Appetites, Disorder, and Desire

Contemporary discussions of food, diet, and obesity often center on individuals and not on the myriad ways that culture, class, race, and gender affect eating practices. The expectation that one will “choose” foods wisely, track calories, and control one’s appetite can have devastating effects on women. Drawing on Caroline Knapp’s Appetites: Why Women Want and on recent sociological studies of young women’s sexual experiences, I explore connections between the cultural pressures on women to control their appetites for both food and sex and to deny their own needs and pleasures. I advocate a feminist approach that situates choice in particular contexts and emphasizes the cultivation of women’s embodied desires, rather than their control.