Abstract
Contemporary culture not only glorifies slimness among women, but also makes considerable demands of them. They are expected to perform contradictory duties ideally. They should be beautiful, slender and hard-working. They should be perfect mothers and foresighted wives. At the same time they should not be assertive or too intelligent. The article presents an approach according to which anorexia is the answer of an adolescent woman to the archetypes of negative womanhood which have existed for ages. This illness may be considered to be a highly symbolic reaction to these archetypes and, furthermore, their paradoxical fulfillment. For anorexic women the auto-destruction of their body is tantamount to the triumph of their mentality.
Publisher
Institute of Political Studies - Polish Academy of Sciences
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