The Mother Daughter Relationship and Self-Image

Living in a world characterized by its fixation with appearance, it is no wonder that children, especially girls, are learning to distrust and abuse their bodies. Susan Williams defines the structure of female gender with the idea of a “gender regime”—or the concept that gender is fluid and specific to time and place (Williams 31). As one such environment, family life contains strong parental influences capable of drastically altering the gendered spaces and therefore gender perception of children. Specifically, the connection between mother and daughter body types and eating habits, examined both racially and cross-culturally, show that women can inadvertently inherit body dissatisfaction and negative attitudes towards food—a trend that has been identified as one of many origins of beauty and weight obsession among modern women.

Young girl’s lack of self-esteem and resulting vulnerability to dieting and eating disorders derives partially from early female psychosexual development (Beattie 1). The initial struggle of identifying with the maternal figure as a fellow female, yet creating a distinct individual identity occurs in early adolescence—the same timeframe in which females experience the lowest amount of body satisfaction (Beattie 3). The conflict and turmoil of distinguishing oneself as an individual is easily acted out in eating disorders, especially in controlling mother-daughter relationships where the girl experiences little autonomy. In such a situation the young girl turns to self-regulation of food, as she has control over little else. Maternal figures generally purchase and prepare food for the family, however, limiting the extent of the daughter’s power. Without legal medical sovereignty, girls are also subject ...

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