Being a Woman as a Wound. Czech Women’s Autobiographical Writing on Anorexia Nervosa
Being a Woman as a Wound. Czech Women’s Autobiographical Writing on Anorexia Nervosa

Summary/Abstract: In postcommunist countries, there has been a rise in autobiographical testimonials about eating disorders (ED), mostly written by women. Women also make up the majority of people suffering ED, especially anorexia nervosa – a disorder that reflects an ambivalence about femininity and is closely linked to capitalism, consumer society and social inequalities. In neoliberal capitalism, thinness takes on certain moral qualities such as self-control, moderation and independence. Anorexia nervosa can be seen as an exaggerated performance and embodiment of those qualities that, on a psychic level, are linked to trauma: on the one hand, traumatic events might trigger it; on the other hand, the experience of ED itself is often traumatizing. In my article, I look at how this traumatic experience is transformed through writing. The process of autobiographical writing helped the authors to name their own emotions, fears and attitudes, and to reinterpret various relationships or past events. Moreover, it allowed them to establish interpersonal connections in several ways. Firstly, almost all the authors directly address someone in their prose and try to symbolically establish a dialogue: e.g. they include fragments addressed to their mother or a close friend (Petra Dvořáková, Tereza Nagy Štolbová). Secondly, writing prose with the intention of publishing it presupposes the existence of a reader – another kind of relation is therefore established. Moreover, the writing process that resulted in the publication of autobiographical prose also became for most of the authors the starting point for a new identification – identification as a writer. This is another type of relation that is established within oneself. Through the establishment of relations and identifications, then, writing becomes an important part of healing.

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