Embodiment and Subject Formation

An Illness Narrative Study of Young Women with Eating Disorders in China

Abstract

Eating disorders have increasingly emerged as a significant health issue among young women in China, yet the problem has long been overlooked. While medical and psychological approaches remain important, this study argues for the necessity of exploring eating disorders through a cultural and sociological lens. Drawing on semi-structured interviews with ten young women with eating disorders and participant observation with three of them, this study focuses on the illness narratives of patients, analyzing the complex interplay between illness, the body, subjectivity, and society. The findings reveal that physical suffering and bodily perception in patients are often deeply intertwined, manifesting not only as physiological pain but also as discomfort rooted in moral dimensions. In the process of pursuing gendered values, self-realization, and a sense of security, patients exert control over their bodies, causing the body to simultaneously carry meanings from three intertwined dimensions. Consequently, bodily changes impact multiple aspects of their self and may trigger a profound sense of collapse, which makes body weight and food intake central to preserving their sense of order in life. Resisting traditional body ideals becomes a key strategy for constructing new subjectivity among young women with eating disorders, however, such resistance may simultaneously entangle them into new constraints shaped by healthism and fitness-oriented aesthetics. These bodily narratives synthesize the embodied experiences of young women as gendered subjects, and recognizing this allows for a deeper understanding of the social contexts they inhabit, offering an essential perspective for interpreting contemporary Chinese women’s lived conditions.