The next spurt of self-starvation, notes Bemporad, occurred during the industrial revolution, which produced a "moneyed and urbane middle class with cultural and aesthetic aspirations." These events lead to Sir William Gull's well-known observations in 1873, the first description of anorexia in modern times.
Thus, according to Bemporad, affluence, an emphasis on feminine beauty, and a flesh-spirit theology are key factors associated with anorexia nervosa. It is supremely ironic that the first two would help produce their opposites: starvation and death.
A famous phrase of Abraham Lincoln's comes to mind. At the dawn of the new millennium, women should combine newly-found economic and social power with their traditional virtues: nurturing, humanity, and healing. In this way, "the better angels of their nature" will overcome the plague of anorexia.
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