Undermining anorexia/bulimia As people feel more freedom to explore the problem of anorexia/bulimia and to demarcate its impact on their own life and the lives of others, they take on a certain vitality. They seem to come out from underneath. They attend to anorexia/bulimia’s relationship to gender, culture, and society.

When planet-therapy.com met with a group of women, we discussed the following questions:

• Why do you think anorexia/bulimia attempts to devour some of the best women of our generation?
• Can you think of ways that anorexia/bulimia "pushes its way" on to women?
• Can you identify anything in popular culture that feeds into a 'not measuring up to' lifestyle?
• If a woman wanted to make a public protest over the destructive effects of anorexia/bulimia what would you suggest she do?
• Is the violence that anorexia/bulimia perpetrates on your body similar to or different to male violence against women? And in what ways?
• What is it that our society promotes that leaves most women with a distorted sense of their own bodies?
• Can you figure out what and who most promotes “perfection” training?
• I wonder why anorexia/bulimia is so bent on reducing the women of this group into second-class citizens?
• Does anorexia/bulimia betray your human rights?
• Do you think it is right that anorexia/bulimia forces the members of this group into lives of isolation, perfection, subordination and suffering?
• During our group talk were there ever times that you felt inspired enough to consider leaving anorexia/bulimia behind?