Pretty Delicate: A Novel(la)

Abstract

Pretty Delicate is a novel(la) about one young woman’s on-going experience with anorexia and the impacts this disorder has on her relationships. Eating disorders are increasingly prevalent in contemporary Western society and across the globe. Many portrayals and treatments of these disorders rely on narratives of individualism, which harmfully places all blame or susceptibility onto persons struggling with eating disorders and wrongfully absolves their sociocultural contexts of any participation in the development of their eating disorder or the recovery process. This manuscript focuses on the beginning stages of anorexia through the way social messages / beauty standards are internalised and then dramatizes the arduous process of recovery. I refrain from sensationalising the worst of the disorder, as the aim of this project is to bring awareness to the ways community—through direct relationships, social media, and professional settings—enables disordered eating while simultaneously supporting recovery efforts. To emphasise the multi-faceted causes of eating disorders and approaches to recovery methods, Pretty Delicate utilises first-, second-, and third-person perspectives, and blends poetry and prose.