Type of Document Master's Thesis Author Borello, Lisa Joy Author's Email Address ljborello@yahoo.com URN etd-07272006-133036 Title "Mother May I? Food, Power and Control in Mothers and Daughters" Degree Master of Arts Department Women's Studies Advisory Committee
Advisor Name Title Layli Phillips Committee Chair Amira Jarmakani Committee Member Cassandra White Committee Member Keywords
- culture
- mother-daughter relationships
- disordered eating
- control
- food
- Body image
Date of Defense 2006-07-11 Availability unrestricted Abstract Fourteen women in the United States were interviewed to determine the role mothers played in shaping their daughters’ attitudes toward their bodies and eating, and the extent to which women negotiated the messages they received from their family and larger culture concerning weight and appearance. Results of this study complicated existing theories concerning the factors that most influence women’s self-esteem and body image. The results demonstrated that the women within this sample engaged in a variety of disordered eating patterns, but did not recognize their own actions as out-of-the-ordinary; rather they re-produced familial and cultural messages about women’s “normative body discontent.” Despite their seeming adherence to cultural and familial pressures, women in this sample also demonstrated the ability to be agents and practice resistance within the boundaries and limitations of cultural structure. A number of strategies for gaining family or personal power were introduced.Files
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