My body and other stories: Anorexia nervosa and the legal politics of embodiment

Research output: Contribution to journalArticlepeer-review

Abstract

In a series of cases in the 1990s, English law confirmed the legality of tube feeding, detention and restraint of anorexic women. In declaring such practices lawful, English law has provided a space in which anorexic identity is constituted by reference to dominant discursive regimes of medical positivism and dualistic conceptions of the mind and body. This article examines critically law's engagement with the anorexic body. It also considers possible modes of resistance, in particular the potential of poststructuralism, to make space for the resignifying of anorexic bodies in law.
Original languageUndefined
Pages (from-to)495-513
Number of pages19
JournalSocial and Legal Studies
Volume9
Issue number4
DOIs
Publication statusPublished - 2000

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