Normalised diet culture and disorderly eating in our society
Let‘s discuss a sensitive but important topic! Eating, disorderly eating and body image.
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I, like many others, am on TikTok (a little too much, r.e., my last blog entry!) It's not hard to notice the sudden influx of emaciated and underweight celebrities and the ever-growing eating disorder (ED) content among everyday girls and women, some even becoming influencers!
Yes, I’ve been here before, when there was a huge societal shift in media during 2004-2008 towards the desire for thinness among celebrities (especially females). Furthermore, an ever-growing ‘Pro ana’ movement (seeing ED as a lifestyle choice, rather than a mental illness) amongst young people, using the celebrity photos as ‘thinspiration’ and swapping tips with each other. Then again, in 2009-2014 individuals creating private and public communities on Tumblr, Twitter, and Facebook. It breaks my heart to witness it again, and the pain and suffering that eating disorders cause.
Moreover, I am a parent to two 15-year-old daughters and a 12-year-old son, I fear they may be influenced to think this is ‘normal’ or a good idea, since many of these accounts featuring emaciated (mostly female) individuals have thousands of followers, macabrely following their descent, as they sing and dance, while body checking (seeing how thin they have become and that they are posing in the best angle to show their thinness). Or individuals masked as health and wellness influencers, promoting workout routines, and what I eat in a day videos. These influencers, who are starving themselves and are obsessed with their body image, ignore the concerning comments under their videos. While some women aspire to be like them, and others try to discourage them from flaunting themselves in their shorts and vest tops, revealing their bones and muscle wastage to their audiences.
I did the body image and eating disorder module on my psychology degree, with Dr K. Irvine (A fantastic lecture BTW), because I am interested in this topic, as a recovered ED victim. I say victim, because that’s what it felt like, when it had me at my worst, snatching me away into the hell that it is, like I was its puppet. It changed my personality, made me vapid, and obsessed, and I lived in pain and chaos for years. Dare I say, I am recovered? I still have issues with my body and weight, though I am not alone in these feelings and thoughts about oneself. Particularly as society favours thinness and has normalised disorderly eating for centuries.
I’m not going to bore you with my personal ED story, but some interesting information from Andrea Marks’ 2019 paper on the evolution of EDs over the last 50 years...
Disordered eating is not a new phenomenon; it has been documented in literature since the medieval times (5-15th century). However, the first medical term was coined in 1873, as psychology emerged from medicine. Yet, it wasn’t for another 100 years, till scientists, researchers, and doctors started to really understand eating disorders.
A pioneering study in the 1950s by A. Keys studied 36 healthy men who underwent a heavily restricted diet. This has been criticised, since 90% of sufferers were women (now, 20% are men), and this does not highlight individual characteristics that females may encounter. Nevertheless, brings attention to classic symptomology and behaviour of starving individuals.
It wasn’t until the late 70’s that disorderly eating became public awareness and the dangers they pose (eating disorders have the highest death rate amongst all mental illnesses). Yet, the diagnosis of Anorexia was only seen in white, adolescent, middle-class women, and medics highlighted how difficult it was to treat (eating disorders have a low recovery rate, with the average person taking 7 years to recover).
In the 80s, anorexia was brought to the public's attention after the famous singer Karen Carpenter died in 1983. Following a series of ‘lifetime’ movies, which caused some individuals to copy the film's content. At the same time, Bulimia was introduced in the commonly used DSM: Diagnostic Statistical Manual for Mental Disorders (by the American Psychological Association), used by doctors to diagnose and treat individuals. With hospitals focusing on refeeding for those admitted, often with little success, as the root cause is not addressed.
As research grows, so does the understanding of the root causes, often that of anxiety, the use of control, and comfort in one's life. Expanding diversity, treatment options, and the spectrum of eating disorders (Such as PICA, AFRID, etc.), alongside growing public health awareness, particularly on the internet. In medical terms, ED is pretty late to the party, only really been recognised in the last 40-50 years!
An earlier paper by J. Bemporad in 1997 highlights the importance of cultural and historical aspects of disordered eating. For example, it’s more common in industrialised cultures than in continents such as Africa. Western media and society emphasise thinness as valuable and disciplined, presenting it as the goal for people to achieve. With the media bombarding society with thin models and celebs, diets, fitness advice and pushing the rhetoric of beauty ideals, aiming for dissatisfaction with one's body, for individuals to spend hundreds and thousands on their health and beauty, chasing this unnatural state of thinness. Furthermore, Historical accounts go back centuries, with fasting being a religious practice and seen as a form of purity, with individuals fasting to death. In literature, during periods of famine, self-starvation does not occur; it is seen only in affluent societies and when food is abundant, when one can deny it purposely. More so after the Industrial Revolution in Europe and the Victorian era, when frail women were seen as leisurely and classy.
This highlights the very issues we have with normalised disorderly eating in our Western society, which is destroying and killing people every day, for a desired perfection that is unattainable and harmful. It's time we just exist and not judge others, for we know nothing about their history or health, and you cannot determine that simply from observing their size. Moreover, normalising disorderly eating for the pursuit of thinness.
My overall point, I guess, is that eating disorders are not a new phenomenon, but something that needs to be addressed in society, since they have a high mortality rate, low recovery rate and are a substantial cause of concern. Being thin is seen as dedicated, disciplined, valuable, and attractive, and being fat is seen as lazy, unattractive, and not valuable, especially since the mid-18th century. The notion of eating less and moving more is flawed and simply does not work for many individuals. For example, BMI is also extremely flawed. I implore you to read: "You just need to lose weight" and 19 other myths about fat people, by Gordon, 2023, a fantastic book with empirical evidence, if you believe you just need to eat fewer calories and move more to lose weight and keep it off with lifestyle changes. Being fat isn’t a curse, nor is it less than, and I wish people saw and understood that, as someone who has fought with her body and weight her whole life.
Pheonix85
This blog post can also be seen in digipsych.
Images on the blog from UnSplash and the header image from Google.
