Brief Response to "Appetites"

In reading this I was most struck by something that Knapp brings up in the first chapter.

She mentions "the tyranny of freedom" as coined by Barry Schwartz (p. 45) and goes on to discuss that indeed in contrast to the oppression out mothers, grandmothers and great grandmothers before us faced, this new found freedom, with its infinite possibilities that are being offered to women, can actually liberating as it may be, feel overwhelming and oppressive to many of us third wave feminists. Instead of women's lives being carved out with an acceptable path from the beginning, women are offered choices and thus there are numerous acceptable paths which she could chose to go down. This is liberating, yes, and what our foremothers hoped for, but for us living it, we can feel overwhelmed by these immense opportunities and perhaps even a little bit lost under the pressure of being given these opportunities and deciding how best to move forward with them. Selfish? Perhaps, but true? Yes.

I also very much enjoyed her second chapter which narrowed in more closely on her family situation and even more specifically her relationship with her mother. Brumberg also looked closely at the family structure and its role with eating disorders and young girls, and it seems to be the trend, that cliche, but clearly very true, many of young girls are constantly seeking approval and affirmation from their mothers no matter whether their relationship with their mother be a positive or negative influence in their life.

Knapp also tackles appetites and eating disorders in the bigger sense, within society. She illustrates some of the conflicting associations linked with women and eating, as women are expected to not want or desire, and to also be waif like and thin, thus comes their, seemingly inevitable struggle, when they do in fact desire, and that desire often does manifest itself in food form. She does a good job illustrating both with her own inner struggle and the examples of other women she uses, to show the inner struggle, confusion, fear and ultimate guilt women feel because of, over and for food.