Purity as power: orthorexia nervosa and the moral governance of health in neoliberal wellness culture.

Abstract

Orthorexia nervosa (ON) - a pathological obsession with healthy eating - has emerged as a cultural pathology intricately woven into neoliberal ideologies and biopolitical regimes. This paper critically analyses ON through the lens of power, foregrounding Foucault's concept of biopower and contemporary theories of moral governance, digital surveillance and gendered health expectations. It argues that the rise of ON is not merely a psychological phenomenon but a reflection of broader socio-political forces that moralise food, discipline bodies and construct health as an individualised, virtuous identity. Clean eating becomes a moral imperative; health becomes a site of self-surveillance; and digital wellness culture functions as a disciplinary apparatus. Drawing on interdisciplinary frameworks, it offers a socio-cognitive model of ON shaped by psychological vulnerability, algorithmically curated content and neoliberal demands for bodily optimisation. This work calls for a re-theorisation of ON that situates it within contemporary ideological terrain. It offers a novel socio-cognitive model that links individual psychopathology with biopolitical power, digital culture and gendered health expectations. It provides critical insights into mental health practice, public health policy and feminist thought critique.