Public Perception of Disordered Eating Rhetoric: A Deep Dive into Body Image and Mental Health
TW: EATING DISORDERS, SELF HARM
As you might imagine, this topic is a personal one for me. I’ve struggled with disordered eating and bad body image for a long time, and I've had the privilege and luck to enter recovery. Looking at me before and during this struggle, many might say, “Sure. An affluent, normal-BMI white girl gets an eating disorder and gets too skinny. How original.” That’s true; I fit a clear stereotype that we see in the media. In fact, this portrayal of eating disorders, specifically anorexia, is often the ONLY representation we see in the media (Yes, I'm looking at you, To The Bone). Yet this experience with eating disorders does not represent the majority of those suffering. I’d like to dive into why this stereotype exists, why we see so little representation of other groups, and why this dangerous condition is glorified far beyond what it deserves in all corners of modern life.
We have documentation of eating disorders from thousands of years ago. Examples of self-starvation appeared in the Hellenistic era. According to these ancient documents, there were “holy anorexics”, who neglected their bodies in pursuit of religion and sainthood. The condition then faded into obscurity until the 1800s, when Louis-Victor Marce (1828-1864) described a patient with “anorexia nervosa” in 1859. Two neurologists in 1873 separately described anorexia nervosa, and it has been used in medical conditions since.
Now, we have many separate diagnoses outlined in the DSM-5. Despite these stratifications, many people don’t even realize that EDs other than anorexia exist. Unfortunately, those struggling with other conditions such as bulimia nervosa and ARFID (avoidant-restrictive feeding intake disorder) are marginalized and pushed aside. Even worse, those with EDs often associated with weight gain are humiliated, such as those with BED (binge eating disorder). These people struggle just as much as any thin person, yet they’re labeled as “lazy” and “greedy”. In fact, nearly 3 million people in the US alone have BED, making up nearly 1% of the population.
The issue with these characterizations is the way in which they were documented, as well as their diagnostic criteria. As with many medical conditions, the first cases were documented in white, wealthy individuals; therefore, the behaviors and motives tied to the disease are those followed by this specific demographic. Unfortunately, white wealthy patients were (and ARE) often the only people who were able to get treatment for eating disorders; less fortunate and minority groups were (and ARE) overlooked. BIPOC are far less likely to be asked by a doctor about symptoms of eating disorders, yet black teenagers are 50% more likely to exhibit bulimic behavior, as are Hispanic teenagers.
The only confounding variable here is the lack of men in the care system. Why are so few men afflicted with EDs? Well, the better question is, “Why are so few men documented with EDs?” The reality is that there are likely just as many men as women dealing with this condition, most of which don’t ever seek help. As with the general expectations of men in society, men aren’t supposed to show weakness, especially if this weakness appears unwarranted.
EDs aren’t taken seriously in our society, straight up. When I was a child seeing these representations of anorexia and other EDs, adults around me would say things like, “What an attention wh*re”, “How vain. She only cares about how she looks”, and “Just have a burger; just eat”. These struggles are always regarded as useless, egotistical, and inconsequential by those ignorant to its lethality. Many don’t know that eating disorders are THE most dangerous mental health condition to date. Anorexia kills more than 5% of its victims within their first four years, and more than 26% of those under the broader eating disorder umbrella attempt suicide. More than 10,000 people per year die from their eating disorders. Over 9% of the world's population will have an eating disorder in their lifetime. 91% of female college students admit to controlling their weight through dieting. 35-57% of teenage girls engage in crash dieting, vomiting, and diet pills due to body image issues. 42% of 1st-3rd grade girls want to be thinner.
These are staggering statistics that we never hear discussed. In the media, it’s all about anxiety, depression and addiction, yet this is just as dangerous if not more than these other conditions (putting aside the fact that EDs are VERY comorbid with these other mental health conditions, compounding the rates of suicide and death). EDs are addictions on their own; perhaps it’s an addiction to the dopamine of food, or perhaps it’s an addiction to the pangs of hunger and visible bones, to the pain of going without1. Any way you slice it, they’re incredibly hard to break free from.
One way I described recovery to my therapist was in comparison to addiction, actually. One day, I was fed up (no pun intended) with the process and the discomfort of fighting my own mind, and I said, “This might as well be harder than quitting a drug! With meth and whatever, you can go cold turkey. You can stop and avoid the thing entirely. With EDs, you can’t! You can’t escape food. We need it, and it’s all around us. This shit is so stupid.”
She agreed with me, then said something I’ll never forget. She said, “Well, yes. Everyone has to deal with food. In that sense, everyone has a relationship with food. It’s just that some people have a bad relationship with food. In recovery, we want you to find a good relationship.”
That’s the common language used in eating disorder recovery spaces; your “relationship with food”. EDs don’t start as a physical disorder; they’re a mental disorder. Anyone could be struggling with it, even (and especially!) if they’re in a larger body.
This leads to another thing I want to touch on, which is the public’s view of this disorder. The first way we might consider it is its prevalence in various media channels, including social media, magazines, and television. The stereotype of the skinny white girl continues here. Perhaps, when you think of an eating disorder, you imagine some teenage white girl looking at a magazine filled with unrealistic beauty standards, and feeling bad about herself. This image is even presented in many textbook definitions of the disorder. It is somewhat true; celebrities, influencers, and media personalities often endorse diets, quick fixes, and extreme weight loss strategies, reinforcing the idea that thinness equates to beauty and success. This constant bombardment of images and messages, though, influences vulnerable individuals and contributes to the development of eating disorders across all walks of life.
The societal obsession with diets, body size, and weight loss is called “Diet culture". It places a heavy emphasis on external appearance and promotes the idea that one's worth is determined by their ability to conform to societal standards of beauty. We already know that exposure to diet culture is associated with higher levels of body dissatisfaction, disordered eating behaviors, and increased susceptibility to eating disorders. Researchers have found that individuals immersed in diet culture are more likely to engage in restrictive eating patterns, extreme exercise, and resort to harmful weight loss measures. This is well-researched. There is a hidden cause of these patterns, though, that is overlooked by most. In reality, it is not the magazines and social media that start these disordered behaviors; it’s immediate input from those close to you.
There’s a trend I’ve noticed while scrolling through ED support spaces. Oftentimes, struggling individuals will credit their disorder to members of their own family, friends, or coworkers. These trends can start at very young ages; some describe situations from their early childhood where their parents and friends made fun of their weight and belittled them for their food habits. Perhaps these individuals were in slightly larger bodies at these ages, and therefore fell slightly outside of the growth curve.
My experience with this was similar. As a kid, I was never very large, just slightly taller with a stocky build. I always had muscular legs and a round face, falling into the 80% growth curve for both height and weight. After a certain doctor’s visit in elementary school, my mother and I were traveling home, and the topic of my weight came up. She offered the idea of going on a diet together because, to paraphrase, we were both getting a little too heavy and needed to be careful. She was thin, and I was perfectly healthy. Why would she implant this insecurity in my mind so early in life? The reason is simple; she grew up with these conceptions that only serve to perpetuate themselves. She was a victim of diet culture just as much as me.
I’m not here to moan and groan about my own story, though. Long story short, I dealt with orthorexia (obsession with healthy behaviors) and anorexia. Many others, however, have experienced capital T trauma in regard to their bodies. EDs are a method of coping, a way to gain control over negative comments and traumatic experiences. For some, eating disorders are a form of self-punishment, either by depriving themselves or by punishing their bodies with excessive exercise or excessive food.
Eating disorders can also be genetically predisposed. Numerous scientific studies have shown a genetic component in the development of eating disorders. Twin and family studies have revealed that individuals with a first-degree relative who has experienced an eating disorder are at a higher risk of developing one themselves.
This commentary on our own bodies is so prevalent, it seems to have its own rhetoric. It thrives in low self-esteem and perfectionism. Beauty and food companies have latched onto this commentary to sell weight loss products and health fads, and we fall for them time and time again. My own family was victim to the low-fat craze of the 80s and 90s, and it took my own visible struggle to finally get my mother to drink whole milk.
After dealing with this condition myself, I was baffled to notice all the spaces that eating disorders and diet culture rhetoric appear in normal life. Every day, it seems, I hear people complain about their own bodies, comment on others’ food choices, and brag about how little they’ve eaten that day. I’ll include an exhaustive list of these common comments at the end, just so you might become more aware of avoiding triggering phrases. You may often say some of these things without even realizing how harmful they are.
There have been many trends online that blatantly spread eating disorder rhetoric, too. Recent examples include “girl dinner” on Tik Tok, where women often show their low-effort dinners including extremely small amounts of food. Looking at this from an experienced perspective, it’s alarming. Whenever I point this out, people immediately switch to the offense, defending these unhealthy habits. All you can do is explain how these posts may be harmful and move on; not all people are willing to accept that their words hurt others, others with struggles they refuse to acknowledge.
There are a myriad of filters as well that spread insecurity. One in particular makes the user look 100 pounds heavier or lighter than they currently are, and people like to post the comparison pictures as jokes. Maybe they want to see how obese they would look, then write a comment saying how gross they would feel and how much they would hate themselves if they looked like that. Maybe they use the filter as weight loss motivation, saying, “If I was thin, I’d be so happy!” The issue isn’t them, is it? The issue is that they’re so afraid of being in a larger body, they regard anything other than the standard as ugly and undesirable. To many, being thin means being better in every way.
This isn’t to say that being in a larger body doesn’t come with health risks. Of course, obesity is correlated with higher rates of heart disease, cancer, you name it. That’s not the issue here, though. People love to shit on fat people, then hide their bullying by saying “I just want you to be healthy!” These same people, of course, would never bully someone with a chronic illness or a congenital (from-birth) health condition. These insults aren’t about health, they’re about putting others down that they view as lesser than themselves.
It goes without saying that all people, regardless of any life factor (very much including people in larger bodies), deserve love and respect. They deserve to feel appreciated and cared for. They deserve to be happy, and this rhetoric only serves to tear them down. It’s no wonder, then, that so many people struggle with disordered eating. If you saw a group in society that was treated terribly, one that you could potentially belong to irregardless of race, age and gender, you wouldn’t want to be part of that group, right? You’d avoid being a part of it to save yourself the psychological torment. That’s what happens every day to those in larger bodies, and it needs to stop. You can be healthy at a large range of sizes, not just those that are deemed “good” or “normal” by the BMI2. The only way to truly assess and treat the health of the public is on an individual level, through blood tests and exercise conditioning metrics, and certainly not through belittlement and humiliation.
To combat this discrimination, it is essential to promote body neutrality and positivity, educate the public about the dangers of diet culture, and foster a supportive environment that values health and well-being over external appearances. If a friend or family member comes to you with these struggles, offer them support. Ask if they see a mental health professional. Gently, if they are ok with it, challenge their food rules in a way that is comfortable for them. By understanding why eating disorders start and addressing their root causes, we can take meaningful steps towards preventing and treating them. Most importantly, though, we need to show people in all shapes and sizes that we care about them all the same. You do not have more or less value based on what your body size is. You have value. Remember that.
1 In fact, there have been studies looking into the brains of anorexics and their brain wave patterns during fasting versus eating. They’ve discovered that anorexics can have the same effect in their brain during skipping food that normal people get from eating! They get a dopamine rush from not consuming food, as their brains have slowly rewired to pursue dopamine in the form of deprivation. This further proves that eating disorders are not just a “desire to be skinny”, but in fact a neurological change that occurs down to the brain’s synaptic connections.
2 The BMI is a massive bummer for many reasons; how it fails to take into account muscle mass, how it was based solely on white european men, how it doesn’t take into account metabolic health, etc, etc. I’d recommend reading up about this if you’re interested in just how dogshit it is. Obviously, a caveat is needed here; the idea behind it is fine, but it was executed poorly. Other methods, like body fat calipers and water displacement, are no better. A new method needs to be found, which is easier said than done.
Last note: watch Jaiden Animation video about her struggle with ED. It’s called “Why I Don’t Have a Face Reveal”. Her description of her own experience and recovery is very enlightening.
Now, for that shit list:
TRIGGER WARNING
Harmful phrases:
You’re going to eat all that?
That’s all you’re going to eat?
You look a little heavy- falling off the bandwagon?
You look skinny- have you even been eating?
We’ll just have to work off this food in the gym tomorrow.
Ugh, I ate so much. I’m so fat today.
What are you, like, anorexic or something? Just eat a burger!
You don’t look like you have an eating disorder.
I wish I had an eating disorder, then I could lose the weight!
I shouldn’t be eating this- I’m being bad today.
I’m being so good today, I ate a salad.
Do I look fat in this?
Do you have any idea how many calories are in that?
Oh, I’m on a diet- I could never eat that like you would.
If I ate like you, I’d be so fat!
Don’t you know x food makes you fat?
Look at that person- they clearly don’t know when to stop eating.
You should try this diet I’m on!
I sat around all today; I need to hit the gym, I feel gross.
Wow, I wish I had your self-control.
Just stop starving yourself and eat! It’s not hard.
But you look great! Whatever you’re doing must be good.
But you look terrible! Can’t you see this is destroying you?
I can’t even imagine making myself throw up- how disgusting!
But you’re not skinny, so you can’t be anorexic. (Less than 6% of people with diagnosed eating disorders are diagnosed as underweight.)
But you’re not fat, so you can’t be binge eating.
You can recover whenever you want; you just don’t want to.
You’re so smart, so why do you worry about this?
You’re being so vain, only caring about how you look.
You’re being so selfish, making others worry like this.
Oh, stop being so difficult and just eat.
Just stop caring about what other people think!
Just start being active and eating healthy, then you’ll get better!
Just stop exercising so much and eat what you want, and you’ll get better!
I understand it completely! Sometimes I don't eat cake and stuff. I feel fat sometimes too.
You’d look better if you gained weight.
You’d look better if you lost weight.
You’re so skinny, you can eat whatever you want.
Well, you have to eat…so get over it.
Why are you being so ungrateful for what you have?
Are you sure you should be eating that?
You just need to try harder. Clearly, it isn’t working for you.
Why don’t you try loving yourself more?
You aren’t even underweight, so it can’t be that bad.
Just be normal.
Where has all our food gone? Did you really eat it all?
Just be like me and you’ll be fine!
You’re scary looking. Like, too thin.
Did you see x person? They let themselves go!
S/he died from his/her eating disorder? How sad, what a waste.
GOOD PHRASES:
I’m here for you, whatever you need.
Do you want to talk about it?
Can you explain why you feel this way?
Is there anything you’d be okay with eating right now?
Do you want to do something fun to help distract you? Maybe we can go to the movies!
Can you talk to anyone else about this? I want to make sure you're getting the help you need.
You’re not alone.
I love you no matter what.
No one is perfect. You don’t need to be perfect.
Let’s go get some food together.
You're beautiful/handsome no matter how much you weigh.
What kinds of food do you like? I can get some for you.
Comments
Post a Comment