especially thank I. Shibata Shihan
and all my sempai for teaching me the art of balance and blending and for
exposing me to a different kind of knowledge. I also give thanks to the late
Sylvain Sensei and his amazing daughter Chloe, who continue to inspire my
struggle for harmony and fullness.
I have my own parents to thank for teaching me that religion is central,
that music is sacred, and that rivers and trees are healing. The vitality of
their own quest for spiritual meaning, as well as their capacity to continue
to grow, have enriched my life and made it possible for me to flourish. The
rest of my family—my sister Sue Lorette and my brothers Mark, Jim, and
John Lelwica (along with their spouses and children)—have all shown un-
shakable faith in my process as a "professional student."
Finally, on days when finishing this project seemed both imperative and
impossible, a few close friends insisted that I not lose hope. I want to es-
pecially thank Theresa Traynor, Julia Freedgood, Bobby Angotti, and Anne
McGeary, whose abiding friendship and faith in me brought this book to
fruition.
C O N T E N TS
Introduction, 3
ONE
BODIES OF EVIDENCE, BODIES OF KNOWLEDGE
Contemporary Approaches, Historical
Perspectives, New Directions, 15
TWO
THE GOOD, THE TRUE, AND THE
BEAUTIFUL FEMALE BODY
Popular Icons of Womanhood and the Salvation Myth
of Female Slendemess, 39
THREE
LOSING THEIR WAY TO SALVATION
Popular Rituals of Womanhood and the
Saving Promises of Culture Lite, 67
FOUR
UNIVERSES OF MEANING, WORLDS OF PAIN
The Struggles of Anorexic and Bulimic Girls and Women, 95