Inside and Out: How Western Patriarchal Cultural Contexts Shape Women’s Relationships with Their Bodies

In response to the view that suggests eating disorders are a form of individual psychopathology, this chapter is written to suggest that individuals with eating disorders exist within a social context with values about appearance ideals, the construction of gender, and the threat of sexualized violence. This chapter uses the story of a woman named Annie with an Anorexia Nervosa diagnosis, and her experiences with clinical treatment which in some cases contributed to her sense of psychopathology, and in other cases help with both a decrease in her symptoms and her sense of discovery of herself as a person. Values implicit in the narrative, and implications for psychotherapy are also discussed.