There are many things that make anorexia seductive, and many of them coalesce into the outlines of the underfed body. A recent reader’s question made me wonder: is there really beauty in thinness?

The body and facial expressions of an anorexic person are influenced by their anorexia in ways which I often find beautiful, whether that beauty is of a poignancy-tinged type, is a form of beauty from ...