I Think Anorexia Is A Metaphor. It

Mary Pipher

I think anorexia is a metaphor. it is a young woman's statement that she will become what the culture asks of its women, which is that they be thin and nonthreatening. anorexia signifies that a young woman is so delicate that, like the women of china with their tiny broken feet, she needs a man to shelter and protect her from a world she cannot handle. anorexic women signal with their bodies "i will take up only a small amount of space. i won't get in the way." they signal "i won't be intimidating or threatening." (who is afraid of a seventy-pound adult?)