Living with Celiac Disease: Norms of Femininity and the Complications of Everyday Life

Women with celiac disease are often described as being exposed to negative emotions and experiences related to the treatment of celiac disease, the gluten-free diet. To explore the daily consequences of diagnosis and their daily experiences of living with celiac disease, interviews were conducted with seven Swedish young women who had been diagnosed with celiac disease by screening in early adolescence. The semi-structured interview transcripts were content analysed using a gender perspective. The analysis showed that these young women`s daily experiences were coloured by the conjunction of their dietary treatment, their social relationships, and social norms. This means that recurrent food situations often clash with the normative constructions of femininity and social norms of eating with an adverse effect on dietary compliance.