Thursday, March 28, at 6pm, a reading and book signing with Joan Jacobs Brumberg, author of FASTING GIRLS & THE BODY PROJECT. Join us for a fascinating and timely discussion about women, girls, body image and social change.
Leading up to this event, we had the opportunity to ask Joan a few questions about her books and herself.
Q: Since THE BODY PROJECT and FASTING GIRLS were originally published how have the issues explored in the books changed? Has there been an increase or decrease in anorexia nervosa with the growth of social media?
A: Social media and scientific medicine may have intensified the cultural imperative for bodily perfection. There are many more “body projects” requiring time, energy, money and persistent maintenance. The number of diagnosed cases of anorexia nervosa remains consistent but there is more disordered eating and orthorexia.
[Editor’s note: Orthorexia is the obsessive pursuit of ‘healthy’ eating.]
Q: From the research you’ve done about girls and body image, what’s the one thing you wish you could impart to girls and parents?
A: Stop reading each others bodies as well as your own. What your body can do is far more important than what it looks like. Young girls need to be moved off The Princess Track.
Q: What’s your relationship to Key West?
A: My husband and I are happy snowbirds, two months here, for almost a decade. We like winter in the Conch Republic and summer in Ithaca, NY on Cayuga Lake. We chose Key West because it is so different than the rest of Florida.
Q: What are you reading and recommending currently?
So far this season: Finished BECOMING on the plane and thought it was far better than most autobiographies of public figures. But I’ve also read THE LOST GIRLS OF PARIS by Pam Jenoff, EARTHLY REMAINS by Donna Leon, THE WINTER SOLIDER by Daniel Mason. At home, I read mostly nonfiction, but not here.
~Robin Wood, Associate Manager