ATR-220-700 UnEssay Interpretative Statement

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Jan 9, 2024

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Bruett 1 Grace Bruett Christine McGuire ATR.220.700 19 November 2023 When I read Horace Miner’s article “Body Ritual Among the Nacirema”, I was really struck by how completely normal I found the actions of the “Nacirema” to be. Initially, the satirical aspect of the piece went over my head, as I found myself more concerned with the ethnocentric aspects of Miner’s description of the ritualistic beauty practices he described. In fact, I read the piece with a complete lack of judgment, instead empathizing with the people he described and drawing similarities between their methods of achieving “beauty”, and my own history of destructive behavior. To understand this perspective better, it is vital to know that when I was 13 years old, after several years of obsessive and ritualistic behavior regarding my body and my eating habits, I was formally diagnosed with anorexia nervosa, an eating disorder characterized by caloric restriction and obsessive thoughts about weight loss and appearance. Rather than view my destructive behaviors as dangerous, the diagnosis instead fueled my adolescent self to continue to force my body into a weight that could not support its function. Throughout my adolescence and young adulthood, I was routinely hospitalized and received extensive treatment to not only manage the physical aspects of the illness, but to correct my own self image after years of negative thinking and Western messages regarding the need to be thin. While I am now behavior free and have been for several years, the thoughts that revolve around my eating disorder still exist. Through extensive therapy I understand that although I have had these thoughts for more than half my life, and I have accepted that my view of my body and my self worth based on my concept of beauty is something I will continue to struggle with. Because of this, when I read or hear examples of “body extremes” as described in Miner’s article, my first thought is never one of disgust, but intrigue and even some sense of morbid nostalgia. Considering the impact Miner’s article had on me so early on in the course, I knew I wanted my UnEssay assignment to revolve around my relationship with Western beauty practices and the dangers they pose to people like me who take them to the extreme. Thus, my project is

Bruett 2 an examination of the role that Western beauty standards play on body image and eating disorders. Having a biased perspective, I wanted to gather feedback from other individuals in order to get a better idea of the impact Western beauty practices had on my generation (millennials) growing up, so I reached out through my social media (Instagram) to see if any volunteers would be willing to share their experiences with beauty culture and their self image and eating disorders. I made it clear that a formal eating disorder diagnosis was not necessary to answer the questionnaire, but that any negative impact Western beauty standards had on their life would be helpful responses. The questionnaire consisted of twelve questions ranging from basic volunteer information (name, birthdate, any diagnosis related to an eating disorder), to more thought provoking questions about specific examples of Western beauty standards that negatively impacted them and what nuggets of wisdom they wish they could pass on to their younger selves if they could. I also noted that questions could be skipped or left blank, and all answers were at the discretion of the volunteer, reminding them that their mental health and safety was the most important thing, so answers were not required. I was incredibly moved by the responses I received. Many of the volunteers were peers I had gone to treatment with, but I also had several responses from friends who had silently suffered with their body image and relationship to food without me ever knowing. I then collected the responses and looked for commonalities amongst the answers, noting key themes and examples of millennial diet culture. It was at this point that a friend, Taylor Stout, reached out to me asking if she could contribute to my project in any way. Stout is an eating disorder survivor herself who now works as a Licensed Social Worker in Wichita, Kansas. Knowing the value of expert opinion and considering Stout’s firsthand experience having and professionally treating eating disorders, I invited Taylor to virtually meet with me to discuss her background and work in the mental health field, the impact of Western beauty standards had on her eating disorder, and the themes I found in my questionnaire responses. The two of us met over GoogleMeet, and went on to have an informative conversation regarding the dangers of Western beauty messaging, especially when we were children growing up in the early 2000’s. Ultimately I could consider my own experience with anorexia to be “field research”, but with that perspective comes a level of bias that I knew would be challenging to balance while also collecting expert data. In the introduction to the questionnaire, I shared my personal

Bruett 3 diagnosis to encourage a safe space for my volunteers to share their information, but I didn’t reveal my own behaviors in the questionnaire, nor did I share much detail in my interview with Taylor. I wanted to maintain a focus on my informants, and in particular, the expert informant perspective in Stout as a person with lived and professional experience with eating disorders. We also discussed the fact that having an eating disorder is a kind of subculture in itself, as the group understands and uses a unique language related to the behaviors and the treatments around eating disorders. Often the eating disorder behaviors used amongst patients are similar, as well as their personality characteristics (organization, perfectionism, anxiety). After conducting my interview as well as reviewing the feedback on my questionnaire, this aspect of disordered eating was proven further, as there were particular traits shared by all who responded, regardless of a formal eating disorder diagnosis. The commonalities in responses referenced millennial culture clearly, and the dangers a celebrity and weight obsessed era had on developing minds. Furthermore, there were even more niche aspects my volunteers revealed regarding their relationship between Western beauty standards and their body image, forming a subgroup within my volunteer sample, such as the role diet culture played in the relationship between themselves and their mothers and other female family members. In our conversation, Stout and I also briefly discussed the culture shock we had observed in many of our peers once they leave the safety of a treatment facility, and how difficult it can be to reintegrate themselves back into normal life. Through my own experience and the firsthand accounts I collected, I believe this project is an example of a Reflexive Approach and namely an Emic perspective. I found this project particularly challenging, as I am not a generally creative person, and I actually prefer writing papers in comparison to something “out of the box” like this. Truth be told, I am not an artist nor am I technologically savvy, so I was able to rule out a number of the UnEssay examples very quickly. However there was one method in the provided examples that stuck out to me; that being the use of a podcast to share my findings on this topic. Being a frequent podcast listener, I knew that if I had the opportunity to interview someone who was also passionate about this topic, I could publish it into a shareable podcast format not only to share for this project's purposes, but also to share with my friends in the eating disorder community. My ultimate goal in this podcast is to encourage the listener to reflect on the messages Western culture sends to young people, and the harm negative messages about the ideal appearance and

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Bruett 4 body can cause. Throughout my research, I was deeply moved by the willness my volunteers had to share their stories, and the insidiousness of body dysmorphia and eating disorders. My conclusion is that the messages of thinness and beauty in Western culture are not only confusing for young minds to comprehend, but when taken as truths, they can become unhealthy and contribute to the development of serious eating disorders. I have attached a copy of my questionnaire here for reference. My podcast episode featuring Taylor Stout, LMSW can be found here . Please select the “play” button rather than the “Listen on Spotify” option.

Bruett 5 Works Utilized 1. Brown, Nina; McIlwraith, Thomas; and, Tubelle de Gonzalez; 2020. Perspectives: An Open Invitation to Cultural Anthropology, 2nd edition , American Anthropological Association. 2. Kitsch, Emma. “On Anorexia.” Psyche , 2016, vocal.media/psyche/on-anorexia. (For use of artwork featured on my podcast thumbnail). 3. Miner, Horace. “Body Ritual Among the Nacirema.” American Anthropologist , vol. 58, no. 3, 1956, pp. 503–507, https://doi.org/10.1525/aa.1956.58.3.02a00080.

ATR-220-700 UnEssay Interpretative Statement

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