ABSTRACT
Eating disorders in women, especially anorexia nervosa, manifest many complex societal concerns and conflicts surrounding femininity and the cultural ideals of beauty and perfection. To illustrate that the perfect female body is an ever-evolving cultural concept, this chapter offers a brief outline of the evolution of the ideal female body concept. In addition to investigating how eating disorders develop in young females as a consequence of cultural dogmas disseminated by family, peer groups, society, and media, an analysis of the unique strengths of the comics medium in portraying corporeal complications is also attempted. Using the theoretical postulates of Simone de Beauvoir, Susan Bordo, and through a close reading of Lighter Than My Shadow and Tyranny, this chapter delineates eating disorders as bodily manifestations of a cultural problem.
