Exploring Conceptualizations of "Eating Disorders" in Self-Help Texts

Since the mid-1990s, self-help interventions for the treatment of distressed eating have soared in popularity. Eating disorder (ED) self-help books specifically aim to educate readers and provide practical tips for managing these conditions. As this body of work has expanded, these texts have chronicled the development of mainstream perceptions of distressed eating over the past thirty years. Through textual analysis, this thesis studies three ED self-help books: Overcoming Binge Eating (1995) by Christopher Fairburn; Goodbye Ed, Hello Me: Recovery from Your Eating Disorder and Fall in Love with Life (2009) by Jenni Schaefer; and Body Positive Power: How to Stop Dieting, Make Peace with Your Body and Live (2017) by Megan Jayne Crabbe. As I analyze these works through a feminist-of-color disability studies lens, I investigate how they conceptualize distressed eating and appropriate responses to it. This analysis pays particular attention to the ways in which these understandings do (or do not) make space for those with distressed eating who do not align with the Western, white, thin, cisgender woman, able-bodied and/or -minded norm. Seeking radical alternatives, I conclude by exploring the transformative potential of healing justice as a movement and framework grounded in collective care.