A Good Appetite: a Thomistic Approach to the Study of Eating Disorders and Body Dissatisfaction in American Women
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A Good Appetite: A Thomistic Approach to the Study of Eating Disorders and Body Dissatisfaction in American Women Author: Bethany Kieran Haile Persistent link: http://hdl.handle.net/2345/bc-ir:104294 This work is posted on eScholarship@BC, Boston College University Libraries. Boston College Electronic Thesis or Dissertation, 2011 Copyright is held by the author, with all rights reserved, unless otherwise noted. Boston College The Graduate School of Arts and Sciences Department of Theology A GOOD APPETITE: A THOMISTIC APPROACH TO THE STUDY OF EATING DISORDERS AND BODY DISSATISFACTION IN AMERICAN WOMEN A Dissertation By BETHANY KIERAN HAILE Submitted in partial fulfillment of the requirements For the degree of Doctor of Philosophy May, 2011 © copyright by BETHANY KIERAN HAILE 2011 Abstract A Good Appetite: A Thomistic Contribution to the Study of Eating Disorders and Body Dissatisfaction in American Women Bethany Kieran Haile Stephen J. Pope, Director James Keenan, SJ and Barbara Wolfe, Readers The aim of this dissertation is to expand a contemporary multidimensional discourse on the nature of eating disorders to encompass also a moral dimension. Eating disorders are complex phenomena which include biomedical, psychological, and sociocultural components. This dissertation brings the psychosocial literature on eating disorders and body dissatisfaction into dialogue with contemporary studies in Thomistic moral theology, and argues that such a multidisciplinary dialogue can illuminate new insights both for the study of eating disorders and for recent efforts to recover Thomistic moral theology in a contemporary context. Beginning empirically, the dissertation examines recent evidence showing that exposure to “thin-ideal images” in the mass media is positively correlated with an increase in body dissatisfaction and eating disorder symptomatology. Socioculturally, the explanation for this phenomenon is called “thin-ideal internalization,” and basically measures the extent to which individuals “buy into” the validity of images using ultra-thin female models as a paradigm of beauty. Women who have a high level of internalization desire to conform to a thin-ideal, and behave accordingly, even when they are rationally aware of the unrealistic and unhealthy nature of such an ideal. Turning to Thomas Aquinas’ moral theology, the dissertation argues that thin- ideal internalization is a form of connatural knowledge, an affective form of knowing (per modum inclinationis or ex instinctu) which is at the very basis of Aquinas’ moral theology, both in explaining the operation of habits and in explaining the role of grace in the moral life through charity and the gifts of the Holy Spirit. This dissertation argues that Aquinas’ theory of connatural knowledge provides a relevant and constructive contribution to the study of eating disorders, especially on the relationship between body dissatisfaction and eating disorder symptamatology. Additionally, the incorporation of the psychosocial literature on eating disorders into Thomistic moral theology provide a valuable contribution to Thomistic moral theology in the effort to understand the role of the affections in moral deliberation, the development of habits, and the importance of Christian practices in the moral life. List of Contents I. Acknowledgments II. Introduction a. Generation ED b. The Moral Dimension of the Study of Eating Disorders c. Methodological Clarifications d. You Are What You See: Body Dissatisfaction as a Form of Connatural Knowledge e. Progression of Chapters III. Chapter One Eating Disorders as “Body Image Disorders:” Review of Literature and Nature of Inquiry a. Introduction b. The History of a Modern Condition c. Diagnostic Criteria and Epidemiology i. Diagnostic criteria and disputes ii. Prevalence d. Contemporary Approaches: The Multidetermined Nature of Eating Disorders i. Biomedical approaches ii. Psychological approaches iii. Sociocultural approaches iv. Finding Points of Mutual Concern in the Psychosocial Literature on Eating Disorders and Ethics and Moral Theology e. Thin-Ideal Internalization and Body Dissatisfaction Among Western Women i. Body Image ii. Reviewing the Psychosocial Literature on Thin-Ideal Internalization and Body Dissatisfaction iii. Why Focus on Women? f. Conclusions IV. Chapter Two Thomist Virtue Ethics: An Overview a. The Study of Morality b. Introducing a Thomistic Approach to Moral Reasoning c. Renewal and Recovery of Thomistic Moral Thought i. The Role of the Emotions in Thomistic Moral Thought ii. Thomistic Moral Psychology and the Natural and Social Science i iii. The Theological Component of Aquinas’ Moral Theology d. Conclusion V. Chapter Three Connatural Knowledge and Thin-Ideal Internalization a. A Survey of Empirical Research Linking Media Exposure to a Thin-Ideal, Body Dissatisfaction and Eating Pathology b. The Role of Reason in Human Action c. Connatural Knowledge i. The Concept of Connaturality in Aquinas ii. Judgment per modum inclinationis iii. Knowledge and Love iv. Choice d. Connatural Knowledge and Human Action i. Uniting Knowledge and Love in Human Action ii. Connatural Knowledge and Habits iii. Connatural Knowledge and Aesthetic Judgments e. Thin-Ideal Internalization as Connatural Knowledge f. Conclusion VI. Chapter Four Temperance and the Appetitive Resistance of Thin-Ideal Internalization a. The Emotions: A Review b. The Virtue of Temperance i. Beginning With Temperance ii. The Scope of Temperance as a Virtue iii. Reason’s Relation to Temperance c. Temperance of the Eyes: The Mode of Restraint and the Control of Vision d. Disciplining the Eyes With Regards to Thin-Ideal Images e. Temperance as Satisfying Desire f. Conclusion VII. Chapter Five Re-Habituation, Continued: The Theological Dimension of Integral Human Flourishing a. Happiness: The End of Virtue i. Flourishing: The Final Cause of Virtue ii. Perfect Beatitude iii. Imperfect Beatitude b. The Limits of Virtue: Socialization and Relating to a Thin-Ideal of Female Beauty i. True Temperance in Relation to a Thin-Ideal of Female Beauty ii. The Social Context of Character Development ii iii. Algorithm-Driven Contextual Advertising: A Contemporary Illustration of the Way Social Context Limits the Development of Virtue iv. Thin-Ideal Internalization and Social Sin c. Graced Human Flourishing: Transforming the Vision of a Thin-Ideal i. The Theological Virtues and Gifts of the Holy Spirit ii. The Role of Grace in Natural Human Existence iii. Living a Graced Human Life in Light of a Thin-Ideal of Female Beauty iv. Humility and Social Conversion d. Conclusion VIII. Chapter Six The Role of the Church in Shaping Character: Practices for a “Dissatisfied Body of Christ” a. The Role of the Church in the Moral Life b. Practices and Virtue i. What Are Practices? ii. Practices Theologically Understood iii. The Transformative Potential of Religious Practices c. Ecclesial Practices for Forming a More Satisfied Body of Christ i. Asceticism ii. Prayer iii. Worship d. Conclusion: Eating Disorders and the Role of the Church IX. Bibliography iii Acknowledgments “For knowledge of any truth whatsoever, a person needs Divine help” (I-II, Q. 109, art. 1), and I am grateful to God for the natural light of intellect, and for the grace of at least a foretaste of those truths which surpass natural reason. “The natural order requires that he or she who has received a favor should, by repaying the favor, turn to his or her benefactor according to the mode of each” (II-II, Q. 106, art. 3). I wish to thank all who helped and supported me in the writing of this dissertation. I am grateful to my committee and especially to my director, Dr. Stephen J. Pope, for pushing me to be a better scholar and especially for helping me to always think of Thomism as an exercise in “both/and.” Thank you also to Dr. James F. Keenan, S.J. for making the study of theology a human endeavor, and for bringing passion and compassion to even the most rigorous of tasks. Finally, I am grateful to Dr. Barbara E. Wolfe for aiding me in understanding the psychological and biomedical dimensions of eating disorders, and pushing me to constantly consider the practical implications of my studies. Thank you also to the other faculty members who have been teachers and scholarly exemplars, especially Lisa Cahill, Rev. James Weiss, Kenneth Himes, O.F.M, David Hollenbach, S.J., Pheme Perkins, and Pat Kilcoyne. This dissertation is dedicated to my friend, colleague, and mentor, Nicholas Austin, SJ. Nick, in his time at Boston College, spent countless hours in study, conversation, and disputation with me in order to make this dissertation possible. I will be forever grateful to Nick, in addition, for helping to foster in me a deep and abiding appreciation for the Jesuit tradition, for teaching me how to “discern spirits,” and for bequeathing me his Rush albums and his Thomas Aquinas action figure. iv I am forever grateful also to my husband, Scott Haile, who is not only my spouse, but also my best friend, and who, with great fortitude attempted to edit this dissertation. Thank you for getting through the first two chapters! Thank you, Scott, for loving me as I am, for helping me laugh in the face of stress, and for making our marriage an ongoing exercise in the disputational method. You have taught me that God is “able to do immeasurably more than all we ask or imagine.” Thomas says in his Treatise on Happiness (I-II, Q. 4, art 8) that “in order that a person may do well, whether in the works of the active life, or in those of the contemplative life, he (or she) needs the fellowship of friends.” I have been blessed with many friends in my pursuit of happiness. My gratitude goes out particularly to Erin Galgay, Autumn Ridenour, Steve Okey, Chris Conway, Monica Jalandoni, Meghan Clarke, Kevin Ahern, Erik Ranstrom, Katie O’Neill, Amanda Osheim, Anna and Dan Scheid, Tom Fraatz (who also helped in the editing process). You have made this crazy journey so much fun! Thanks to my parents, John and Patricia Garrison, for raising me to love knowledge and for sacrificing so much to make my education possible.