A feminist analysis of disordered eating in Japan

VENUE: HYBRID

IN-PERSON: Institutes Boardroom, Coombs Extension Building, 8 Fellows Road, ACTON, ACT 2601

ONLINE: Zoom. Please select the relevant ticket, in-person or online, according to your preferred attendance mode.

This ANU Japan Institute Seminar is supported by The Japan Foundation, Sydney. 

A feminist analysis of disordered eating in Japan

Japan is often held up to the rest of the world as a paragon of healthy lifestyle – as a country with long lifespans and a lean populace enabled by a well-balanced food culture. But how healthy is the food culture for the women and girls of Japan? In this seminar, the speaker highlights the problem inherent in the claim that Japan is one of the healthiest countries in the world by arguing that disordered eating in Japan is widespread amongst the country’s women and girls. The speaker explores what this might tell us about women navigating life in a country that, despite its wealth, its democratic, secular political system, its high educational levels and workforce participation of women, ranks as one of the worst in the world for gender-equality.

This seminar is based on the speaker's reading of memoirs by women who have experienced eating disorders. The speaker analyses their stories in the context of psychiatric literature on eating disorders as well as the context of Japan’s gender-unequal society. For many women and girls, eating disorders like anorexia and bulimia are responses to contradictory messages about adult femininity, and expressions of frustration and sadness at being in unhappy personal relationships, difficult work environments, etc. These psychosomatic responses occur against a backdrop of a relentless diet and beauty culture that equates extreme thinness with beauty, and within a culture where speaking up about feelings of injustice is frowned up, especially for women.

Speaker

Dr Emma Dalton is a Japanese studies scholar with interdisciplinary research interests in sociology and political science. Her research is concerned broadly with gender inequality in Japan and more specifically with women's participation and representation in Japanese politics.

She has written about the under-representation of women in Japanese politics (Women and Politics in Contemporary Japan, 2015); the extent and nature of sexual harassment in Japanese politics, and how women navigate it (Sexual Harassment in Japanese Politics, 2021); and social issues affecting women and movements run by women to combat these issues (Voices from the Contemporary Japanese Feminist Movement, 2022).

Image - Screenshots of the books Dr Emma Dalton is reviewing; supplied by Dr Dalton. 

Contact the ANU Japan Institute Seminar Series Convener: Dr Andrew Levidis at andrew.levidis@anu.edu.au.

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