Eating disorders don’t discriminate. They can affect anyone regardless of race, gender, sexuality, etc. #NEDAwareness
nedawareness.org
There are many stereotypes about what a person with an eating disorder looks like, but the truth is that these illnesses do not discriminate. Men and women of all ethnic backgrounds, ages, sizes, and sexualities are susceptible to poor body image and disordered eating. While women are more commonly affected by eating disorders, 10 million men and boys will battle some form of the illness at some point in their lifetime and, due in large part to stereotypes and cultural bias, males are much less likely to seek treatment for their eating disorder.
Similarly, the National Comorbidity Survey Replication found no difference in eating disorder prevalence among adults across racial and ethnic groups (Hudson, Hiripi, et al. 2007). Yet minorities are significantly less likely to receive help for their eating issues. And despite the damaging assumptions that eating disorders are a “teenager’s problem,” recent research shows that rates of eating disorders and body dissatisfaction among older populations are on the rise. Research also suggests that eating disorders disproportionately impact some segments of LGBT populations. In addition to experiencing unique contributing factors, LGBT people may also face challenges for accessing treatment and support due to discrimination (Feldman & Meyer, 2007).
For More Information Read Here:
Marginalized Voices Project
What is the Marginalized Voices Project and why is it important?
The National Eating Disorders Association, in association with feminist activist and the editor of Everyday Feminism, Melissa Fabello, is calling for stories that focus on underrepresented experiences and communities in the eating disorder field through the Marginalized Voices Project. We are looking especially for voices from marginalized communities and narratives that challenge eating disorder myths.
-For More Info Read: Marginalized Voices
Inspiration for the Marginalized Voices Project
"Pick up any eating disorder memoir at your local bookstore, and you are more than likely to find some iteration of this narrative arc. Well-to-do, young white woman develops an eating disorder, spirals into near-oblivion, seeks treatment for her eating disorder (which usually results in her being admitted into a residential facility), experiences a myriad of successes and failures, and eventually commits to finding her Self again. Well-to-do, young white woman walks out of treatment with a new sense of hope on the road to recovery...
...Because here is what happens when the only eating disorder stories that we hear are the ones that fit the aforementioned description: We use them as examples to hold our own disorders up to. We use them to judge and determine what is and isn't 'really sick.' We start to trust that these narratives represent 'real' eating disorders, and that experiences that fall outside of these confines just don't count. And that's dangerous..."
-Read More: Other Ways Out
Preview of Marginalized Voices Essays
"I'm sure he wanted to say more. Something like, 'You are a terrible human being for even needing to speak to a professional about our business. I don't even understand why you have such problems. I grew up poor, the oldest of five, and I was in the military. I lived in Germany for four years. All we had to eat growing up was frijoles and tortillas. And here you are, vomiting up the good food you have.'"
-Read Amber's Story Here: On Lark's, Laundry, and Love
"I live in poverty and I do not identify as a straight female, so when people noticed my strange behaviors, they were easily attributed to my class and gender identity. When I struggled with eating, people assumed that it was because I was poor. When I avoided going out for meals, they thought it was because I didn't want to pick up the tab. When my mental health was questioned, no one asked if I was struggling with anorexia or bulimia. They asked if I was battling a DRUG ADDICTION; it explained the tempers, the behavior changes, the isolation, the weight loss, the pale complexion, the fine hairs, and all the other symptoms that could have been attributed to an eating disorder if I were middle class. The more that everyone, myself included, denied that I had a problem, the more I fell into my behaviors."
-Read Benji's Story Here: Ready to Accept
"I have always heard that eating disorders are "white folk" diseases, especially from those who are not white. Or, if someone accepts that eating disorders may affect minorities, they're diseases that you acquire in your teen years or in your early twenties. They are rich people's diseases. As a half-black, half-white, almost thirty-year-old woman who falls into the working class, I can tell you that those assumptions are simply not true. Eating disorders do not know age, race, or class."
-Read Chani's Story Here: I Just Am
"I theorized for a long time that I starved myself, in part, in order to desexualize myself, at least in the eyes of men. In high school, during the worst years of my eating disorder, I was extremely withdrawn and mostly avoided physical intimacy with the few people I dated. I felt disgusted when males looked at me in a sexual manner or complimented me on my body. I thought, at the time and for years afterward, that this response was solely because I was not attracted to men. I thought that my hatred of my breasts and desire to make them disappear, along with my hips and thighs and anything else "womanly," came from a desire to divert male attention while simultaneously punishing myself for not enjoying that attention, for not being straight."
-Read Jasper's Story Here: This Gendered Body
"My weight loss was rapid; it disrupted everything in my life, and, at the time, it was a welcome distraction. For the first time in years, my sexual orientation was not at the forefront of my mind. Any sex drive I had vanished and I isolated myself from everyone: my friends, my crushes, my classmates. I thought that losing weight was a way for me to make something change, until I realized that I had lost control of that too. I was hospitalized for the first time during my sophomore year, with a diagnosis of anorexia nervosa."
-Read Florence's Story Here: A Project in the Making
"'You must work out to be able to lift her.'
'Ugh, you are getting so heavy.'
'You should watch what you eat or no one will be able to lift you.'
'You're so small, how can you lift her?'
I've heard these comments regularly since adolescence. I use a wheelchair for mobility and require assistance with basic living tasks, such as using the restroom. When the school nurse first began making comments about my weight, I tried my best to ignore what she was saying. In order to avoid hearing her complain about lifting me, I started limiting my school restroom breaks to once a day, which meant I also had to limit how much I drank during the day. As time went on and the comments did not stop, I began limiting my food too - I was already limiting how much I drank, so restricting my food intake became just as easy."
-Read Melissa's Story Here: The Things We Say
MarginalizED Voices: Speaking Up for Change in Eating Disorders Awareness, Outreach, and Treatment.
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