Fed Up and Hungry: Women, Oppression & Food

by Marilyn Lawrence (Editor), Susie Orbach (Foreword by)

This collection expands on Susie Orbach's claim that obsessive eating or non-eating behavior is an individual, albeit political, response to a "complex set of social circumstances" in which women find themselves. Theoretical pieces here bolster her views, exploring the neopuritanical replacement of sex by food, compulsive eating as anger, and symmetries between the bulimic and anorexic internalization of ego boundaries and strategies for control. Essays highlighting alternative therapies are full of case references and the compelling voices of sufferers.

Genres: Nonfiction, Feminism

236 pages, Paperback

First published January 1, 1987

Reviews

[Meg Stewart · Rating 4 out of 5]

Very interesting. Not a light read it was basically a paper. I got this off a TikTok rec. Quite dated but some good views. I actually did some highlighting which I never do. We really live in a man’s world ladies

[Charlotte James · Rating 2 out of 5]

An extremely dated books which in parts had extremely dated views.

I feel like - if you are in the headspace to read this book - you should. It opens up some extremely interesting conversations, whilst being clearly published in the 80’s but a great way to open your mind to how you would perceive some of those topics now, with the knowledge we have available.

[Inês · Rating 5 out of 5]

Having struggled with an eating disorder a year or so ago and the fact that I still struggle with disordered eating, I decided it was time for me to read some non-fiction literature about the subject. I saw a girl buying this on TikTok and immediately thought it sounded interesting and decided to buy it second-hand online. Although it is a very old book (published in 1987) there are a lot of things that still resonate with current times. Having in mind that a lot of the statistics are not going to be up to date I still think it is worth reading. Either you have dealt with a diagnosed eating disorder yourself or you have some type of disorder eating, or know someone who does, this book is for you. I found it super enlightening: I learned a lot about my own condition and other similar ones. The title says it all this is about women only and the oppression we suffer since birth in many various ways. Besides that, it is about women's relationship with food. Why is it that the majority of eating disorders are found in women? That is one of the questions you will see answered in this book.

The book is divided into a bunch of different authors which provides a glimpse into various opinions and experiences. Some ideas you will agree with more than others, and some will be new and will leave you thinking, but overall every chapter has something interesting and relevant to say.

[Gloria Ikeji · Rating 3 out of 5]

This book was eye opening and amazing but also at times I couldn’t connect with it cause it’s out dated and felt some judgement in some chapter of the experts using their thoughts and emotions rather than still to observing the facts

[Penny · Rating 2 out of 5]

I enjoyed this book, but it was clear that it was a relatively out of date book (obvious from the publication date, of course!). Nothing wrong with that as some of what it has to say was still interesting and pertinent, but it should be born in mind that this was published in the 1980s!

[C · Rating 2 out of 5]

As I read this I had to keep reminding myself that it was written in the 80's. This made reading it distracting and couldn't fully appreciate it because many of the statements made are no longer very relevant to today in society.