that's an interesting theory meta, and i once read a quote which said "the most political act i never committed was gaining weight and pulling my head out of the toilet"...i personally tho don't really think eating disorders have much to do with body image or "social obsession" with weight, i think it goes deeper than that...tho i do there's a degree of rebellion in it , it's more against urself and what u feel u should be...it's a way of blocking out and refusing to deal with the problems in life, the pressures one is facing and how one feels about oneself...it's a way of saying ***** what everyone else wants of me, even what i want of myself, i cannot bear to deal with this any longer so i'm just going to withdraw into my own painful little world (which is somehow less painful than dealing with that outside by head). i think the difference between anorexia and bulimia is anorexia (and i have been anorexic) is more like i wanna disappear from this world, just fade away from it, and take as little from it as possible, whereas as bulimia and binge eating are more like ***** it all, it's so bad i quite as well just binge and/or purge...well that's my thoughts on it anyway...