Session 6b: Language, Perspective and Practice

Karen Henwood - Male Embodiment and the Transition to Fatherhood: A Study in Healthy Citizenship?
School of Medicine, Health Policy and Practice, University of East Anglia, Norwich, NR4 7TJ

This presentation contributes to research on links between health, risk and citizenship in modern western societies (Peterson and Lupton, 1996; Fullaghar, 2002). 'Healthy citizens' are those who exercise freedom of choice to engage in practices of 'self-governance' to minimize the risk of harm and maximize the possible benefits to self and others. Of course, women and men, adults and children, fathers and mothers occupy very different social locations and places in the lifecourse, so questions have begun to be raised about the differential impact of the 'discourse' of healthy citizenship upon them. Just as people are deemed to have the freedom of choice to exercise self-control, the limits of such choice are said to be circumscribed by the meanings and practices circulating as part of wider culture.

The focus of the presentation will be on men's perceptions of themselves and their bodies. What are the consequences of the increase in responsibilities and obligations to others that come with fatherhood, and any changes this brings in relationships with their partners? Do they involve any differences in self-care? Watson (2001) reported that notions that are compatible with attempts by health professionals to increase physical fitness, such as the 'perfectibility' of the physical body, were eclipsed by the idea that men and fathers have need of an 'everyday body' to fulfill their work and other family roles. Fullaghar (2002) reports that there are different 'ethics of the body' to ones based on the virtues of self-improvement and control. Henwood et al (1999; in press) and Gill et al (2000) have started to chart some of men's varied reactions to changing images of other men's bodies and their own body practices. Drawing upon these ideas, and data from an
original study, the presentation will examine the relationship between male embodiment, fatherhood and self-care.

Colleen Heenan - ‘Why Spend your Life Fighting when Momentarily it's Good?'
Psychology Department, Bolton Institute, Deane Road, Bolton BL3 5AB

Feminist psychotherapists face a dilemma in how they make sense of contemporary western women's troubled relationship with food and their bodies. Indeed, whether or not some of these troubled relationships should be deemed 'eating disorders' presents difficulties: taking a purely political stance means making changes at a social level. In contrast, taking a therapeutic stance involves adopting an individualistic perspective on what feminists consider to be a social oppression. However, offering a diagnosis provides some legitimacy for what can feel a shameful, isolating condition, along with a benign interest and concern. This is particularly so for women who are usually excluded from the category of 'eating disorder' - those who eat compulsively and who may be 'over'weight.

The struggle facing feminist therapists who work with women who have eating disorders reflects the struggle presented by this particular group of women who feel they are in a constant battle: with themselves, with food, with their bodies, with others. Pioneer feminist therapists like Orbach (1978, 1986) presented a model of women's bodies as 'natural'; thus 'natural' appetites and 'natural' desires for (good) food were ready to emerge once interference ceased. However, current feminist Foucaultian ideas about the disciplined and gendered body (Bordo, 1990) suggest that the 'battle' metaphor is an appropriate expression of contemporary western women's embodied subjectivities; they are always under scrutiny and always under siege.

Is it possible to make use of this metaphor in order to make sense of women's difficult relationship to food and their bodies? And, perhaps more importantly, is making sense enough for our clients who also want to change? In this paper, the author draws on clinical work from a feminist psychodynamic eating disorders group for women, along with ideas from both feminist object relations theory (Chodorow, 1989) and feminist postmodern theory (Bartky, 1988) in order to explore the battleground of women, food and fat.

James Swan Tuite - Alcoholism, Addiction and the Metaxu of Affliction
Brown University, Dept of Religious Studies and Kirk Fellow, Center for Alcohol and Addiction Studies, Providence, RI 02906

Simone Weil's concept of metaxu -the intermediary between known and unknown-helps clarify the multifaceted metaphor of affliction. Using Weil's metaxu as a guide, this paper offers an analysis of the use of affliction metaphors within self-help groups and particularly Alcoholics Anonymous. I begin by giving an interpretation of Weil's conception of metaxu within the context of her discussion of affliction. Then I show how this conception of metaxu provides an insightful heuristic device for thinking through the problematics of "alcoholic." Using Alcoholics Anonymous and Narcotics Anonymous as illustrative cases, I compare the emic/etic uses of affliction metaphors within therapeutic communities. How do affliction metaphors provide identity and solidarity for members of therapeutic communities? To what degree are affliction metaphors in the service of exploitation? I conclude with a discussion of the dangers of metaxu and affliction metaphors.