State, food, and me: an autoethnographic reflection on the sociocultural dimensions of Chinese women’s eating disorders

Guided by feminist and poststructuralist critiques, the paper argued that eating disorders among Chinese women are not merely personal or psychological conditions, but reflect broader social tensions linked to neoliberal governmentality, gender inequality, and moral values in contemporary China. Recovery, therefore, cannot be reduced to clinical intervention alone; it also demands reclaiming subjectivity beyond sociocultural constraints.