The Woman in the Body: A Cultural Analysis of Reproduction by Emily Martin Beacon Press, 1987 Paperback, 276 pp $1195 Winner of the 1988 Eileen Basker Memorial Prize As anthropology at its best can do, this book exposes hidden cultural assumptions about the nature of reality Martin has produced a powerful study of the dialectic between medical metaphors for women's reproductive processes and women's own views of those processes She and her associates interviewed 165 white and black women, seeking a balance between the three life stages of puberty, childbearing, and menopause 43% of her interviewees were working-class; 57% middleclass Early on Martin came up against one of the greatest dangers of studying one's own society Hearing women discuss uterine contractions as separate from the self and labor as something one "went through," and reading the same in medical texts, she at first thought that her interviews had turned up views of the body that simply reflected actual scientific fact It took her some time to realize that such scientific views are not "fact" but culturally grounded statements of an underlying ideology To get at this ideology Martin studied medical texts for the "grammar" that scientific medicine uses to describe female bodies In this medical grammar, she finds industrial society writ small The female reproductive tract is a machine designed to produce a baby; accordingly, menstruation represents failed production, connoting both a productive system that has failed to produce and one that produces only useless waste Such metaphors, disturbing to a society whose existence depends upon continued production, lead to menstruation's description in medical texts in highly negative terms: The fall in blood progesterone and estrogen, which results from regression of the corpus luteum, deprives the highly developed endometrial lining of its hormonal support    Disintegration starts    The endometrial arteries dilate, resulting in hemorrhage through the weakened capillary walls; the menstrual flow consists of this blood mixed with endometrial debris    (quoted on p 48) (Martin contrasts this with a description of male reproductive physiology which speaks of the "remarkable" cellular transformation from spermatid to mature sperm, its "amazing" nature and "sheer magnitude") Confronting the argument that the above is not value-laden but simply a factual description of menstruation, Martin examines medical descriptions of the analogous regular shedding and replacement of the lining of the stomach, finding in a number of texts no references to degeneration, but instead a stress on the periodic "renewal" of the stomach lining Concluding that writers can choose to depict what happens to the lining of stomachs and uteruses either negatively as breakdown and decay or positively as continual production and replenishment, Martin suggests an alternative medical description of menstruation: A drop in the formerly high levels of progesterone and estrogen creates the appropriate environment for reducing the excess layers of endometrial tissue Constriction of capillary blood vessels causes a lower level of oxygen and nutrients and paves the way for a vigorous production of menstrual fluids    Such a description would far more accurately reflect women's own more positive assessments of the menstrual fluid as the desired product Viewing pregnancy as the sole purpose of female reproductive organs and despising menstruation as a "waste" ignores the reality that most women do not intend to get pregnant most of the time (and so are often joyful when menstruation begins), and conceals "the true unity women have    [Menstruation is] the one thing we all share" (p 112) In spite of ambivalence about the "disgusting mess," most interviewees felt that menstruation defines them as women and insisted that they wouldn't want to give it up Teens spoke of the joy of getting their periods so they could be part of the in-group that shared the women's "special secret," of mothers and sisters greeting their first menstruation with "You're a woman now! …

The Woman in the Body: A Cultural Analysis of Reproduction

The Beauty Myth: How Images of Beauty Are Used Against Women

"But I Like My Body": Positive body image characteristics and a holistic model for young-adult women.

In our globalizing world, the geographical locations of food production and consumption are becoming increasingly disconnected, which increases reliance on external resources and their trade. We quantified to what extent water and land constraints limit countries’ capacities, at present and by 2050, to produce on their own territory the crop products that they currently import from other countries. Scenarios of increased crop productivity and water use, cropland expansion (excluding areas prioritized for other uses) and population change are accounted for. We found that currently 16% of the world population use the opportunities of international trade to cover their demand for agricultural products. Population change may strongly increase the number of people depending on ex situ land and water resources up to about 5.2 billion (51% of world population) in the SRES A2r scenario. International trade will thus have to intensify if population growth is not accompanied by dietary change towards less resource-intensive products, by cropland expansion, or by productivity improvements, mainly in Africa and the Middle East. Up to 1.3 billion people may be at risk of food insecurity in 2050 in present low-income economies (mainly in Africa), if their economic development does not allow them to afford productivity increases, cropland expansion and/or imports from other countries.

https://iopscience.iop.org/article/10.1088/1748-9326/8/1/014046/pdf

Spatial decoupling of agricultural production and consumption: quantifying dependences of countries on food imports due to domestic land and water constraints

Objectives. The Internet offers Web sites that describe, endorse, and support eating disorders. We examined the features of pro–eating disorder Web sites and the messages to which users may be exposed.Methods. We conducted a systematic content analysis of 180 active Web sites, noting site logistics, site accessories, “thinspiration” material (images and prose intended to inspire weight loss), tips and tricks, recovery, themes, and perceived harm.Results. Practically all (91%) of the Web sites were open to the public, and most (79%) had interactive features. A large majority (84%) offered pro-anorexia content, and 64% provided pro-bulimia content. Few sites focused on eating disorders as a lifestyle choice. Thinspiration material appeared on 85% of the sites, and 83% provided overt suggestions on how to engage in eating-disordered behaviors. Thirty-eight percent of the sites included recovery-oriented information or links. Common themes were success, control, perfection, and solidarity.Conclusions. Pro–eat...

https://ajph.aphapublications.org/doi/pdf/10.2105/AJPH.2009.172700

e-Ana and e-Mia: A Content Analysis of Pro–Eating Disorder Web Sites

Synopsis Contrasting the pervasive belief that Eating Disorders are primarily psychiatric in nature, we contend that they are also symptomatic of a social problem. Eating Disorders and disorderly eating are also culturally-induced diseases promoted partly by economic and social institutions that profit from the “cult of thinness” promoted by the mass media. There is a lucrative market associated with Eating Disorders, and the advertising, weight-loss, diet-food, fitness, and cosmetic surgery industries are well aware of it. Yet, not all women exposed to these influences via mass media go on to develop body dissatisfaction and Eating Disorders. To fully understand how specific women become exposed to and are impacted by the mass marketing of beauty ideals via the mass media, it is important to take a social psychological perspective on the problem. We explore four social psychological theories—cultivation theory, gratifications and uses theory, social comparison theory and objectification theory, which taken together, form a “nexus of influence” and provide important clues to our understanding of the pervasive influence and impact of these industries on the development of Eating Disorders in women. We also address potential solutions to the problem. We specifically discuss how to use empowerment education to integrate solutions including: a re-visioning of femininity, social activism, education, and media literacy.

Courtney E. Quinn

Papers

The mass marketing of disordered eating and Eating Disorders: The social psychology of women, thinness and culture