Women, exercise and eating disorder recovery: The normal and the pathological

Hockin-Boyers, H.; Warin, M.

Abstract

The appropriate form, regularity, and intensity of exercise for individuals recovering from eating disorders is not agreed upon among health care professionals or researchers. When exercise is permitted, it is that which is mindful, embodied, and non-competitive that is considered normative. Using Canguilhem’s concepts of “the normal and the pathological” as a theoretical frame, we examine the gendered assumptions that shape medical understandings of “healthy” and “dysfunctional” exercise in the context of recovery. The data set for this article comes from longitudinal semi-structured interviews with 19 women in the United Kingdom who engaged in weightlifting during their eating disorder recovery. We argue that women in recovery navigate multiple and conflicting value systems regarding exercise. Faced with aspects of exercise that are pathologized within the eating disorder literature (such as structure/routine, body transformations, and affect regulation), women re-inscribe positive value to these experiences, thus establishing exercise practices that serve them.

Citation

Hockin-Boyers, H., & Warin, M. (2021). Women, exercise and eating disorder recovery: The normal and the pathological. Qualitative Health Research, 31(6), 1029-1042. https://doi.org/10.1177/1049732321992042

• Journal Article Type: Article
• Acceptance Date: Jan 12, 2021
• Online Publication Date: Feb 16, 2021
• Publication Date: 2021-05
• Deposit Date: Jan 14, 2021
• Publicly Available Date: Jun 10, 2021
• Journal: Qualitative Health Research
• Print ISSN: 1049-7323
• Electronic ISSN: 1552-7557
• Publisher: SAGE Publications
• Peer Reviewed: Peer Reviewed
• Volume: 31
• Issue: 6
• Pages: 1029-1042
• DOI: https://doi.org/10.1177/1049732321992042
• Public URL: https://durham-repository.worktribe.com/output/1253468