ANOREXIA-NERVOSA - ASCETICISM, DIFFERENTIATION, GOVERNMENT

This paper looks at the severe fasting practices most commonly found a mong young women. Almost all explanations for this behaviour centre ar ound the notion of the pathological condition 'anorexia nervosa'. Howe ver, food asceticism has a well-documented history, particularly when it concerns religious fasting. In ancient Greece, dietary asceticism c onstituted an important part of the means by which individuals constru cted an acceptable 'self'. Ascetic fasting then later resurfaced at va rious historical moments and in various different places - such as amo ngst medieval religious women and, in a broader way, amongst contempor ary young women. It is argued that these practices have traditionally formed part of the mechanisms by which differentiation by age and sex occurs. Overall, it is hoped that this analysis will permit not only a different focus on 'anorexia nervosa', but also on some of the ways i n which young people become gendered.