Introduction Eating Disorders, Biocultures, and Graphic Medicine Why Graphic Medicine? Overview of the Book 1 A Prologue to Graphic Medicine Medical Humanities: Towards the Humanization of Medical Science Narrative Medicine: Understanding the Ordeals of Illness Spectacles of Suffering: Representation of Illness across Media Comics Medium and Healthcare Comics, Women, and the Counterculture Graphic Medicine: Definition and Scope Conclusion 2 Clinical Evolution of Eating Disorders and the Rise of the Biocultures Chronicles of Starvation: A Cultural History of Eating Disorders The Middle Ages: Fasting Saints and Miracle Maidens From Miracle to Madness and Hysteria Eating Disorders: A Medical Introduction Anorexia Nervosa Bulimia Nervosa Binge Eating and EDNOS Pitfalls in the Popular Explanatory Models of Eating Disorders The Biocultural Model Tracing the Footprints of Culture in Science Graphic Medicine and the Biocultures Conclusion 3 Warped Femininities: Understanding the Corporeal Nexus of Anorexia and Culture The Ideal Female Body as a Cultural Construct Anorexia Nervosa: A Biocultural Approach "At that time, nobody considered it": Anorexia and Familial Pressure "Neil! You look like a man!": Body Shaming and Anorexia "As long as I’m thin… I’ll be invincible:": Media and Thinspiration Conclusion 4 Subjective Incarnations of Anorexia: Creative Metaphors and Graphic Externalization Comics, Metaphors, and Externalization Graphic Medicine and the Iconography of Illness "I’m Tyranny, your other self": The Metaphor of Self-Oppression "my Ed—so Big and STRONG": Relationship Metaphors Dark Clouds of Despair: The Metaphor of Pervasiveness Epitomizing the Indefinable: The Power of Comics Medium Conclusion 5 From Abjection to Anorexia: Eating Disorders and the Horrors of the Female Body Feminist Perspectives on Eating Disorders Abjection: Origin, and Popular Definitions Abjection and Anorexia: Theoretical Interventions of Megan Warin "I feel disgusting": Menstruation, Abjection in Lighter Than My Shadow "I hate this. I hate me": Menstruation and Abjection in Tyranny "I’m disgusting": Self-Disgust and Sexual Abuse Conclusion Conclusion: Towards an Alternative Understanding of Eating Disorders