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

Background: Eating disorders among Chinese women have been growing in recent years, yet, little research has explored these experiences in non-Western contexts. This study aimed to challenge the dominant Western-centric models, which often universalise psychiatric frameworks and overlook culturally embedded aspects of distress. It critically examines how sociocultural forces in contemporary China shape the development and recovery of eating disorders among Chinese women. Method: This paper adopted a critical autoethnographic approach, grounded in the author's decade-long lived experience as a Chinese woman with eating disorders. Results: The paper highlighted key sociocultural barriers faced by Chinese women, including the societal emphasis on women’s appearance, pervasive competition culture, and Confucian gender norms. It also identified specific structural challenges in China, such as inadequate psychiatric resources, treatment paradigms neglecting trauma, entrenched stigma surrounding mental illness, and a cultural history that moralises food consumption and waste. Conclusion: 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.