Sharlene Hesse-Biber first became interested in her research about eating disorders while she was the director of the Counseling Center at Boston College. After seeing the overwhelming incidence of female students reporting eating problems, she became interested in the broader factors at work in the incidence of this disorder. She began her study by initiating a survey of 395 students (both male and female) concerning their eating habits, diets, and their attitudes towards self, families, friends, and school. …show more content…
In both cases, members are isolates, follow a rigid set of rules and values, and seem obsessed with the path to perfection. Through interpretive sociology, Hesse-Biber highlights the various ways in which American families, schools, popular culture, and the health and fitness industry all contribute to this "cult of thinness," undermining young women's self-confidence as they emphasize the notions that thinness is beauty and that a woman's body is more important than her