Consuming the visual culture of control and discipline around the female bodily experience may develop into eating disorders or disordered eating patterns in extreme cases. Contrary to psychological studies feminist theory shifts the lens beyond the individual in recognizing the cultural influences on how women perceive their bodies, analyzing the patterns of self-hatred caused by the beauty ideals as a control mechanism of the male-dominated ideologies and breaking down the patriarchal forces that shape those ideals. It is critical to study how gender dynamics and representations affect women’s relationship with their bodies through the lens of eating disorders, as they are the crystallization of the cultural norms around the female body, as Susan Bordo (2004) describes it. In this research, I aim to bring a broader understanding of eating disorders as a symptom of the gender regime and its strategies in global and Turkish media contexts since Turkish media has been significantly influenced by global marketing campaigns through the introduction of neoliberalism in Turkey in the 1980s. Through the long history of advertisements targeting the female body, I create a multi-disciplinary baseline for self-disciplining of the female body, specifically eating disorders, looking at ideologies and attitudes towards the female body and sexuality through history. I benefit from a wide range of subdisciplines, such as feminist theory and media studies in analyzing how these media messages push women to extreme measures to control and discipline their bodies to light, investigating if eating disorders are truly a self-discipline strategy for women's bodies.

Authors:
Zeren Sevim Sipahioğlu Arkın, Sabancı University, Turkey

About the Presenter(s)
Mrs. Zeren Sevim Sipahioğlu Arkın. Currently completing my PhD in Gender Studies and working as a Teaching Assistant in Sabanci University, Istanbul, Turkey. I am working on eating disorders and their link to visual culture.

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