Becky W. Thompson

About the author: Becky W. Thompson is the author of the book A Hunger So Wide and So Deep: American Women Speak Out on Eating Problems. She was visiting assistant professor of African American studies and sociology at Wesleyan University at the time of writing.

This essay, based on interviews with African American, Hispanic, and lesbian women, rejects the notion that eating disorders are only signs of women's vanity and obsession with thinness. The eighteen women—who took part in the author's life history project —often took refuge in food to escape from the ravages of poverty, racism, dislocation, sexism, sexual abuse, and other forms of traumatic experiences. This challenges the belief that eating problems occur only among white, well-to-do, heterosexual women. The article also...