Eating disorders, including anorexia and bulimia nervosa, and binge-eating disorder, affect approximately 20 million women in the United States (National Eating Disorders Association, 2022d). The dominant approach to studying eating disorders is based on the master narrative of biomedicine. The present dissertation examines the existing master narrative by investigating the meaning that women themselves ascribe to their eating disorder experiences. Drawing upon notions of embodiment, the present dissertation proposes narrative theorizing as an appropriate lens through which to view women’s narrative sense-making processes and employs narrative research methods. Using a modified version of McAdams’ (2008b) life story interview protocol, I interviewed 21 women and analyzed their eating disorder life stories according to two analysis techniques – Braun and Clarke’s (2006) thematic analytic method and Yamasaki et al.’s (2014) approaches to narrative analysis. In narrating their eating disorder life stories, women offer an important counter-narrative to the master narrative of biomedicine. Five themes emerged from analysis, including it’s not an individual illness, nor a sociocultural sickness, it’s a feminine fable; it’s not what you (don’t) eat, it’s what eats you; it’s not one size fits all, it’s one size fits one; it’s not about being sick enough, it’s about being sick; and it’s not eradicable, it’s ineradicable. In presenting these themes and their corresponding tenets, I develop a more comprehensive story of women’s eating disorder experiences. Finally, I discuss the present dissertation project by summarizing the main conclusions drawn, including enhancing diversification of eating disorder research, highlighting complexities of studying counter-narratives, and supporting women’s efforts to counter-narrate their own eating disorder experiences.
","abstract_html":"<p>Eating disorders, including anorexia and bulimia nervosa, and binge-eating disorder, affect approximately 20 million women in the United States (National Eating Disorders Association, 2022d). The dominant approach to studying eating disorders is based on the master narrative of biomedicine. The present dissertation examines the existing master narrative by investigating the meaning that women themselves ascribe to their eating disorder experiences. Drawing upon notions of embodiment, the present dissertation proposes narrative theorizing as an appropriate lens through which to view women’s narrative sense-making processes and employs narrative research methods. Using a modified version of McAdams’ (2008b) life story interview protocol, I interviewed 21 women and analyzed their eating disorder life stories according to two analysis techniques – Braun and Clarke’s (2006) thematic analytic method and Yamasaki et al.’s (2014) approaches to narrative analysis. In narrating their eating disorder life stories, women offer an important counter-narrative to the master narrative of biomedicine. Five themes emerged from analysis, including <em>it’s not an individual illness, nor a sociocultural sickness, it’s a feminine fable; it’s not what you (don’t) eat, it’s what eats you; it’s not one size fits all, it’s one size fits one; it’s not about being sick enough, it’s about being sick; </em>and<em> it’s not eradicable, it’s ineradicable</em>. In presenting these themes and their corresponding tenets, I develop a more comprehensive story of women’s eating disorder experiences. Finally, I discuss the present dissertation project by summarizing the main conclusions drawn, including enhancing diversification of eating disorder research, highlighting complexities of studying counter-narratives, and supporting women’s efforts to counter-narrate their own eating disorder experiences.</p>","abstract_has_math":false,"creators":["Schoenbauer, Kelsea V."],"institution":null,"degree_name":"Ph.D.","degree_level":"Dissertation","degree_discipline":null,"degree_department":null,"school":null,"contributors":["Elizabeth A. Suter","Ramona Beltran","Mary Claire Morr Loftus","Joshua Hanan"],"advisors":[],"committee_chairs":[],"committee_members":[],"year":2023,"date_issued":"2023-06-01T07:00:00Z","date_published":"2023-06-01T07:00:00Z","updated_at":"2026-07-24T02:01:39Z","subjects":["Counter-narrative","Eating disorder","Embodiment","Master narrative","Narrative","Women","Arts and Humanities","Communication","Feminist, Gender, and Sexuality Studies","Gender, Race, Sexuality, and Ethnicity in Communication","Health Communication","Social and Behavioral Sciences","Women's Studies"],"languages":["English (eng)"],"rights":["Copyright is held by the author. User is responsible for all copyright compliance.
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"]},{"key":"dc:format","label":"Dc Format","values":["application/pdf"]},{"key":"dc:title","label":"Title","values":["It’s Not What You (Don’t) Eat, It’s What Eats You: Countering the U.S. Eating Disorder Master Narrative"]}]}],"canonical_facts":{"dc:contributor":["Elizabeth A. Suter","Ramona Beltran","Mary Claire Morr Loftus","Joshua Hanan"],"dc:creator":["Schoenbauer, Kelsea V."],"dc:date.available":["2025-07-19T07:00:00Z"],"dc:description.abstract":["Eating disorders, including anorexia and bulimia nervosa, and binge-eating disorder, affect approximately 20 million women in the United States (National Eating Disorders Association, 2022d). The dominant approach to studying eating disorders is based on the master narrative of biomedicine. The present dissertation examines the existing master narrative by investigating the meaning that women themselves ascribe to their eating disorder experiences. Drawing upon notions of embodiment, the present dissertation proposes narrative theorizing as an appropriate lens through which to view women’s narrative sense-making processes and employs narrative research methods. Using a modified version of McAdams’ (2008b) life story interview protocol, I interviewed 21 women and analyzed their eating disorder life stories according to two analysis techniques – Braun and Clarke’s (2006) thematic analytic method and Yamasaki et al.’s (2014) approaches to narrative analysis. In narrating their eating disorder life stories, women offer an important counter-narrative to the master narrative of biomedicine. Five themes emerged from analysis, including it’s not an individual illness, nor a sociocultural sickness, it’s a feminine fable; it’s not what you (don’t) eat, it’s what eats you; it’s not one size fits all, it’s one size fits one; it’s not about being sick enough, it’s about being sick; and it’s not eradicable, it’s ineradicable. In presenting these themes and their corresponding tenets, I develop a more comprehensive story of women’s eating disorder experiences. Finally, I discuss the present dissertation project by summarizing the main conclusions drawn, including enhancing diversification of eating disorder research, highlighting complexities of studying counter-narratives, and supporting women’s efforts to counter-narrate their own eating disorder experiences.
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"],"dc:subject":["Counter-narrative","Eating disorder","Embodiment","Master narrative","Narrative","Women","Arts and Humanities","Communication","Feminist, Gender, and Sexuality Studies","Gender, Race, Sexuality, and Ethnicity in Communication","Health Communication","Social and Behavioral Sciences","Women's Studies"],"dc:title":["It’s Not What You (Don’t) Eat, It’s What Eats You: Countering the U.S. Eating Disorder Master Narrative"],"thesis:degree_level":["Dissertation"],"thesis:degree_name":["Ph.D."]},"updated_at":"2026-07-24T02:01:39Z"}